topic Re: Refinance with Harley in Bankruptcy

Refinance with Harley

PlDe — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 14:16:05 GMT

Will Harley Davidson finance a motorcycle loan after being burnt in a Chapter 7. Just recently had Chapter 7 Discharged. My score went from high 690's to 548. Within last 2 months its back up to 649 Vantage and 647 FICO 8. Just curious if I should apply with Harley for a new bike.

Re: Refinance with Harley

JoeRockhead — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 19:45:01 GMT

A friend of mine who is a long time Harley dealership GM told me that you shouldn't apply for a minimum of 1 year, they prefer 2 years post discharge, and if you burned them in the BK, it could be much longer before they'll lend to you again.

Applying too soon and you do get an approval, you'd also be looking at a large down payment (30% to 40%) as well as the upper end on an interest rate which he said currently goes up to a tick under the 30% mark for people they deem high risk.

Re: Refinance with Harley

PlDe — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 19:28:37 GMT

Thank you. Appreciate the input.

Re: Refinance with Harley

IsambardPrince — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 01:19:51 GMT

@PlDe wrote:
Will Harley Davidson finance a motorcycle loan after being burnt in a Chapter 7. Just recently had Chapter 7 Discharged. My score went from high 690's to 548. Within last 2 months its back up to 649 Vantage and 647 FICO 8. Just curious if I should apply with Harley for a new bike.

What was wrong with the old one that you didn't just discharge it and keep making payments?

If you did that they would have no right to take it and they'd have had to give you the title when you paid it off, but couldn't damage your credit or call it a repo if you ever stopped paying. (Just take it back.)

I don't ever advise people to reaffirm a car or motorcycle loan, but to tell the court discharge, keep, and make payments. Unless you really want it to go away.

There's the option to let the bankruptcy strip all your obligations to pay anyone and keep your car or bike even though they can't sue you or damage your credit if something happens later, as long as you didn't reaffirm the loan.

It sounds like that ship sailed, I am just curious if something was actually wrong with the bike.

Re: Refinance with Harley

prairierider — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 20:06:16 GMT

Hey, I know this post is a old, but wondering if you're still active on here?

I have a loan through Harley Davidson Financial Services (Eagle Mark Bank) that I am upside down on.

I am current on payments, never missed, the bike is clean+sound and I'd like to keep it when I decide to file bankruptcy.

Do you think it's likely that they won't come take the bike back if I decide to file, include the loan on the filing, but remain current on payments?

Re: Refinance with Harley

Lurker22 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 23:55:03 GMT

@prairierider wrote:
Hey, I know this post is a old, but wondering if you're still active on here?

I have a loan through Harley Davidson Financial Services (Eagle Mark Bank) that I am upside down on.

I am current on payments, never missed, the bike is clean+sound and I'd like to keep it when I decide to file bankruptcy.

Do you think it's likely that they won't come take the bike back if I decide to file, include the loan on the filing, but remain current on payments?

NAL, Not the OP - but IMO I doubt it, the costs associated with even a voluntary repo are huge and they'd likely lose more than if there's a cram down in your case

Re: Refinance with Harley

prairierider — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 01:53:16 GMT

Thanks for the reply.

I would filing chapter 7, so from my understanding a cram down is only with chapter 13?

My lawyer said it's likely they won't come take the bike back as long as I remain current on payments.

Re: Refinance with Harley

pizzadude — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 04:37:36 GMT

I think that makes sense -- as long as you're continuing to make payments there is no incentive for them to repo the bike

Re: Refinance with Harley

AndrewF — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 06:14:58 GMT

@prairierider wrote:
Thanks for the reply.

I would filing chapter 7, so from my understanding a cram down is only with chapter 13?

My lawyer said it's likely they won't come take the bike back as long as I remain current on payments.

They have no right to repossess the motorcycle if you are current on the payments. A loan for a vehicle is two things, your promise to pay, and an agreement that the vehicle is collateral that they can repossess if you don't.

If you are current on payments, they have no right to repossess, even if you do not reaffirm it in bankruptcy, but if you go late they will repossess it and cannot report it on your credit report as late payments or repo if you didn't reaffirm it because the bankruptcy discharged your promise to pay.

Even if they had the right to take it, why would they if you are current on payments? They almost never get a good deal for a vehicle when they auction it off, and since you filed bankruptcy, they can't force you to pay the deficiency balance, so they'll just take a huge loss in repo fees and getting a very low price at auction.

Re: Refinance with Harley

prairierider — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 18:02:07 GMT

Thank you for the reply!

So my lawyer said that while they technically if I don't sign a reaffirmation they can take the bike back if they want to, however like you pointed out she said it's highly unlikely as long as I remain current on payments. She said they would much rather have my money than have to go through the process of repoing the bike and auctioning it off.

I just love my Dyna so much and she's clean so I don't pull hate to lose her 😭😭😭. I've never missed a payment and will be done paying her off in about a year and a half once I can accelerate payments on the loan after I free up some disposable income from medical debt during bankruptcy.

Really the only reason I'm filing bankruptcy is because of medical debt. Sucks, but it is what it is.

Re: Refinance with Harley

AndrewF — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 18:27:23 GMT

@prairierider wrote:
Thank you for the reply!

So my lawyer said that while they technically if I don't sign a reaffirmation they can take the bike back if they want to, however like you pointed out she said it's highly unlikely as long as I remain current on payments. She said they would much rather have my money than have to go through the process of repoing the bike and auctioning it off.

I just love my Dyna so much and she's clean so I don't pull hate to lose her 😭😭😭. I've never missed a payment and will be done paying her off in about a year and a half once I can accelerate payments on the loan after I free up some disposable income from medical debt during bankruptcy.

Really the only reason I'm filing bankruptcy is because of medical debt. Sucks, but it is what it is.

Yeah, I hear you. I suppose the repo laws might be different where you are.

My lawyer said I could have kept making payments on my car if I wanted to and it wouldn't have even been legal for them to take it if I was current.

Medical debt is unlike any other debt. One minute everything is fine, the next minute you have bills rolling in every minute and they can be for literally any amount.

I'm so glad that after years of battling hospitals that I'm insured and that Illinois just passed laws requiring the hospital to work to get you charity care or payment plans, limited the amount hospitals could take in a single year, and banned medical debt on credit reports.

That's a realization of how it can't be prevented and how much it messes up people's lives.

We should all pay if we can, but doing it like they do in most states where they can take whatever's not nailed down is awful.

FICO 9 doesn't score medical debt as severely anymore, but no FICO model can score it at all if it's not allowed on your credit report. I like our laws better.

I have an Illinois hospital that calls me about a bill sometimes. They misdiagnosed my arm and it almost led to the wrong surgery.

I didn't pay it. It's not on my credit report. They're not going to tell me they can't put it there. They want money. Lol

I paid the hospital in Wisconsin that did the surgery and did it right.