BK Discharged...when will DCU come get my car?

[Anonymous]

My Chapter 7 was just discharged, and my car loan with DCU was IIB. I owed 17k on the loan and the car is worth about 6.5k. So, nobody wants this car, including DCU probably.

I paid them on time up until I filed Ch7 in June, and I sent them a payment in July (I don't have another car and was trying to keep paying them). I had called ahead of time and learned that despite not reaffirming the loan, if I kept paying them I could keep the car indefinitely and they wouldn't come and get it.

Since then I've had additional health challenges and haven't been able to work very much (I'm self employed). So they haven't gotten a payment from me in two months. 

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with DCU, or credit unions in general, and repo after BK discharge on a car with negative equity. How long do you think I can go without paying them before they come and get it? I realize no one has a crystal ball, so I'm just looking for similar experiences. I was going to call them and ask, but I doubt they'll say: "Oh, you don't have to pay us, and we won't come get your negative equity crappy car; we don't want it."

[Medic981]

Welcome to the myFICO forums!

Sorry to hear about your health challenges.

As I understand it, most creditors will start looking for your car after 90 days late. My best advice I can give to you is to call DCU and arrange for a time and place to surrender the vehicle. This will save you to cost of the repossession and stop any additional interest accumulating on the loan. I believe you will also receive a "voluntary repossession" notation on the account for what that is worth.

[sccredit]

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@Medic981 wrote:

As I understand it, most creditors will start looking for your car after 90 days late. My best advice I can give to you is to call DCU and arrange for a time and place to surrender the vehicle. This will save you to cost of the repossession and stop any additional interest accumulating on the loan. I believe you will also receive a "voluntary repossession" notation on the account for what that is worth.

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If OP did not reaffirm the loan then OP is not responsible for Repo costs or interest.  DCU cannot report collection activity (such as voluntary surrender) post filing.  

[Anonymous]

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@sccredit wrote:

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@Medic981 wrote:

As I understand it, most creditors will start looking for your car after 90 days late. My best advice I can give to you is to call DCU and arrange for a time and place to surrender the vehicle. This will save you to cost of the repossession and stop any additional interest accumulating on the loan. I believe you will also receive a "voluntary repossession" notation on the account for what that is worth.

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Thank you for the welcome. I'm not worried about repo costs or interest -- the loan was discharged in bankruptcy. I do not owe them any money. They had just said that after the BK if I kept paying they wouldn't come and get the car.

So back to my question, which I won't repeat here because it is covered in my original post... anyone?

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[cartwrna]

Welcome to the boards! Thought I’d never see someone else who had a loan IIB with DCU!?

I also IIB a car I had with DCU. My difference was that I actually didn’t make a payment for one year, and they never repod. I included them in bankruptcy filed 8/03/18.

Check your title with the local DMV and make sure they have a lien on it! My car they never put a lien on, so trustee considered it an Unperfected lien and moved them to a non secure creditor while also adding a lien in bankruptcy’s interest.

Long story short he allowed me to pay him $4,000 for the vehicle which is a 2013 Dodge Avenger, 48k miles and still runs great. It blue books for around 8k. Good luck!

[cartwrna]

Also, they can’t repo the vehicle until you a discharged unless they get a lift of stay which I’m assuming they won’t.

[stinastina]

The day of discharge, my car loan company came and took the car. They must have had a tracking device on it because I was actually in another city, working. I literally had to take my belongings from the vehicle and put them on the curb outside of the business I was auditing. I wasn't even aware the case had been discharged because it literally happened that morning. Lucky for me, I had never used Uber and got a free ride home. It was humiliating to say the least !

Just be aware, that they have the legal right to come get the vehicle immediately after discharge. Maybe if you call DCU and arrange the surrender, you can avoid any embarrassing situation like what I went through.

[icyhot]

I’m actually dealing with something similar. I want to keep my car but I don’t want to continue paying monthly, I’d rather just pay it off when I get my taxes but they won’t let me. Right now I’m past due and my lawyer said they shouldn’t repossess me after only a month which is when I plan to pay them

[securingourfuture]

This is an old thread, but I want to share my DCU experience.  I made my last payment in May 2018, filed for chapter 7 in August 2018, and discharged in November 2018.  I got my first letter from DCU regarding paying off the default and/or recovery on Monday; the letter was dated August 23, 2019.  I called them this morning to find out when they were coming, and the rep said the account is not even in review yet to recover the collateral.  So long story short, it took them a year to contact me about thinking about taking the vehicle.  I have until September 13th to cure the default.  I guess it goes into review after that.

In the meantime, I have kept the car insured, clean, and registered.  I began using a family member's car when I knew I wouldn't reaffirm.

HTH

[Anonymous]

As I recently went through this....

You get to "discharge" your car loan, which means they can never come after you personally for any unpaid amount on the loan. It frees you from the loan contract, but you do not own your vehicle free any clear. If no reaffirmation was done, they can come pick up the vehicle at any time. It could be the day of discharge, or months later. You will never get a title for the vehicle. Ive seen some cases where the auto lot decided it wasnt worth the effort and just name came and got the car - but the person never will get that title until they voluntarily pay that balance. The dealer cannot ask for it. Nor can they come after you or sue for any amount. But 95% of the time, dealers come collect the car at some point. 

In my instance, they waiting 2 months before they came and picked up my vehicle loan, which was discharged in my BK. No reaffirmation. Even if I kept paying on the vehicle, they could have taken it at any time, though  I doubt they would have. That said, they also told me if I did keep the vehicle and kept making payments, they would never come take it. But it would never show up on my credit report either as payments being made. 

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@sccredit wrote:

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@Medic981 wrote:

As I understand it, most creditors will start looking for your car after 90 days late. My best advice I can give to you is to call DCU and arrange for a time and place to surrender the vehicle. This will save you to cost of the repossession and stop any additional interest accumulating on the loan. I believe you will also receive a "voluntary repossession" notation on the account for what that is worth.

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Thank you for the welcome. I'm not worried about repo costs or interest -- the loan was discharged in bankruptcy. I do not owe them any money. They had just said that after the BK if I kept paying they wouldn't come and get the car.

So back to my question, which I won't repeat here because it is covered in my original post... anyone?

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