Repossessions

When you finance the purchase of something, like a car or furniture, included in the papers that you sign is an agreement between you and the company that sold you the item or the company that the seller assigned the contract to, or the lender who financed the purchase, that says what you purchased is collateral for the loan. This means if you fall behind on the payments, or get into some other type of default under the terms of the contract, that the Creditor can take from you what you purchased. This is called repossession (they possessed it before you and since you are in default they take possession away from you.) This is very real situation in our society. We have all heard stories of people going into the grocery store and coming out to find the car is gone. We even had a prospective client’s car repossessed from our parking lot while they were in speaking with us about filing bankruptcy. Generally, the people taking the collateral will try to repossess it at night so that they can avoid an ugly scene. You should be aware that if you are at least one payment behind on your car, you are in danger of having the collateral repossessed. The Creditor does not need to warn you that they have sent someone to take it. They can just take it, if you are behind in payments. The Creditor cannot break the law or disturb the peace to take your property, but they can take it.

Now the good news. Filing a chapter 7 or 13 will stop the repossession process. Even if they are standing in the driveway ready to take the car. They cannot take your property. Further, filing a chapter 13 will help you in two ways. First, if the Creditor has already repossessed your vehicle, if you file a chapter 13 within 10 days from when they repossessed the vehicle, we can usually get the vehicle back. Second, once you have filed a chapter 13, you can now restructure the debt so that you can pay-off the collateral with terms that are easier for you to handle.

If you are behind in payments on your car or other property, you are in danger of the creditor repossessing your property. You have other things to worry about. You don’t need to be fearful of a creditor repossessing your car. Call us today to set up an appointment for your free consultation so that we can show you just how a chapter 13 will save your property and more importantly, preserve your peace of mind.