We filed Chap 7 in Sept 1998. We had originally planned to reaffirm our car but after thinking it over decided that we would just go without a nicer car to save money. The weird part is that the bank was contacted that the car was part of Chap 7 and they never picked it up. I still have it. It is licensed and insured. I talked to the guy in BK dept at US Bank in 1999 and he offered to sell me the car fo $5000. I told him I didn't have it and he said "fine keep driving it but you can't have the title." I just wondered if this happened to anyone else. US bank says the car isn't worth the cost to repo it and sell it. It says that it was a charge off on all of our credit reports and shows that $0.00 is owed so at least I don't have an unpaid charge off. Should I dispute the charge off and say it was included in BK or leave it. I don't know what is best for my score. Thanks for your advice. Kim
Check your BK schedules. Your BK attorney should also have documentation that you refused to reaffirm with the bank. If the bank is on the schedule of secured creditors, then it should be reported as a discharged in bankruptcy and not a charge off. It is their responsibility to repo the car. They were notified the account was included in BK, they contacted you to try to reaffirm the debt, you refused to reaffirm, they should have repo'd the car; not told you to keep driving it. I probably would have told the bank "okay, if you send me a letter stating I should keep driving it, but will never get the title, I'll do that." A discharged in BK account is better than a charge-off. If you have a BK and an account is showing as a charge-off, you will be asked about it when applying for future loans. A BK record and an account listed in BK is pretty much the same; a BK and a charge-off looks worse. Dispute it through the CRA's.
