Transcript

Hi, I’m Andrew Sawin, an attorney at Sawin and Shea Bankruptcy Law Office. I’m here to talk to you today about repossessions. I know currently with this current COVID-19 crisis, many car lenders have voluntarily suspended repossessions. This is voluntary. There is no state mandate keeping them from repossessing cars. As you would expect, this is going to end sometime soon. So I want to talk to you about some options that you have, if you are behind in car payments.

The first thing you might want to do is talk to your lender. They may be able to work with you and work on a catch-up plan. If you’re far enough behind that your lender won’t work with you, we’ve got some options in bankruptcy. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy can help you get caught up on payments on your car, as well as reorganize other debts and make your budget more family friendly. We can sometimes even modify the terms of your car loan, extending the payment terms or reducing interest rates. And in some cases, even reducing the car down to value, so if you’re upside down on car payments, we can help you get right side up on those. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a powerful tool to help you keep your car and reorganize that debt.

If you can’t do a Chapter 13 bankruptcy for some reason and can’t afford to keep the car, then a Chapter 7 bankruptcy can help avoid a deficiency claim and the lender coming after you for a balance owed on the loan after they have taken the car and sold it. We can help you with that debt, as well as others. So I hope you guys are staying safe. Give us a call, if you have any questions about repossessions. Thank you.