Bankruptcy and Your Car Loan

                

Bankruptcy and Auto Loans – Saving Your Car in Bankruptcy

King and King Bankruptcy Attorneys 8/30/2012

If your vehicle is worth less than you owe, or you are paying excessive interest, Chapter 13 bankruptcy can reduce your balance, cut your interest rate, and slash your payment. A “cram down” of an auto loan is a major benefit available only in Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

Bad car loans can be financially devastating. As a bankruptcy firm in Atlanta, we have seen clients with auto loans nearly two times the value of their vehicles and at higher than 20% interest. However, it is not only debtors with egregiously bad loans who benefit from Chapter 13 cram downs. Unexpected depreciation of a vehicle’s value and a modestly high interest rate will quickly place almost anyone underwater on a car loan.

Bankruptcy and the Balance on an Auto Loan

Cramming down your car loan balance in Chapter 13 reduces the balance to the vehicle’s fair market value. This new lower amount is paid through your Chapter 13 plan. Although a creditor may object to the value that you propose, courts will generally accept the average Bluebook value.  Any remaining balance becomes an unsecured debt like your credit cards, medical bills, etc.  Because most Chapter 13 debtors pay only a small portion of their unsecured debt, cramming down the balance can save you thousands of dollars.

Time is a Factor

To be eligible to cram down the balance on an auto loan, you must have purchased the vehicle at least 910 days (a little over 30 months) from the date that you filed your Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Even if your car was purchased within 910 days of filing, most clients are able to lower their interest rate to a much lower rate than the one the financing company offered them.  Many of our clients are able to save thousands of dollars of interest this way.

Speaking with an experienced bankruptcy firm such as King and King, serving Atlanta for over 30 years, is the first step to your financial freedom. Call us today for a free consultation 404-524-6400

What can I keep when I File Bankruptcy?

What can I keep when I File Bankruptcy?

The Myth is You Lose Everything When You File Bankruptcy

The majority of people we meet with believe that if they file bankruptcy they will have to give up their home, cars, furniture, basically everything they own. In fact most people can’t understand how someone could file bankruptcy and keep anything. It pays to be informed, this is how bankruptcy works.

Bankruptcy Options Are Flexible and You Can Usually Keep All Your Assets

What you can keep in a bankruptcy case depends in part on which chapter is filed, and what exemptions (protections) are available under applicable law.  In a Chapter 13bankruptcy or Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy case, you can keep all your assets, but you may have to pay out a certain amount to your creditors through a “plan” of repayment to cover the value of any non-exempt assets.

In a most Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases, you get to keep any assets that are exempt.   In the vast majority of cases, you get to keep everything.  Why?  Because a experienced bankruptcy attorney is not going to file a Chapter 7 case if you’re likely to lose significant assets by doing so.

Start With A Consultation

The best thing to do if you have debts you cannot afford to pay is to have a consultation with a bankruptcy attorney to explore your options.  The worst thing to do is nothing, or to assume you know enough about the law and decide there’s no reason to explore your options. Call King and King for a free consultation today 404-524-6400.

Bankruptcy Can Stop A Wage Garnishment

Timing Is Everything when Filing Bankruptcy To Stop A Wage Garnishment

Can filing bankruptcy stop a wage garnishment?  As a Atlanta Georgia bankruptcy firm specializing in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases, this is a question most of our clients ask whenever a creditor has successfully obtained a court judgment against them. After a successful court judgment against a debtor, wage garnishment usually follows. Debtors usually think that an immediate bankruptcy filing is a good idea to stop the garnishment of their wages.

Sections of the Bankruptcy Code provide that a debtor may recover property — such as wages — that have been involuntarily taken from the debtor during the 90 days preceding his bankruptcy filing. These sections are enacted to allow debtors to recover money or property.

Being a bankruptcy firm who has served Atlanta for over 30 years, we advise our clients to take care in deciding on when to file for bankruptcy in order to stop a wage garnishment in Georgia. Timing is everything in filing for bankruptcy to recover garnished wages. If the garnished wages total less than a certain amount they can’t be recovered.   

Filing for bankruptcy is similar to having a well thought out business strategy. You need the help of a specialist to make use of the law to your advantage. The lawyers at The Law Office of King and King specialize in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases and will help you obtain a fresh start. Please call our office at 404-524-6400 for a free-no hassle consultation. 

Benefits of Filing for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

Benefits of Filing for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

Posted on Aug 1st, 2012 King and King Bankruptcy Attorneys, Atlanta GA

When deciding to file for bankruptcy, you might think of filing for chapter 7 first. This can be for many reasons; one of the most alluring draws of chapter 7 bankruptcy might be the ability to discharge all of your debts. This can be tempting – a fresh start. However, there are numerous benefits to filing for Chapter 13, and in many cases it may be a better option.

Four benefits of filing for Chapter 13:

        You have the opportunity to save your home. By filing for Chapter 13, you will put a halt to all foreclosure proceedings and will be able to come up with a repayment plan that will best suit you. You will also be able to structure delinquent mortgage payments so that by the end of the bankruptcy, you will be caught up.

      Individuals can schedule secured debt payments over three to five years. By coming up with a repayment plan for all secured debts, debtors will be able to have a solid battle plan moving forward. Beyond that, debtors who do this and stretch their payments over the repayment plan may find that they have lower payments that are more financially feasible to pay off.

     Creditors will stop calling. One great source of relief to many debtors is that during the course of their bankruptcy, they will not be required at any point to interact with their creditors. Instead, they will make all monthly payments in one solid lump to their trustee who will then make the payments. You then only have to focus on making one payment and only need to interact with the trustee.

You are not at risk of losing any of your property. When you file for Chapter 7, your property is vulnerable to being liquidated to satisfy the debts that you owe to all of your creditors. This, however, is not the case in Chapter 13 bankruptcy. In fact, it is quite the opposite with debtors able to keep all of their property and coming up with a repayment plan that allows for them to make payments over the course of several years instead.

One of the most important decisions you can make is who you choose to counsel you during your bankruptcy proceedings.

Call King and King in Atlanta Georgia for experienced help today.  404-524-6400