Should I keep my car (furniture, diamond ring, etc…) that is financed and do I need to keep paying the payments?

That is up to you. You need to think about whether you can afford to make the payments for that item. Under the bankruptcy law, in this situation (using a car as an example) you must pay for the car or surrender it to the creditor, unless it is being paid in a chapter 13 bankruptcy payment plan. You can do this in certain ways in a chapter 7 bankruptcy. First, you can sign a reaffirmation agreement, which makes you liable for the car loan after the bankruptcy is over.

This means that if you miss a payment the bank can repossess the car, sell it, and sue you for the money it didn�t get from selling the car, even though you filed bankruptcy. Second, you can redeem the property, which means that you pay the value of the property to the creditor at one time, even if it is less than you owe and you do not owe the difference between the value of the asset which you paid and the balance of the loan, which you did not pay. Third, you can surrender the property to the creditor and you do no owe any of the debt.

A fourth, more risky option is not in the law, but PERHAPS you could just keep the collateral, keep paying for it on time and see if the bank decides to come after you for the collateral. This used to be allowed under the old law, but the new bankruptcy law made this illegal and if the creditor wants to repossess, then it can. Some banks are just letting clients keep paying their payments and not making them reaffirm. You can believe that the bank will repossess the car if you stop paying on time, but it is less likely for the table on which only $89 is still owed. In this situation, the bank cannot sue you for the money that is owed, however. It can only collect its collateral.