If you file for bankruptcy, you still have an opportunity to keep your house and vehicles. Whether this will be possible depends on four factors: (1) how much equity you have in the property that you are attempting to keep; and (2) whether your equity in the property exceeds the bankruptcy exemption for that type of property; (3) if you have a loan secured by the property, whether the bank will agree to reaffirm the loan despite the bankruptcy; and (4) whether you will be able to afford to continue to make your loan payments after the bankruptcy.

‍When your bankruptcy petition and schedules are filed, the court will schedule a meeting with the trustee called the First Meeting of the Creditors. Although notice of this meeting is sent to everyone you list as a creditor in your petition, it is extremely rare for a creditor to actually attend.

In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the debtor’s assets that are not exempt from bankruptcy liquidation are collected by the trustee and distributed to the debtor’s creditors in order to satisfy the debtor’s debts. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the debtor is permitted to keep his or her assets and, instead, his or her income over the course of the plan is used to satisfy the debts.