keep my vehicle and still file bankruptcy?

If your vehicle is financed then you can choose whether or not to keep your vehicle during your bankruptcy. Loans of this nature are called ‘secured’ loans, which means the vehicle should have a lien registered against it from Ford Credit Canada, or another loan company. If the trustee decided to seize the vehicle and sell it, the secured lendor would be entitled to the proceeds from that sale. More than likely there would be no money available for your unsecured creditors when the car is sold. For this reason a trustee would not normally choose to seize a vehicle as there would be no benefit to your creditors. You would indicate to your trustee your intention to keep the vehicle and maintain the car payments.

Sometimes a trustee will recommend that you consider surrendering the car to the lendor when they think the cost of the car is too much for you to maintain in your budget. Ultimately it will still be your choice but if you do not take that advice and you default on your car payments at a later date you would not be able to include any shortfall in your bankruptcy. This decision needs to be made at the time of filing the bankruptcy.