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73 Am. Bankr. L.J. 709 (1999)
Debt after Discharge: An Empirical Study of Reaffirmation

handle is hein.journals/ambank73 and id is 731 raw text is: DEBT AFTER DISCHARGE: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF REAFFIRMATION by Marianne B. Culhane and Michaela M. White* Consumer Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases are overwhelmingly and notori- ously of the no-asset variety. Because most assets are either encumbered or exempt, Chapter 7 trustees rarely make dollar distributions to creditors. Even in no-asset cases, however, some creditors with dischargeable debts get paid. The payments come not from the bankruptcy estate but from the debt- ors themselves, in the forms of reaffirmation,' ride-through,2 redemption3 and, on occasion, voluntary payment.4 Chapter 7 debtors also 'pay many secured claims by surrendering the homes and cars that served as collateral. More information on reaffirmation and other postdischarge payments by Chapter 7 debtors is needed. It would help to know the who, what, when, where, how much and why; that is, which debtors are paying or promising to pay how much to which creditors and why. Without some reliable numbers, one cannot assess the impact of these practices. *The authors are Professors of Law at Creighton University School of Law. This project was funded by grants from the Endowment for Education of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the Bankruptcy Section of the Nebraska State Bar Association, and Creighton University. Computer pro- gramming and statistical analysis were done by David Van Dyke of Van Dyke Consulting, Inc. We benefited greatly from several discussions with William Whitford about reaffirmation. Gary Neustadter, Elizabeth Warren and Melissa Jacoby provided helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. We are grateful to them all. 'Reaffirmation of a claim under 11 U.S.C. § 524(c) results in a personal liability which survives the debtors discharge. 11 U.S.C. § 524(c) (1994). 2Ride-through is a controversial nonstatutory alternative which, if available, allows a debtor who is current on a secured debt to keep the collateral without reaffirming or redeeming the collateral. Instead, the debtor may continue to make payments through and after the bankruptcy proceeding. While the debtor's personal liability for the debt would be discharged, the creditor's in rem rights survive and the collateral remains subject to the lien until the whole unpaid balance has been paid. See infra Part I.C. 'Redemption under 11 U.S.C. § 722 (1994) requires the debtor to pay the creditor in a lump sum the lesser of the claim or the fair market value of the collateral to release the property from the lien. 411 U.S.C. § 524(f) (1994). Marianne Culhane, Discharge Can Be Dangerous: Creditors Beware, 2 CoNsUME R Fin. SEPV. LrrG. 737, 748-52 (ALI 1999); Karen Gross, As We Fleece Our Debtors, 102 DicKINSON L. REv. 747, 759-61 (1998).

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