Vehicle Financial Problems

Updated on December 01, 2006
D.N. asks from Glasgow, KY
16 answers

I have a question about letting a car go back. We are buying a 2004 minivan and have been making our payments on time for the last 2 yrs. My husband just found out he is losing his job come march. Problem is we still owe $15000 on the van.My payments are $380 a month. Yes I know thats alot to still owe. How do we go about letting it go back? I love this van but taking care of my families needs come before a vehicle. I am heartbroken at the thought of losing the van. If any one has any information please let me know.

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So What Happened?

As of right now we are looking toward refinancing. Thank you Briana for your recommendation of e-loan. We tried there and they have forwarded it on to roadloan. We were approved and have to contact them tomorrow to see what they can do to help. Thanks everyone for your feedback and I will update again when we have a definately solution.

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K.B.

answers from Knoxville on

I would be interested in hearing what people responded with. We have been dealing with something similar. My email is ____@____.com luck.

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L.O.

answers from Nashville on

D.
I would try and sell it for the payoff or find someone to finance it in their name cause you will still have to pay the remaining balance after auction. Which will probally still be a high price (good luck)

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A.L.

answers from Chattanooga on

sorry to hear about that unfortunate event. most dealerships if that is where you purchased will let you surrender it. the bad part though is that the consider it a repossession and will still expect you to pay the remaining balance after it is sold much less at auction. I had this happen and ended up filing chapter 7.

1 mom found this helpful

J.B.

answers from Memphis on

D.,

I mentioned the other day that I would ask my honest car lot owner son to respond to your situation. Following is his response....J.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't think she should let it go back because it will hinder the purchase of a new vehicle for the next 8 years...
If she does let it go back, no matter what the dealer agrees with her, she will face the risk of that dealer selling it cheaper than her payoff and receiving a subpoena to court to pay the difference in the form of a Deficiency Judgement. The dealer will get their money - period. They are too greedy to "lose" money.

- SO MANY VARIABLES HERE... If she is in a low interest loan, she could sell the van through a local advertising source and have a local bank loan the difference of the 15k to pay off the van and keep a low monthly payment to save credit. If she is in a high interest loan - not as much to lose...

Advice to consider, if she lets the van go back, she will face high interest for 10 years on the next car. High interest that will cost potentially thousands more on the purchase of a new vehicle.

Kory

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G.W.

answers from Knoxville on

Hello D., I am very sorry that your husband is losing his job next year. Is there any way that you can refinance your van for a lower payment? With a family of 5, I'm sure that you need some kind of transportation, and you've said how much you like the van. You could talk to your bank, or the company that financed your van in the first place, about refinancing. It would stretch your payments out in the long run, but if you are planning on keeping the van for a long time, it might be an option. I wish you and your family the best of luck, I know that you are in a difficult situation!

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S.J.

answers from Knoxville on

I agree i would try to refinace the van to keep it. If you all let it go then you will have to pay for it anyway because it will be considered a repossesion. You will have to pay the remaining balanace after it is sold at auction which will be cheap. I would try the refinancing with the company you are currently with or another company that should make your payment lower.
I hope your husband finds another job before his current one ends.
Good luck

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R.M.

answers from Jackson on

D.,
I AM IN THE CAR BUSINESS.I CAN TELL YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT YOU NEED TO DO.YOU CAN CALL THE LENDER THAT YOU HAVE YOUR LOAN WITH AND TELL THEM YOUR THAT YOU ARE UNABLE TO CONTINUE PAYING FOR THE VEHICLE,THEN THEY WILL TELL YOU WHAT YOU SHOULD DO.OR YOU CAN JUST NOT MAKE THE PAYMENTS AND THEY WILL REPO YOUR VEHICLE.I KNOW MANY PEOPLE JUST LET THEM REPO IT OR GO PARK IT IN THE BANK PARKING LOT AND WHEN THE LENDER CALLS THEM THEY TELL THEM WHERE THE VEHICLE IS.IT WILL EFFECT YOUR CREDIT,BUT THERE ARE THINGS MORE IMPORTANT THAN A CREDIT SCORE.THERE IS WAY TO KEEP YOUR VEHICLE,YOUR GOING TO MESS YOUR CREDIT UP ANY WAY.YOU CAN FILE CHAPTER 13,WHICH IS A REORGANIZING OF YOUR FINANCES AND YOU GET TO KEEP TWO VEHICLES ,YOUR HOUSE IF YOU OWN IT,YOU ALSO CAN CLAIM CREDIT CARDS,ANDANY OTHER NONSECURED DEBTS.YOU CAN GET ON A PAY BACK PLAN DEPENDING ON YOUR INCOME.YOU MAY EVEN BE ABLE TO FILE CHAPTER 7.WHICH WIPES AWAY ALL YOUR DEBT WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY IT BACK. NOW I AM VERY RELIGOUS AND I DIDN'T WANT TO FILE BANCRUPTCY BUT WE HAD TO BECAUSE WE COULDN'T PAY OUR BILLS.WE FILE CHAPTER 13 @ 100% PAY BACK PLAN.WHICH YOU CAN CHOOSE WHICH PLAN IS RIGHT FOR YOU WE CHOSE THE 5 YR PLAN.YOU CAN GET AN ATTORNEY AND IT COST ABOUT 600.00.WE JUST DIDN'T PAY OUR CAR NOTE FOR TWO MONTHS TO PAY THE ATTORNEY.HOPE THIS HELPED
R.

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A.H.

answers from Nashville on

I am not an expert at this vehicle stuff, but I can tell you what i do know. Some lots will charge you to let it go back. I probably wouldn't wait till the last min. But I would probably talk to the lot and tell them your situation and tell them you want to let it go back and when you want to do so. Make sure you have money to put down on another vehicle, or figure something out for when it is gone. It's best to figure that out before you talk to the lot.Maybe you have a saving and can find something for cash so you won't have any payments. It is hard to find a lot who'll give you a car for $50 a week, and that is even hard to pay if you are having money problems. Don't make your lot however actually repossess your van. Take it to them. You are more likely to not have to pay that fee they can charge for letting it go back.Hope this helps!

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M.P.

answers from Huntsville on

Do whatever you can to keep from getting it repossessed. Don't voluntarily ruin your credit forever. Try to sell it and refinance the balance to make small payments on a signature loan or see if the finance company will refinance for lower payments. Just don't let it go back. I review credit everyday and it breaks my heart to see people that are back on their feet and can't get anything because they just let things go instead of being responsible and trying to work it out.

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L.M.

answers from Montgomery on

Hi my name is L. I wanted to let you know that there is some laws that if you let your van go back they will sell it at whatever the highest bid is and you will have to pay whatever the difference is for example if they sell your van for 10,000.00 and you owe 15,000.00 you will be held responsible for the remaining amount. After doing that it is very hard to get financed again. You may want to speak with a lawyer and see what your rights are so it doesn't cause your family any heart acne

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B.C.

answers from Nashville on

have you tried refinancing the van so the payments could be dropped? Talk to your own financial institution tell them the situation and if that doesn't work. I refinanced my car after i bought it from E-Loan i did everything online and thru fax. took a couple points off my interest rate and took a year off my loan and brought my payments down.GL

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L.N.

answers from Montgomery on

Hi D., I hate to hear about your unfortunate situation. Is your husband looking for other employment? Hopefully by the time his job ends he will have something to fall back on. If you let them take your van back that is going to go against your credit,and hurt you more in the long run if you ever try to finance another vehicle ,or even try and buy a house. At very worst I would try and sell it , you may not get what you owe, but at least the remainder would be easier to deal with. I would try my best not to let it go back though, you never know what you may need in the future, and you sure don't want this to haunt you. Good luck!

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T.D.

answers from Knoxville on

call your dealer ship and see if they won't lower your payments or you can try to call a bank for a loan and pay it off w/lower payments. with either of those you are gonna end up paying longer and sometimes more.
so it really depends on how much you really want to keep the van.

even try to go to the dealer ship and see if they will let you trade it for what the value you payed towards something else. they usually will if you have the interest payed for. that is really what you are paying on before your money ever goes towards the automobile. if not see what you still owe on interst, and if you can pay that then trade it for something with cheaper payments. i know we did with airport honda.
my old car we had the interst payed for and still owed quite a bit on it still but they let us get a brand new car with no roll overs.
so always check before letting it go back.
maybe they will work with you if they know your situation.

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A.S.

answers from Jackson on

My husband and I were in this situation when we first got married. He had a 2001 Nissan Frontier. He had let it go back cause we couldn't afford it after a wreck he had. After it was sold in the auction we still had over 5000$ to pay back and it cost us 250$ a month. His normal payments were 350$. Do what you can to keep from letting it go back. Sell it or get someone to finance it in their names. But I would try talking to your finance company that is holding it now and tell them what is going on. They might work with you. Give that a shot before you do anything else.

Good luck

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M.T.

answers from Chattanooga on

D.,

I'm so sorry to hear about your husband's job. I know that must be stressful. Is there any way you could sell the van instead of letting it be reposessed? I'd hate for your credit to be affected.

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C.C.

answers from Knoxville on

Hello,

I know that it is very difficult right now but I don't think that letting your van go back is the right answer. Since you still owe quite a bit what will happen is that they will repo your car and it will not sell right away and it will more than likely set at a local storage until your vehicle company figures out what to do with ( and they will try to recoup the costs for storage) and then it will be sent to auction to be sold and the remaining balance they will come after you for. So you will still owe a payment on the left over balance and if you don't pay that they could sue you. I know that is not what you probably want to here but is very rare that they sale at auction for what is owed against it. Then you have a repossesion on your credit and still owe a balance. Is there know way to maybe trade in for something less expensive and maybe roll over the extra left on the van into another loan and get lesser payments a month. Or maybe try a consumer credit counseling to try to see if they can lower your payments a month on the van. Sometimes they can work with who you have your vehicle financed through. You still have until march before he loses his job so try and exhaust all options. Hope this helps, C.

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