it just keeps getting better and better

[mickeym]

My mother's BRILLIANT plan of "turn my car in voluntarily" is running up against a couple of roadblocks now:

I just called Capital One, my lender, and told them I wanted to do a voluntary repossession. The CR ran through her spiel and then again, in case I didn't get it the first time, and finally connected me to a member of the Repossession Team. The lady I spoke with there told me that if I voluntarily turn my car in, it will 1) affect my credit report for 7-10 years (which I figured) and 2) they'll sell it at auction, but I will be responsible for paying back any difference between auction price and balance owed.

So now mom's all, "well, you need to check online and see if you can find any attorneys who do free consultations so we can meet with them if necessary, and oh, yeah, look in the paper and see what your car is selling for in your area--but oh, yeah, you owe more than it's worth, don't you?" Then she says, "but your aunt went and talked to the Kia dealership in Florida, and they made it sound like they'd be happy to take the car back, they prefer it that way, to having to go find it."

Except KIA isn't financing my car, Capital One is.

*headdesk*

And the repo team lady told me that depending on how it goes, they could take legal action if necessary to get the difference, including garnishment of wages, etc.

The whole thing with auctions is they sell for lower prices. So likely they wouldn't get anywhere close to what I owe on it, I'm looking at potential legal actions for collection of money I don't have, my mom seems to think that there's going to be a magical solution via a lawyer, and I'm ending up with a car I don't particularly want that I'm going to have to pay for anyway... all because my mom "isn't comfortable" refinancing my car for me.

Stop the world, I want off. Or out.

I wonder if bankruptcy would be a better option. At least then it would wipe away ALL my debt, and I wouldn't have to mess with worrying about legal collection action.

Anyone have any suggestions? At all?

Comments

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

Man, I don't even know, but I don't think you're going to find a lawyer doing a free consult. That's still their billable time.

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Some attorneys do free consultations -- but not all of them. I know a lot of accident attorneys, and bankruptcy attorneys. I'm actually not even sure what it is I'm supposed to be asking an attorney ABOUT. Capital One can make their own rules about paybacks, and probably don't give a damn that I'm unemployed. Not making any money isn't going to give me surcease on having to pay my bills.

[locknkey.livejournal.com]

I did a bankruptcy almost ten year ago. It takes much less time than you might imagine to re-establish credit. I bought a house two years ago. If you are going to mess your credit up with a repo, the bankruptcy will actually look better.

Even bankruptcy costs money, so that may not work. I wish I had a better solution

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

If you are going to mess your credit up with a repo, the bankruptcy will actually look better.

That's what I was wondering.

[locknkey.livejournal.com]

It wasn't a solution I wanted to use, but when my credit was at a stumbling block I had little choice and overall I think it was the best solution for me. It really didn't have much of a long term impact, unlike debt collection which can haunt you forever. Because a debt can be sold and then the 7-10 yr. cycle starts over.

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

*nods* There are times that one just doesn't have any other alternative. :/

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Well, the beauty of all of this is that Doug and I filed bankruptcy back in 2002. I was just starting over, basically, getting myself re-established. *sigh* But yeah, now I'm thinking maybe this is the way to go. Get everything at once, and start fresh.

[locknkey.livejournal.com]

Arrghhh! Nothing is ever simple, is it?

It might be best if that bankruptcy is completely behind you. A repo would probably be worse in the long run. You might be able to get a temporary re-negotiation of payments, but I'm guessing you've tried that.

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they don't do re-negotiations or refinances or anything else. I wanted to just refinance it, but now mom's taken that decision out of my hands.

[rosebee.livejournal.com]

How much do you owe that's over the car's value?

There's a good idea here: http://moneyfor20s.about.com/od/gettingoutofdebt/f/cantaffordcar.htm

Basically, sell the car yourself, use that to pay off the car loan, then take out a personal loan from your bank to pay off the balance of the car loan. Of course, if you have no income & can't make the car payments... your bank probably might not give you a personal loan.

Will your lender refinance your car loan for you? Will your bank?

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

I owe about $6K over what the car's worth. And there's no way I could get a loan right now, being unemployed.

My lender won't refinance, because Capital One doesn't refi in-house loans. They will do refi's from other lenders, but not on their own loans. And my bank -- Chase -- no. They turned me down a couple of years ago when I *was* employed.

[rosebee.livejournal.com]

Yikes... bankruptcy might be the best solution then. :/

[jeeronie.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not American but that is how things work in my country and it is so beneficial for lenders that I supposed they use the same practice everywhere.

What we usually tell people to do is try to sell the car yourself (research prices on the net and ask as much as you possibly can) because in those auctions they will sell as low as possible and you lose money.
With the money you get then try to pay off as much as you can spare and because you made a large payment try to renegotiate the difference to pay in smaller installments.
They tend to be more receptive to renegociating after you give them money and they usually prefer smaller installments than legal action as courts cost them money as well.
Hope that helps some...

[shinetheway.livejournal.com]

The only thing I can think of to suggest is declare bankruptcy, move to Winchester (or commute until you can move), and get a job at my call center. The health insurance starts the first day and there's a 6% bonus for working weekends or nights (which also includes the training period), plus other monthly bonuses for meeting certain metrics, plus you're working for HP so there's a suite of other discounts and benefits. My center is hiring right now, so with your tech savvy I'm sure you'd be a desirable candidate, and they pay a very decent wage for this area. Plus all the overtime you can handle, if you want to work it.

I don't think they did a credit check on me, so as long as you can pass a drug test you should be fine. And I know people who live in Winchester close enough that they walk to work if you need to sell the car.

[rainbow.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

we had to file bankruptcy in the 90s due to my health issues, and it went pretty smoothly.

*more hugs*

[lupin-spirit.livejournal.com]

This is exactly what I've been dealing with over the last 9 months. I did speak with two different attorneys and they both said that there was very little you could do. In all likelihood they will come after you for the difference. The only suggestion one of the attorney's had for me was to trade it in. In theory I could have done a trade in on my 2007 Subaru Legacy for a significantly less expensive vehicle (perhaps something in the $6-8K range) I would have probably gotten $10-12K for my Subaru, which I owed $19K on at the time. In the end I wold have probably come out of it owing $12-15K on a car that was worth $6-8K but because it was a "new" loan it would have been spread out over a new 4 year term, thereby reducing my monthly payment.

If all that didn't make sense, that's because it's stupid and you're still screwed. In my case rather than owing $410 a month on a car worth $17K (if I sold it on my own) but that I owed $19K on- I'd have come out of it paying $300 a month on a car worth 6-8K that I owed 12-15K on AND having to cover all the repair/maintenance costs on an older/less reliable car out of pocket as well.

And you can't even sell it on your own for whatever you can get for it- unless you have the cash of hand to pay the difference, because you can't get the title from the bank until the loan's paid off and you can't sell the car without the title. Grrr.

In the end I "got lucky" by getting into a very serious accident in July. I was hit by two semi trucks in the middle of a brush fire. I am very fortunate to be alive. The accident was ruled not my fault AND I had GAP coverage on the car loan, so when they determined that the car was indeed totaled, the entire loan was paid off.

Kind of a sad state of affairs in this country when getting into a serious accident in the easy way out. >:(