Upside down and looking to get out.

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone, long time lurker.

Currently my situation is I'm 27 and just starting out my career after years of bad decisions and not taking life seriously and I'm currently upside down on my 2011 Ford Fiesta by about 2-3 grand.

Here's where I'm at currently.

Monthly Payment - $345

Principal Balance $12,019.85- 14.65% APR

Maturity Date  April 23, 2018

Private Value - $10,633

Trade in - 9.5kish

When I purchased the car my previous one had just died on me and I went into a bit of a panic mode. My credit is slowly coming back up but I'm a ways away from being where I need to be. At least the credit card offers have come back in the mail so I'm doing something right I hope. (Into the trash they go)

I was a contractor making almost 30k a year when the company downsized and I moved over to a government IT position which the pay is absolutely terrible, I think I net 20 grand a year but the benefits are nice and I know I have the job tomorrow.

But this has slowed down my bill paying progress to a near crawl as I'm going paycheck to paycheck.

My question is should I attempt to refinance or trade in the car and get one for 2-5 grand with the extra 2 grand I'm upside down added on top? I'd like to lower my payment by about $100 since I'm starting a snowball and that would get things rolling much much faster so if I can refinance and lower it I would rather that but trading in and getting a cheaper car would also work.

Any ideas?

[StartingOver10]

Usually the trade in value is a lot less than the private party value, not just $500.

Did you actually check the KBB or NADA values for both private party and trade-in? Go on KBB.com and NADA.com too to get an idea of the real trade in value.

What are your FICO scores? Do you belong to a credit union? If you can drop your payment with a refi, than that is the way to go but it really isn't possible to know without addtional info.

If you can't refi now, for whatever reason, then take your car to CARMAX and get a quote to sell it ot them. Then you will have an accurate idea of what it is worth. Try to sell it private party. You will need to bring cash to the table. Get a beater until you are on your feet. If you don't have the extra cash, see what you can sell around the house to put together the difference. Or pick up a side job.