Voluntary Repo-yes or no??

[Anonymous]

I need some advice..I have had this 2012 Nissan Sentra for 2 years now. I tacked on 8 late payments and they have moved a couple of payments to the back of the loan. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, this car was in a wreck 2 months before I bought it. Here's the numbers

financed-15,381 @ 17.95%

total payments-25,399

Current payoff-14,586

car valued @ 3,300

maturity date is 1/2021

ive been paying on this for two years as mentioned above. The car is in my name only and I have a 530 credit score. My wife does not have a vehicle on her name and has a 470. It looks like we can get into another car in both of our names which would help build her credit since she has nothing but bad. One family member suggests to keep it, make payments on time and learn from it and let it help our credit. Others have suggested that we shouldn't keep pouring good money into bad money and take the repo and we can only go up from here.  As long as we stay current,clean our credit up, I've been told we can refi later. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks to all.

[lucknpat]

Who's the finance company? If the car is worth only that much and you let the repo happen they will sue you for the amount left over and you don't want that. Mine was just repo'd and they settled for almost less than 50% to let me get it back with the title. But my car is worth a lot and in good condition. I don't think you mentioned if it's still in good condition. I'm sure there are others here to help you more.

[Anonymous]

My car is in good condition. Typical wear and tear after two years. A dent or two but nothing major. The reason it's worth only 3300 is because of that accident it was in before I bought. I had no clue about it when I purchased it. According to some it would only be worth 6600 without that accident and maybe high 8000s when I purchased it considering it's history. Financed through Regional Acceptance. 

[Anonymous]

Was this a private party purchase? If it was a dealer purchase you may have a legal case to go after the dealer depending on the paperwork you signed at purchase..

[Anonymous]

Dealer. I actually requested the paperwork (contract and buyers orders) they valued the car at 12800 with an extended service agreement at $1992.00. With taxes, less down payment, etc, it was the 15,300 price that it was financed for. Buyers orders were vague with no descriptions, just price of vehicle. The same person that suggested I keep it suggested to look into legal action. But can you find out what that car was worth at time of purchase now and if it was high 8000s, is valuing it at 12,800 something i can have a case on them for?

[StartingOver10]

It is a very bad idea to let your vehicle get repo'ed at this stage.  The main reason you are so upside down is due to your interest rate. 

You are in a cycle right now where you have a low score so the loan terms, including the interest rate offered to you, is very poor. If you let the car go back, you will exacerbate the situation.

To get out of this cycle:  do what you need to do to increase your credit score including continuing to make ontime payments with this creditor. Don't let the car get repo'ed.

Once you have a satisfactory payment history, then refinance into a lower rate loan.  In the meantime save up funds so you can pay off the negative equity.  There are some lenders that will finance over 100% of the vehicle value so you can refi earlier.

Visit the rebuilding forum so both you and your wife can build up your scores.

By the way, adding a car payment is one of the slowest ways to build up your score. Get a credit card or two and follow the directions in the rebuilding forum. Read up on Understanding FICO scoring so you don't make further mistakes.  Getting a repo is a huge mistake.

As to your underlying question about the accident causing the low value - yes, some of the value was affected by the accident; however, most of the negative equity issue was with the actual negotiations with your purchase and the type of financing you chose.  It sounds like you went to a subprime dealer that soaked you with the sales price and the interest rate. The best thing to do is to fix your credit and then go to a credit union for financing and stay away from the subprime dealers.  They count on you not knowing the value of a car at the time of purchase and they absolutely soak anyone that uses their financing - that is their business model.  Make this vehicle count toward your good credit rather than allowing it to drag you down further. 

[Anonymous]

Your case would be the seller (dealer) knowingly sold you a Rebuilt title vehicle, if you can prove this which you would be able to by looking over the purchase documents, than you may have a case to after the seller in claims court. Do you mind sharing what state you are located in? 

On a secondary note: I would ask your current financing company if they even will finance Rebuilt title cars. Very few do, and if the dealer did not disclose this to them and the dealer knew they could be commiting fraud. 

[Anonymous]

Texas.  I don't think it's a rebuilt title. Not too sure though. All I know is that Carfax shows a minor accident and then a month later it was traded in and sold at an auction. But the person I was working with said that the minor accident took the current value of the car down in half..

[Anonymous]

Your legal case really rests on whether or not it is a rebuilt title. I would look over any other purchase document that you may been have given stating that the vehicle was "accident free" there are laws that protect buyers when they unknowingly buy a vehicle with a branded or rebuilt title, but it becomes more difficult when it was an accident that did not cause the vehicle to be totalled. 

I would also check out Carvana. See what they would give you for a trade in, they also do guaranteed financing based on a soft pull and give you your rate upfront. Not sure if you would qualify with those scores but it wouldn't be a hard inquiry to see. 

[Anonymous]

How can you pay this bad car loan off quickly with Santander?

I have the almost same scenario going on with Santander.  Original loan amount was 23,000 and I owe roughly 11,000.  The loan was opened in 2009 and has a dozen or so late payments over the life of the loan due to a variety of personal circumstances including a divorce and job change.  Several times I called and modified the loan.  Here's the kicker, I got behind 60 days in October 2014.  My 2007 BMW X3 was repossesed for 1 day.  I paid the fees and had not missed one payment in 2 years.   By now,  the BMW started having some costly repairs ( 3 in 2015 that totaled almost 6,000.00).  I dealt wth the repairs and then in 2016 it needed another 1700.00 repair which I decided not to have done.  The BMW X3 is sitting in my garage.  Next , probably not the best decision, but I was approved for a 35,000.00 car loan with Capital One.  I got a new car (payments are 600.00), Lincoln product with great service agreement for 5 years, or 50,000 miles.  

Back to Santander, I knew that I would have to figure out what to do with the BMW, so I called Santander back in September 2016 to try and refinance at a low interest rate.  They told me I was not eligible because of the age of the car.  Ok.  What can you help me with.  We can do a modification and let you skip September and October's payments.  So, I agreeded (my thought process was I will call my CU and see if they can help me figure out a plan of action) and agreed that I would make a payment (615.00) on November 9th, my due date.  Called to make the payment on November 4th and the automated service advised me that I was 54 days past due.  Well I immediately spoke with an agent, who advised me that I was in default because  they emailed me an agreement and it was never returned.  I never received any agreement, via email or mail or received a phone call from their collection department trying to collect my car payment.  I would assume that after not getting my car. payment for the months of September and October, they would have been after me.  

Well, I have been working on my credit for 2 years and this immediately dropped my credit scores between 20-30 points.  That hurts when your credit scores are in the low to mid 600's.  I asked to speak with a supervisor, to no avail they are not willing to admit a mistake and now I am stuck with their decision.

Has anyone else had a similar situation, were you able to resolve it?  Any suggestions would be much appreciated.  I forgot to mention that I have a great job and salary now.  I can support both car payments (But really want to get rid of the BMW) and I have a total of 6,000 of credit card debt which can be paid off in 3 months.

When I bought the new car, I was trying to trade the BMW in, but of course the loan is upside down.  Car is worth 5,000 in a private sale, which would leave me to pay the difference, which I don't have in a lump sum.  

I know this was long, any help would be appreciated.