Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

[Anonymous]

Is it possible to refinance a car loan that has been charged off but is currently being paid on time?  

My lender (Santander) said it would be in my best interest to close the account altogether by paying it off via trade in or refinance since my payments will never be reported as a positive

Most charge offs from what I see are closed. This account is open

I am just trying to re-establish my credit but I don't know who to turn to to fix this mess

[bstone]

Sure it's possible, as long as you still have the vehicle.  Generally when an auto loan is charged off that means it's been repossessed.

If you still have the vehicle start looking for a lender to refinance it (Capital One does this as well as most banks and credit unions).

If the vehicle has been repossessed (which is my instinct), you won't be able to get an auto loan for a vehicle you no longer have.  You could qualify for a personal loan, but chances are if you have chargeoffs and other negatives you aren't going to qualify as those are some of the most difficult loans to obtain with poor credit.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the response

Yes I still have the car. The day it was repossessed I paid all the months I owed and got the car back.

I have no idea how to find a company that would refinance a charge off but I would hate to keep this charge off continuously updating with my monthly payments. I have to keep paying to keep the car so I need a loan that's actually reporting positive information.

When I first went car shopping Capital One did not approve me for a loan so I can't imagine they would now..

[bstone]

It's going to be difficult, if not impossible, with a recent chargeoff.  I would suggest working to resolve the chargeoff status to "repo redeem" and getting the monthly payments reported (and not being late in the future).  It's probably going to take 12-18 months of good reporting and no other negatives on your credit to get a new loan, but it's possible.

You could also look at trading it in and see if the dealer has any financing options, however they will probably be the same type of lender as Santander (Westlake, CAC, Americredit).  At least you'd be done with Santander though.

[gibeon]

I'm not sure how they can be reporting this ad a charge off, if you got current on the payments, have the car, and are still making payments.

A charge off means that they have decided to take a loss on the loan from thr unpaid balance, and have literally written off the remaining debt as bad.

I would try to talk to their version of an executive office.

If you are paying them and all caught up, you should NOT have a charge off on your credit reports - late payments and even a rehabbed repossession, sure - but not a charge off.


Good luck!

[Anonymous]

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@gibeon wrote:
I'm not sure how they can be reporting this ad a charge off, if you got current on the payments, have the car, and are still making payments.

A charge off means that they have decided to take a loss on the loan from thr unpaid balance, and have literally written off the remaining debt as bad.

I would try to talk to their version of an executive office.

If you are paying them and all caught up, you should NOT have a charge off on your credit reports - late payments and even a rehabbed repossession, sure - but not a charge off.


Good luck!

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A charge off is simply an accounting measure, where the account is moved from the asset collum to the loss collum on their balance sheet, and for tax reporting purposes. It means that at a certain point the account became far enough deliquent that either A) they expected no more payments to be made, or B) it was required by law to be charged off (180 days delinquent). 

A charge off does not, in any way, preclude future payment of the account, or the account becoming current again. That is purely at the discretion of the lender.

I would simply continue paying, since at this point the score damage is already done, and refinancing would only be possible at a much higher interest rate. I would continue pursuing the issue with their executive office, to get the reporting status changed to redeemed repo, at the very least.

[Anonymous]

So the executive office is beyond the manager in their credit reporting department?

And a redeemed repo reporting my payments is better than a charge off?

Do they have the option to ignore my request and keep it as a charge off that I'm paying?

I don't even care if I get a higher interest rate. I just want to pay towards something that will help me rebuild my credit not perpetually penalize me for trying to make right on a loan ..


Thank you guys for pitching in

[Anonymous]

As I said in your other thread, pursue GW request that the status be changed to "paying as agreed, was a charge off". That is an accurate description of its status.

[Anonymous]

I am going through the same thing as you with Santander. The exact same thing!!!! I ended up filing a report with CFPB just today. Hopefully they are able to get me some type of resoution. Let me know what happens for you.

[Anonymous]

I am also going through the same thing with Santander. My cosigner, my mom, filed for bankruptcy in November 2014 but filled out the forms saying that the auto loan would not be included in those proceedings. Between the filling and finalization in February, I was under the impression that I could not make payments on my car since it was involved in an open bankruptcy case. This was obviously incorrect and the day after her case was finalized, I received a call saying that my car would be repossesed. I immediately paid the past balances in full but it has been reported as "charge off" every since.

My car has never been out of my possession and I have been making on time, automatic payments with Santander for over 6 months now. I would love to be able to resolve this to rebuild my credit. From this thread and others I've seen via Google, what Santander is doing is obviously not the norm.