topic Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan in Rebuilding Your Credit

Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 08:51:52 GMT

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

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

bstone — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 11:29:41 GMT

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.

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 12:05:32 GMT

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..

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

bstone — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 12:20:32 GMT

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.

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

gibeon — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 13:44:15 GMT

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!

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 14:39:07 GMT

@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!

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.

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 14:48:45 GMT

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

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 15:03:01 GMT

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.

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 19:59:03 GMT

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.

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 17:48:57 GMT

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.

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

RobertEG — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 19:08:22 GMT

What they are doing is not improper, but I would assert in any communication you have with them that it is not, in view of your return of the account to good-standing, an equitable representation of the account or of you.

They were entiteld to take the CO. I would not argue that fact.

I also would not argue that it can no longer appear n your credit report.. Once they did a CO, it becomes an accountng fact of life.

However, the CURRENT STATUS is no longer one of deliquency, and the CO is no longer the current account status, but its reporting is relegated only to your payment history profile and your Payment Rating (which is a separate code that retains the level of account delinquency prior to it becoming current or paid).

The reporing of a CO to a CRA is an optional matter, and is in essence their posting to your credit report of their view, at that time, that the debt was not going to be paid.

That prior view is no longer the current fact, as the debt is bing paid, and is no longer delinquent. Each month that you repay, the must declare that $$ as income, effectively ofsetting the tax break they obtained by the accounting shift of the debt from their assets.

To now remove the statement that you were expected to stiff the debt would, arguably, be a MORE accurate reprresentation of you as a consumer who does pay their debt when prior hard times are overcome, and deletion of the representation of you as one who does not pay their debt would more accurately serve the interests of the reporting system.

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 15:58:25 GMT

Hello mmoore1192,

I am going through the exact same thing with Santander and was curious to know if the CFPB was able to help you.

Thanks

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 17:13:24 GMT

Question is are you upside down or not? If not, just sell the car outright and pay off the loan, otherwise try to find a place that will trade it in and roll the negative equity into a new loan.

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 17:17:07 GMT

@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!

The CO is an accounting action required by law after a certain level of delinquency (I think its 150 days for installment loans). It in no way precludes their accepting subsequent payments on the account.

Removal of the CO would be a goodwill gesture on the part of the lender, and not any sort of requirement.

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

RobertEG — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 17:23:44 GMT

Remember that you are not requesting that they undo the fact of having taken the charge-off.

You are only requesting that they delete the reporting of that fact to the CRAs.

While the taking of a charge-off is usually required at a certain point in time under federal regulations, it is NOT reqired to be reported to a CRA.

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 17:56:51 GMT

My car was repo'ed on March 1st and which was coincidentally my first day at work after 7 months of unemployment.

I recieved a notice to repo dated march 1st on march 5th.

My first paycheck went to getting the car back, so i paid all fees and got the car back.

The Santander rep i spoke to told me to keep making my payments which i have , but the account is still showing as Charged off.

Has anyone had any luck changing what is being reported by santander after thier charge off.

Thanks

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

mvnup2017 — Sun, 14 Aug 2016 12:16:34 GMT

I actually just went through the same thing with a different finance company-still in possession of the car,making payments, but being reported as charge off. I asked for a settlement amount to close out the account-they accepted, then I traded it in (at a less then favorable car dealership) and the paid it off. Now that's the charge off has stopped reporting, I can work on getting into a better position.

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Toastmaster — Tue, 23 May 2017 14:44:57 GMT

I'm in the same situation. Any other help or ideas to resolve this issue with Santandar?

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

mvnup2017 — Tue, 23 May 2017 15:31:57 GMT

Did you try to settle and trade in yet?

Re: Refinancing an "Open" Charged Off Car Loan

Toastmaster — Tue, 23 May 2017 20:20:23 GMT

Not yet. Don't even know how, this is all new to me. :-(

Lots of learning to do about this one.