Is there anyway I can get out of this situation?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone, so due to me being young and ignorant and not smart on financing, I bought a 2017 Audi Q3 last November, and it was my first time getting a car loan, so with a sky high APR of 21%, even with a large amount of down payment I’m still stuck with a monthly payment of $603. Now I really regret this decision because combined with other bills, it’s getting to a point where I can’t afford to pay rent sometimes, I just got my new job this year and since I’m just starting the pay isn’t too great. I feel like I really regret making this decision, but I don’t think there’s anyway I can get rid of this bill at all right? I currently owe the car about $10K more than the car is worth so there’s probably no way I can trade in for something cheaper. And I’m not gonna sell/transfer the car to someone else because another family member needs this car too. So what are my options? Obviously refinancing would be something to consider after 3 years, not now. So that’s not an option. What can I do? Please help me. These high bills are eating me every months, I feel like I can’t do it anymore.

[GApeachy]

Have you tried refi with a local CU?

[Anonymous]

There is no 3 year timetable on refinancing . . it's the amount you're underwater on the loan that is the problem.  Where are you getting the value of the car from? Even with your interest rate, it seems odd to be that much underwater on used car when as you say, you put a large down payment down. Have you put a zillion miles on it in a year or something?

You honestly are stuck until you get the loan down to an amount that *can* be refinanced.

Time for a second job and/or moving back home (or reducing rent expense in some other way) hustle and throw all the $ you can at this loan and then refinance.

[Girlzilla88]

It's possible to refinance in a year I would try with your CU in a year and see what they say if you have one if you don't have one just yet I would start establishing a relationship with one ASAP and see about doing it at the year mark of having the vehicle and making on time payments for it the whole year.       That is what I did with my Malibu first time under my name had a 17% apr to start 1 year hit and refi'd with my CU down to 4%ish I think it was 3.5 or 3.75 regardless a lot LOT lower than the 17 I had to start 

[Girlzilla88]

3.49 LOL I forgot I added it to my Siggy LOL

[Strogen]

No, but you can do other things to alleviate it. Work a little overtime, ask family to help with the payment if they need the car as well, its only fair. You have to make extra payments to get it down to a point where you can refinance. 

No one is going to refinance a car that is 10K underwater. Thats the truth on that.

Honestly I dont think you'd be able to trade it in on anything cheaper, if you really are $10k underwater. No lender is going to approve a loan on say, a $14k car with 10K of negative equity. 

You could sell it privately and get a little more than what dealers would offer you. If you are 10k underwater you might be $7 or $8k underwater if you sell it privately. But you have to understand people want a good deal, they are not going to pay extra just because you owe on the car. It will sell for the going market rate generally, but you will get more than trade value. 

At the end of the day we sometimes make bad decisions, but this is far the worst ive seen. I would just keep making payments and looking for opportunies to better your financial situation. You might even drive for Uber or Lyft if it really us weighing on you. I understand this adds miles to your car, but its better than letting it get repo'd. You could work for one or two weekends a month and make enough to cover a significant part or all of the car payment. 

I understand you might be adverse to Uber or would never typically do things like this, but sometimes we have to step outside out comfort zone to get the bills paid. 

[randomguy1]

Look into making more income, sell unneeded items, and reduce your monthly spend. 

Make an itemized list of monthly expenses and eliminate the unnecessary expenses. If you are barely making ends meet, then you run the risk of missing payments if there is an emergency expense or if you simply misbudget/overspend.

[jbestman007]

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@Strogen wrote:

At the end of the day we sometimes make bad decisions, but this is far the worst ive seen. I would just keep making payments and looking for opportunies to better your financial situation. You might even drive for Uber or Lyft if it really us weighing on you. I understand this adds miles to your car, but its better than letting it get repo'd. You could work for one or two weekends a month and make enough to cover a significant part or all of the car payment. 

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You clearly have not seen a lot. 

To the original poster, this is not insurmountable. It is a car, not a house. Don't freak out. As suggested, get odd jobs and pay down the negative equity. You achieve that by requesting that any extra payment goes towards the principal only. You sound highly motivated; let it fuel you. Heck, once you get into a flow, you might decide to just pay it all off and keep the car. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it.