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Hi,
Here's my story. In October 2010, my husband and I purchased a 2006 Subaru Tribeca. I don't have the purchase price in front of me, but we got a loan through Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) at a 10% interest rate, $390/month for 5 years. Our scores were high 500's/low 600's. Since then, my husband and I have split up.
I have paid the loan on time each month, and currently owe about $15.000. I would LOVE to trade in the car for something less expensive per month. I was contacted by a local Subaru dealership, they wanted me to bring the car in and see what they could do. Unfortunately, being on a single income and having a low credit score, along with owing more than the car is worth (blue book value is around $12,500), they declined me. They sent me a letter and said they pulled a score of 520. Since the separation, I have had a few medical bills go into collection. I don't have a mortgage, and pay my few credit cards on time but I am close to the credit limits. I am working towards paying off the collections.
Before I go trying to get a loan that I'm either going to get declined on, or get an astronomically high interest rate on, does anyone have any other advice? Should I keep trying to pay extra on everything each month and pay off my collections before I try again?
Thank you so much for any advice!
Hi, Kanona - A 520 isn't going to get you a very good rate. You should, IMO, spend some time in the "rebuilding your credit" section and work on getting those medical collections removed via "PFD" meaning, you pay, they delete. Last year our scores were mid 500's and I stupidly stupidly stupidly bought a truck at 24.9% !!!!
Even if you did get a cheaper car, you will pay far more than 10% interest bc of your score, so I doubt your payment will get much lower than 390/mo.
How much could you sell that Subie for? Maybe you could sell it on Craigslist - enough to pay off your loan, the buy a car for cash - but then you run the risk of car repairs and your Subie is probably pretty reliable. IMO, keep it.
Good Luck!!
Yes, you definitely want to research pay for delete options for the medical collections. You want those off of your reports once they are paid. Also, I don't know much about this process (assuming it is still valid) but google "Mod Cut hipaa process." That will give you some advice on how to have medical collections removed from your report. But it only works if you haven't paid them.
That particular site name is not allowed to be posted. Also the HIPAA process will only work once the OC has been fully paid.
MarineVietVet, myFICO moderator
You have several issues in your post. You mention you would like a lower payment, is the payment itself too high or is it too high with all the other debt you have accumulated on your cc's? I ask this because sometimes its really tough to figure out a budget if all you feel is overwhelmed when you look at the payments.
You might want to start with writing down your current expenditures - write down everything including any trips to fast food places and other budget busters. Then take those amounts and total them for the week and the month (you will need your bank statement and cc statement to do this). Once you do this you will see where all the little bits are adding up to fairly large amounts (like visits to fast food restaurants or the grocery store). You can then re-prioritize your expenses so that you can put the money in savings rather than give it to Micky D's or someone similar.
Once you get the budget under control, you can look around the house to sell whatever is not nailed down. Put that money in savings in a CU.
Then go over to the credit rebuilding forum here for advice on reducing your utilization and getting rid of the collections via pfd or other methods.
By having the savings in the bank/CU, your decision making process will become more clear. IME, having $$ in the bank/savings makes everything more clear! ![]()
By then, you can see if you have enough in savings so that you can either refi your vehicle with the same CU where you have established your now rapidly building savings account or sell it and pay the difference. In any event, the CU will work with you once they see that you have an established pattern of savings. Also, your score will probably have improved if you have paid down your cc debt so your utiliztion is low.
IMO, I would work on the savings and you can always boost the score rapidly by making a lump sum payoff to the cc's with that healthy savings. (Allow 30 to 60 days for it to reflect in your score). The rebuilding section has lots more detail on this, search utilization and snowball method.