@Anonymous wrote:Okay,
So I have a 2010 Toyota Corolla LE with about 65,000 miles on it. I bought it for $13,500 before interest and withOUT GAP. My monthly payments are $455 a month. I have had this car since June of 2013. My interest rate is beyond the roof, of 24.3%. This was my first car and without any guidance on what was a good deal or not I signed. So it has been two years of owning this car, I have made a total of $10,920 and STILL owe $15k. What do I do? I want to get out of this horrible situation. I dont have the greatest credit score either I'm 595 for both equifax and experian. Then 611 for my transunion. I tried to refinance and was told no bc I owe more than it is worth. I also tried to trade it in and was told the value of my car is $8500 and I would need to put a down payment of $7000. I just want advice. I need it. I make these monthly payments and dont ever see the balance go down.
If anyone could offer good advice, it would be greatly appreciated.
I am sorry that your first car buying experience was so terrible. If there is a silver lining in this ordeal, it is that you will forever know to check out the interest rates first and get your own financing with a CU or bank before car shopping. I know that is how I learned years ago, the same way you are learning now. 
Keep in mind that dealerships make money on the financing as well as the sale of the vehicle. So when you get in that little F&I office, the finance people always start high on the interest rate available to you. You have to come in with your own outside financing in order to get a decent interest rate offer from the dealership. There are benefits to coming in with your own financing -not the least of which is control over your own payment figures. The second benefit is you can use the outside (CU or bank) approval to negotiate a much better rate with the dealership if you choose to try the dealership financing.
However, since you are already in the deal now for two years this is what you need to do:
1) Make sure you do not turn the car back to the dealer - it will be considered a repo if you do and that will hurt you for the short term (at least a couple of years, although some people have overcome a repo in as short a time as one year, it is difficult)
2) Find out the actual amount you are upside down right now. That means determining actual market value of your car, not trade in value. Also find out the actual payoff due your lender. Youcan then either sell the vehicle or refinance. In either case you will need cash to bring to the deal to pay off the negative equity. For a private party sale, you will need much less cash than a trade.
3) In order to find the cash, you may need to either get a short term temp job for extra cash or sell things around the house or other cash generating methods. Remember, this it is temporary to get you enough to get out of this deal.
4) Some others have looked for a new vehicle with lots of rebates in order to bury the negative equity in your current vehicle. You would need to also make sure you qualify for a decent auto loan. What are your auto scores now? Have you applie with a CU or bank or checked guidelines with either?
EDIT: I see your scores now. Have you visited the Rebuilding forum here to see what you can do to get to the mid 600s?
The take away here is you can get out of this, you just need to plan your exit so you don't hurt your credit further and the next thing you get into you like. This takes planning and perserverance but it is possible.