If you are behind in paying your car notes then you are certainly not by your lonesome. Even though the economy has picked up, there are still plenty of folks struggling to keep a roof over their heads and a car in their driveway.
If your lender has threatened to sic their dogs on you and as a result, you are planning to hightail out of town in an effort to escape the repo man, rethink your plans. Running away, changing your address, moving your car to another spot, all pointless and just plain unnecessary hassles.
No one wants their vehicle repossessed. It is a bad debt that can lead to embarrassment, inconvenience and certainly, a horrific credit score (late payments can affect your credit score by as much as 100 points and a repossession can hit you even worse). Here are some tips on how you might be able to hold on to your vehicle and never come face-to-face with the dreaded repo man:
1) Man up (or woman up)! Creditors don't want to repossess your vehicle, it's a very last resort move. Lay your cards on the table, call your lender and be straight up with them. Did you lose your job? Were you hospitalized? Lenders want to work with you and come to some sort of a mutual agreement regarding payment, they don't want a charge-off.
2) If you've had a great run with your lender but got off track because of some life-changing incident for example, your creditor might be willing to defer payments.
3) Look into the possibility of an auto loan refinance. You can get a better rate which means a lower monthly payment.
4) If you could manage to part with your car, consider selling it off to pay back the loan amount. Do let the lender know that you are trying to sell off your vehicle in order to pay off the loan or part of it. Once you do sell the vehicle, you can make arrangements to pay off the balance (if there is one) of what you owe to the creditor.
FYI...for all you folks in the military, if you bought your car before you went on active duty, the repo man cannot touch your vehicle without a court order.
Need more info? Check out the Federal Trade Commission's website: www.consumer.ftc.gov
--Car Chick™
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