Help with Voluntary Repo

[dorkchopqueen]

Hi all. I'm located in NY and this is my situation:

Back in June of 2005 I got a loan through North Fork Bank for a 2002 Ford Focus. I'm well aware that I got completely raped on the amount I paid for the car, but I digress. I was doing good on my payments for a few months. The car started acting up and I was having problems with it eating through my front brakes and the check engine light constantly being on. In October of '06 I found a great deal on a car I've always wanted (VW Golf) so I got that car. With my insurance payments now up to $400/month, I started falling back on my Focus payments. They already sent the repo man to my house, but I kinda temporarily relocated the car and put a For Sale sign on it. I owe about 10k even on the car and I'm only getting offers of $6500 for the car. My credit kinda already sucks and I've been denied for the $3500 loan to make up the difference. No family can help me, nothing. I'm thinking of just giving the car back, but I'm curious how to do that. Do I just walk into the bank, talk to the collections manager, hand over the keys and say ta ta. Then wait for them to auction the car and come after me for the deficiency? Also, if my other loan company for my Golf gets wind of this repo, will they take away my Golf? I've made every payment for that car on time, usually about a week before the due date. I'm looking to leave and move to Florida come summer time and just want this situation to be done with. I understand the effect it will have on my credit,but that's not really a big concern to me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[seniorjudge]

Turn in the keys and tell them how to get ahold of you so they can sue you for the rest of the money you borrowed.

[elorei]

Turn in the keys and tell them how to get ahold of you so they can sue you for the rest of the money you borrowed.

and kiss your credit score goodbye for 7 years.

[aaron]

If the loans are through separate companies, the loan for the Golf shouldn't be affected.

If you are able to sell the car and pay off the loan, you will have to come up with about $3,500. I would venture that if the car is repoed and sold at auction, they'll sell it for substantially less than $6,500 and you'll end up owing not only a greater amount than that $3,500, but also fees associated with the repo and sale.

[kdavenport76]

Problem though with selling car out right is that you need the title to sell a car...if you still have a true "car loan" you dont have the title...so you are kind of screwed and will have to just turn it in and hope they get as much as possible at auction. and yes the balance will be on your credit till you pay it off.

[aaron]

Selling a car with a loan isn't that complicated - although it's enough of a hassle that you can see why a lot of people prefer to buy used cars from dealers. The seller calls the creditor for a payoff amount, they give the seller a figure that's good for a fixed period of time (e.g., ten days), then the seller overnights them a money order for the balance. Once the seller is assured that the payoff has been mailed, the seller can sign the car title over to the buyer. To expedite the process it often makes sense to include a pre-addressed, postage-paid overnight mail envelope for the lender to use in mailing the release of lien.

Pursuant to instructions included with the payoff, the lender returns a release of lien to the buyer, and on receipt the buyer can complete transfer of the title. Where the seller is upside-down on the loan, the seller and buyer can each submit (in the same envelope) money orders to cover their respective shares of the payoff.

[kdavenport76]

My point was that he already indicated that he did not have the diffence of the balance he owed and what someone wanted to buy the car for...so the split payment option would not work if you dont have the money.

I dont think the bank will release the title if you call them and say "I only have 1/2 the money to pay the car off, sorry, but can I still have my title?"

[aaron]

What part of "If you are able to sell the car and pay off the loan, you will have to come up with about $3,500" was too opaque?