[areak]

My question involves an auto loan or repossession in the State of: Tennessee.

My car was recently repossed (within the last 2 weeks). The payoff due is $3532.22.

The amount to get it back would be $1,913.35 (amount past due) + $375 repo fee = $2288.95.

I've been paying on it for approximately four years, and am very close to paying it off. Rough economic times put me behind.

I talked to the collections department of the bank today and explained to him that I am getting my tax money at the end of the week and would like to completely pay the loan off under a settlement.

He said that he could propose a 90% settlement to his supervisor when I was ready to make the payoff but couldn't guarantee it would be accepted. This would make my payoff $3179. I won't get that much tax money back so that's not really a settlement I am comfortable with.

Is there any way to negotiate a lower settlement, like 20-30% off? Is it common for them to accept settlements of that rate? Ideally, I would like to see a settlement of approximately 30% off which would make my payoff around $2450.

What can I do to accomplish this and would they be prone to accept that rather than auctioning it off and going through the procedures to collect any remaining balances due from me. Mind you, I'm self-employed so there are no checks to garnish.

What approach should I take in attempting this negotiation?

Does anyone know of a place that could negotiate a settlement of at least 30% for me at a low cost? Times are hard, so I don't have much.

Thanks so much!

[areak]

No ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated...I need some advice by tomorrow because that's when I'm hoping my tax money will be deposited into my account and as soon as it is, I'd like to start negotiations with them.

Thank you!!!

[OhMy]

No ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated...I need some advice by tomorrow because that's when I'm hoping my tax money will be deposited into my account and as soon as it is, I'd like to start negotiations with them.

Thank you!!!

You are in no position to negotiate with them.

You can try but that could very well just end up with the car not being returned, your credit destroyed, and a deficiency judgment for a car you can no longer drive.

Car loans are NOT home loans. You need to pay every dime of them or kiss your car goodbye along with your FICO scores.

[areak]

You are in no position to negotiate with them.

You can try but that could very well just end up with the car not being returned, your credit destroyed, and a deficiency judgment for a car you can no longer drive.

Car loans are NOT home loans. You need to pay every dime of them or kiss your car goodbye along with your FICO scores.

Thank you but I disagree that I need to pay every dime or kiss my car goodbye. I was hoping more for a comment from someone who would know how best to approach this because I've seen online that it has been done and everyone is always in a position to negotiate for anything, in my opinion. The worst one can say is no, but you never know if you don't try and banks aren't in that much of a better position than I am right now.

Thank you for the response though.

I've already informed them I want to negotiate a settlement since the car is almost paid off and they've already offered 10% off but I told them that I didn't know if I'd get that much back on my taxes so they told me when I get the money and am ready to pay it off to call them back and we can discuss it further.

As a paralegal, the first thing I learned was that there's ALWAYS room for negotiation. I've just never negotiated a car loan and I now work for myself so I'm no longer with a firm, but I've seen several things online where people were successful in doing so.

Especially with our economy being in the shape its in. Banks are going under. Everyone would rather get something than nothing, and they'd rather get as much as possible.

They come out better by getting most of the money back from me rather than auctioning it off for maybe 1/3 if they're lucky and just hoping they eventually recover the money from me -after paying attorney fees, court filing fees and any other applicable fees. Particularly since I'm self-employed so there's no garnishing my wages. And not much of my money goes directly into my bank account so attaching my bank account, after they eventually figured out who my account is with, wouldn't do them much good either.

It's just a matter of figuring out the best way to approach negotiating a better settlement than 90% off. I know it can be done, and again negotiations have already started but I was hoping someone had some experience with this they could share or maybe an attorney would have some advice on how it would be best handled.

Thank you again though.