Honest Financial advice needed

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Bear with me, this may be a little on the long side.

I recently came into a hole, hole being in the hole, money being tight. OK, so money is tight for everyone. But I have a few decisions that need to be made that may or may not better the future in the long run.

I have a 2003 TrailBlazer, payments of $475 a month, everything is fine, not a bad payment. But like I said, money got tight, wasn't managed right, yadda yadda yadda. It happens. Not all my fault, yet I am not pointing fingers either.

I am behind on my payments. Behind enough to be in REPO status.:worried:
I use the TB to pull my trailer, which is MY BUSINESS and only source of income. So it the truck goes, no money comes in.

Here is where the trouble comes in.... I can make a payment, 1, but will still be in REPO status. I have to come up with a 2nd payment, somehow, to keep it out os REPO status. I have no idea how too come up with the 2nd payment, I have other payments/bills that need to be made (electric, phone, water, insurance) Things that are needed, not wanted.
I can ask family for the $$, but will still be behind on the payment, which if I go any further, will be in REPO status again. Now, I found a nice little truck, $1k down, payment of $175 a month, $300 less than the SUV. I have half for the down, but again, will need to ask family for the other half.

So I have to either chose between the 2. Ask for the $500 for the truck payment, or $500 for the other truck. Either way, I need help. But I am looking at it from down the road. I do not want to keep the SUV and fall back more and more....just to be in the same position.... Where I can get this cheaper truck, save money on payments, and save the rest....

Now I bought the truck for my Wife to drive, but I use it all day, every day to pull my detailing trailer. So she rarely gets behind the wheel. SO I am wasting money in gas IMHO with the SUV. Where the other truck will save me some gas.
My Wife wants to keep up the payments, and "when" she starts working, I can get a truck for myself, which will be 2 payments....:rolleyes:

When I said "when" she starts working, her Aunt and cousin are opening a dance studio, then she will be a dance teacher.... She is "betting" on everything going to plan, which scares me...lol

So, I am looking for suggestions, let the SUV go and get a cheaper truck for now, until everything gets better, or struggle to keep the payments up, and hope I do not fall again. Now, as much as I do not want to let the truck go, if it going to keep my in this position, then I will suck it up like a man, and accept what will go on my Credit report. It happens, and I admit, I will not deny it.

I'm sure there is a few things I forgot to put in there, so if I remember, I will post.

Any insight will be appreciated a million times, as the truck could be taken any time unfortunatly. I need to figure out if I should let it go, or pay and pray.......

TIA and sorry you had to hear me vent my financial problems, I have noone else to talk to about it and I am stressed out.....

Oh, and I just flew my daughter back to her mothers house in Missouri....and they are going to Japan for 3 years..... SO I won't see my daughter for 3 years.......:sadcry:
 
chris my wife says let the suv go and get the truck!!! and "when" your wife starts working she can get a new car.
 
that is what I wanted to do. I thought it would be better in the long run, minus the fat repo on the credit.
Wife says keep it, I dunno why. I want it, but do not want to drive it. It is sucking too much in gas with my trailer. I drive it all the time, a 3rd row seating SUV for nothing.
 
TB, I feel for you man. Unfortunately, if you let the Trailblazer get reposessed and it is worth less than what you owe, you will still owe the difference. Can you get some clients lined up and bust your ass to make enough money to make the payments? If not, go ahead and make one payment (only if you want to keep it) which will show the lender you still want to pay on it. Sometimes a lender will even "extend" the loan by placing the payment that you are in arrears at the back of the loan. Did you talk to the lender, are they willing to work with you? Can you sell something of value to get the money for the payments? Believe me man, I've been where you're at and it sucks, but things always seem to work out if you take the time to think about what you need to do and make the necessary sacrifices. Obviously you need the Trailblazer for your income to feed your family, pay bills, etc., then get out there and try to drum up some business in a hurry(office buildings, Dr.'s offices, etc., somewhere where you can do multiple jobs in one day(or a few days) to make a lot of money quickly. Obviously you need to pay your electric, rent(or mortgage), and water, other than that I would use what's left to pay for the truck(if you plan on keeping it). Like I said though, if you let it go and you are upside down in it, you are liable for that amount(or whatever amount is owed if it is reposessed and sold at auction or elsewhere). If you are not upside down and you are willing to take the large hit on your credit report and you won't lose any money by them reposessing it (if you owe less than it's worth), then let it go if it's unnecessary and it will help you and your family's livelihood. There's a lot of things to think about and I'm sure you will make the right choices/sacrifices. I'm sure Surfer, Killr, and Tonya will be around to help you with some advice as this is what puts food on the table for them. Keep your head up and DO NOT let this get you down and beat you----there's a good solution, you'll find it. Good luck man, wish you all the best.

PS. Sorry to hear about your daughter, that would be a tough pill for me to swallow. I mean EVERYONE needs a break from their kids every once in a while, but 3 years? When things work out(which they will), start putting some money aside for a round trip ticket for her to come back and be with you every once in a while!
 
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If the truck meets all your needs get the truck. Is this truck new or used? If the truck is used, will it look good enough to make a good first impression? I mean, your TB might be taken away at anytime, so I would just part with it before anything happens. If you don't feel that the truck will meet all your needs then you could borrow against your home, even though it is risky. If you do borrow against your home, you MUST work your arse off to pay that back ASAP. The only reason that I would suggest borrowing against your home is because a vehicle is nessasary for you to keep money coming in. If you are renting and cannot borrow on your house, then I think your only real choice is to get the truck and make it work, as I can't really see how you would make keeping the TB work.

Have you also considered how you are going to make more money to get yourself out of all of this, pay down the truck and everything else? ( I am assuming that the TB is not the only thing you owe money on) Maybe you can work longer days doing extra "express" details for a little extra money, also look at all your expenses and cut out almost everything that is unnessasary (to some extent you need some luxury items to keep you happy and sane).


I don't know if my advice is worth anything. I wish you the best of luck in making everything work out. I know you will be fine.
 
There are some things that you can do that used to work. Don't know about now days. Here are my thoughts. Contact the lender and ask to meet in person. Explain your situations and ask if they can work with you on this one. Just let them know that you are sincerely interested in them getting paid. They know that the financial ups and downs go in cycles. If you get ahead and can sell the SUV for enough to pay it off do that and then look for your new one. Just some thoughts.
 
Unless the SUV is worth a lot less then the amount you owe on it I would try to sell it and pay it off. If they REPO it they will probably say it's worth even less then you could sell it for and still say you own them the money for the difference. Besides ruining your credit (which will also cost you more money in the long run because of higher interest rates) and Reposing the SUV they can also get a judgement for the against you for the balance and start charging you interest on it. The interest will add up and you will be in an even bigger hole.

I think letting them REPO the SUV would be the last thing I would want to do. Either sell it or try and catch up with the payments.

Best of luck Chris. I hope it works out for you and your family.
 
I agree with everyone's suggestions. Try working with the lender face to face if possible. There are only two things you can do. Cut expenses or bring in more income. If you can't drum up more business then get a part time job at night. You probably have some credit card debt, seek the advise of a reputable credit counseling. Good luck.
 
only big things I pay are Truck payment and mortgage.
No credit cards at all, big trouble in my opinion.

I have tried to contact and work something out with the lender, Wells Fargo.
I cannot get them to budge.

As far as the truck I was looking at, it was a white S-10. great shape.
I was looking at it as a last resort. You know, just in-case my truck was gone in the morning type thing...hehe

I have nothing to sell of my own, not selling the Kids' stuff...... business is fine. I can work it out, but need to within the week, as I was told the truck could be picked up any day.
So that is why I am in a panic, I cannot do it in a week, lender could care less.
 
TexasTB said:
only big things I pay are Truck payment and mortgage.
No credit cards at all, big trouble in my opinion.

I have tried to contact and work something out with the lender, Wells Fargo.
I cannot get them to budge.

As far as the truck I was looking at, it was a white S-10. great shape.
I was looking at it as a last resort. You know, just in-case my truck was gone in the morning type thing...hehe

I have nothing to sell of my own, not selling the Kids' stuff...... business is fine. I can work it out, but need to within the week, as I was told the truck could be picked up any day.
So that is why I am in a panic, I cannot do it in a week, lender could care less.
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Good that you have no credit card debt cause this can bury you with excessive charges and interest for being late. Can you refinance and get cash out or get a home equity line of credit? If so, you can borrow from relatives until the loan goes thru, usually 30 days.
 
lenders rely on interest and fee's they are not in the game to sell off vehicles and homes. You need to get to an area within the bank called something like "customer retention". In all likelyhood they will redraw loan at a higher rate but allow longer to payoff and tack some payments on the rear to get you back into the loan. You must press them and even remind them of the issue.

Now you ask what is my opinion. You cannot afford to take on the repo status and also the following collection for difference in loan versus sale on truck. So for now, we gotta get things right. Then you can look to sell and absorb smaller loss before taking on truck #2. If you decide against this, realize for 7 years you will pay for this mistake on any piece of credit you need.

So make immediate payment at teller of branch holding loan, then make any partial payment you can seperately. Then get to calling and have your receipts ready to show good faith. Its going to get hard but push and remind the bank you DONT want to lose loan and face claiming bancruptcy to get out of THEIR debts.
 
killrwheels@autogeek said:
face claiming bancruptcy to get out of THEIR debts.
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True, but wouldn't that just buy him time(if filing bankrupcy were the case)? Meaning that even if filing bankruptcy were the case, wouldn't you still have to pay back the difference of the vehicle's worth compared to amount owed to the trustee of the case? Wouldn't the bank know this and shrug it off? It may vary state to state, but in Florida this used to be the case. It's been a while since I was up on this stuff and bankrupcy laws have changed.
 
What Killr and Gary said is good advice. Who did you talk to (what division) at Wells Fargo as most of these banks have so many departments to go through before you get the correct one even though they will continue to answer your questions, usually wrongly lol. Just have to keep pressing and ask to speak to a higher up, its just like in my business even though its Real Estate. Banks are not in the business of owning properties, just like they aren't in the business of owning cars.....they will almost always negotiate something if bad luck happens and you fall behind etc, as they don't want a negative item on their books whether its a car or house (at least the majority of the time), as it takes away from their own portfolio and warehouse/lines of credit to lend for financing.

Dengood - depends, being through the business and pretty sure he's writing it off (the truck), Chapter 7 would be more viable wiping out the debts if the situation is pretty bad.....though Chapter 13 trustee will still be paying the debts through the extra money you send to them ontop of the mortgage payment you can keep your auto and other loans as long as being paid through the trustee. Chapter 13 is also hard to do now or filing bankruptcy in general, guidelines and laws are much stricter then before....have a couple clients all self employed right now with past Chapter 7's from businesses failing etc which allows the liquidation of assets to pay the debts. Or Chapter 11 if partnership etc. It gets pretty complicated and in depth. Either way, it does not look good on credit and can hurt trying to apply for credit cards, auto loan, mortgage loan etc w/o getting nailed on rates/terms.

Though to go through all that for the car payment is crazy, I'd sell if its worth even a tad more then what is owed, or like Scott said make the current payment and work out a deal with the bank to add a little more in towards the debt etc.

Pulling a line out of the house is not worth it and could dig a deeper hole, even with a no closing cost 2nd. One 99% of the lenders won't do anything really under 20K now, actually most don't want to bother with anything under 50K. Credit Unions are a better choice for small balance 2nd's. But its also going to depend on what the home is worth current to what is owed, most areas of TX are still doing decently compared to FL, CA etc. But higher ltv 2nds are pretty tough in this market as the lenders are having a hard time selling them to investors, and the ones that do them have strict requirements b/c of the risk.
 
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Pulling a line out of the house is not worth it and could dig a deeper hole, even with a no closing cost 2nd. One 99% of the lenders won't do anything really under 20K now, actually most don't want to bother with anything under 50K. Credit Unions are a better choice for small balance 2nd's. But its also going to depend on what the home is worth current to what is owed, most areas of TX are still doing decently compared to FL, CA etc. But higher ltv 2nds are pretty tough in this market as the lenders are having a hard time selling them to investors
You are correct Surfer, I'm a mortgage broker, but if he has any equity it may be his only way out. Beats bankruptcy. Plus his wife will be going to work soon.
 
I can't offer any more advice than the other already have. Good luck getting this resolved. I'm very sorry to hear about your daughter going to Japan for 3 years. That just does not sound right at all.

Best wishes.
 
TexasTB alot of good advice here. I can try to help, however I am going to need more specifics. Sounds like you are only behind 2 payments behind, most banks don't repo until 90 days late. If you are 90 days late, hide the damn truck for a few nights until you come up with a plan. Don't answer the door either!!!! The can't repo what they can't find! Most reop drives do not want a fight or to get their but shot, they reop between 2:00 and 5:00 am or they follow you to work. Ok... I am going to send you a PM with my phone #'s in case you want some help.
 
Hey I just remembered by a guy that use to repo cars in texas, that if you put a "fence" around the truck they can't repo it. something about it being in a fence they can't go past that boundry. Anybody know if this is true???
 
Texas, I don't have much advice, but I would not want a repo at all. I am sorry to hear about your daughter leaving to Japan. I wish you the best. Good luck!
 
klumzypinoy said:
Texas, I don't have much advice, but I would not want a repo at all. I am sorry to hear about your daughter leaving to Japan. I wish you the best. Good luck!
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you really need to have onr credit card in my opinion for times like this. as much as i hate credit cards i have one just for emergences. believe me ive been in the boat running around trying to get money to pay employees truck payments ect. my problem is waiting for money from custermers. they take for ever to pay some of them . so i feel what your going threw brother.some monthes go by and i say to my wife i dont know who we made it throught that month. good luck take care it should work out dont worry.
 
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