Overhaulin'

Please help me get out of my upside down car loan!?

Im currently am paying on a 2007 Malibu. I owe 21000 and the value is about 14000. I had bad credit 2 years ago when I bought the car, and now, not so bad, my score is over 600. I've made all my payments on time but because my interest rate is so high, I've pretty much just been paying off interest. My payments are almost 600 a month, so it is not possible for me to send in more than my payment every month to pay the loan off faster. Because the value of my car is so much lower than how much I owe, nobody wants to refinance me. What can I do? I just can't keep paying this much every month, I have no money!

Public Comments

1. Then why did you buy the car that you did? Most car loans on new cars are upside down for the first half of them to begin with. It sounds to me like you did not do any homework before buying this vehicle and now are having buyer's remorse, I am assuming that you also got a long term loan of the 5 to 7 year type.
2. It probably won't make you feel any better but there are many more people on this site that are in the same situation. There really isn't a solution, as you know you can't refinance for more than the car is worth, you can't sell it without a clear title and can't get the title until the loan is paid off. Have you called the lender to see if they will lower your interest rate or accept partial payments? That's really your only hope. I hate to bear more bad news but if they repossess the car or even if you voluntarily turn it in, the car will be sold at auction and they will come after you for the difference in what it sold for and the amount of the car loan. It will ruin your credit and the lender could go so far as to garnish your wages, if that's legal in your state.
3. That's what happens when you buy a new car. If you can't afford the car, why did you purchase it?
4. First thing I would do is find out if there is an early payout penalty on the car. Then if there is not or if the payout if cheap I would see about getting a line of credit and paying it off that way.