New (used) car loan

[mrskal]

Can anyone tell me if this makes sense or is even possible, I cannot wrap my head around it! LOL
-I own a Ford that we owe a little more on than it is worth. (according to carmax, would have bought it for $8000 about two months ago). Bought for about 18K, Int rate is 4.9, we have 26 payments left (owe $8600) Car has about 58,000 miles on it.
-The payment is $348 a month.
-I do not want to keep the car, I really need a mini van.
-I am going to file in a few weeks for BK7, can I even do this now?
-My credit is in the dumps already, wont it get worse once I do the BK?
-I am looking at a Dodge mini van that is listed at $8000,( may be able to get better price ?) 2006 with 59,000 miles on it. I have not seen it in person yet. Dont want to waste my time i this is not gonna be possible anyway.
-My idea is to get a lower payment, on a 3 year loan (?) and have the car I really need.
-I own two other cars, with a value of approx 3900 on one and 3400 for the other. I can get rid of one of those, but would prefer to keep them so my daughter can have a car for school. I did plan on keeping the Ford and not reaffirming, and keep paying for a while till she or we could save for another car, but from what I read, they dont do that.

-IS THIS A STUPID IDEA? (or even possible)
Thanks!

[mrskal]

Oh, also, is it really gonna matter if I have the finance guy pull my credit at this point just to see where we stand? I know it will be a hit on the credit score, but I am pretty sure it is bad anyway. I dont think right now I should be worrying about repairing the credit since I have not filed yet. Any advice on that?

[mrskal]

Anyone have any thoughts? I hate to be pushy on this, but if I am able to do this and it makes sense, I think I need to do it pretty soon. Thanks

[rmhesq2]

You do not say what state you are in. Bankruptcy laws do vary from district to district. I can tell you that, once you file, you will not be able to buy another car until you have received your discharge. After a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, your credit score will take a hit and, if you find a dealer who will sell you a car, your interest rate will be very high. It will be unlikely that you will be able to get a lower payment. If you can afford the payment on the car you have, I would suggest keeping it even though you want a mini van

[mrskal]

I am in Illinois,northern. I do not want the 350 payment that I have now, looking for about 250. If I did find financing now, would I have a problem with the filing? I would reaffirm the loan without a doubt if I really got what I am looking for. I dont see reaffirming the car we have now, as it is not practical for us. We can definately afford either payment, but lower is better! LOL Thanks for your reply.

[keepmine]

None of us can speak for a potential lender.
All you can do is talk with the F&I person at a dealership or whatever lender you have in mind and see if you meet their underwriting standards.

[mrskal]

The guy said he will get us approved, we shall see at what rate and so forth, it may not even be worth it. I guess my real question is, would it make any difference in filing my bankruptcy in a week or two?

[keepmine]

It should make no difference.
It's pretty standard advice to get your transportation needs firmed up prior to filing. Going to a lower car payment post bk makes a lot of financial sense.

[mrskal]

Ok, so I went ahead and had the finance guy at the dealer pull the credit. This was all before I even said what kind of car I was looking for. I did say a mini van, but did not tell him anything else. I had one in mind that they had online, but, after telling him my situation with bad credit and all, he said they work backward. They will find out what you are able to spend and go from there.

He comes back with, he can put me in a new Nissan Versa for $315 a month, and it was 6.9%, not sure on the term. Regardless, that is not even close to the car I was looking for, I told him I want a mini van and told him I want to spend about $250 a month, about 3 years, maybe 4 if it was a great van. I told him all that in the beginning.

So, he then had to go back, and see what he could do, a used car would have a different rate, yada, yada, yada. He was to call me yesterday morning. Never called, so I called at 1:45 to see what is up. He has had no time, will call back later. Ok, no problem I say. Never calls, so I call at 8:15 last night, get voice mail. No call back. I call again at 8:55, they say he just left. UGH!

This morning, he calls at 8, says sorry for not getting back to you , I left at 6:30. Ok, at this poing I am kind of mad, since the other guy said the night before, he just left, which would have been about 8:50. Anyway, he is working on it, will call me back. I checked the web site and the two vans I was looking at are gone now. He never did call back, so I called again just now. Said the problem is they dont have any mini vans, only 1 that is way too much money.

Sorry for the rant, but I do have a question. When this all began, the company he found a loan with was Wells Fargo. The WF guy had to call me to verify some info. I did that and all was good. I have the guys number still, can I just go through him and go to a different dealer to find a car. Do they only work with certain dealers? I am half tempted to call, but I dont know how any of this works really.

Thanks for listening!

[mrskal]

I am about to go to a different dealer today to look at a used minivan and to see about trading my car that I owe on. If it turns out to be a good deal, and I want to put about $500 down on it, is that going to be a problem if I am filing for a CH7 in a few weeks? I have money in my checking that I need to spend down, so I was thinking if it was under $600 it would be OK. I think that is what I read anyway. Thanks

[62hotrod]

probably wont help but i was advised to buy a car before i even filed. i dont know what happens after you file. are you using a lawyer? ours will let us email him with any questions.

[mrskal]

Yes I did talk to the lawyer and asked him about buying before I file, he said that was fine, but I did not think to ask about putting any money down.

The van I looked at today was very nice, low miles great price. $14990, 2007 Chrystler Town and Country Touring with 27,000 miles on it. Unfortunately after working out a "deal" it was not worth it. Supposedly they only could find one lender to do it, never heard of the lender, wanted 16.1% to finance, $1000 down, and $1000 on top of the van for them to "buy" the deal? Then $1000 less than what I owe on the car for trade. Add in dealer fee and tax, payments of $377 for 72 months. I dont think so. I am going to look at one more, tonight, that is listed at 9,990. I will see what they come up with.

I am beginning to think this is not meant to be LOL!

[62hotrod]

i know what u mean. i tried to get a loan for just $5000 to pay off the car we have but couldn't. so i went to every buy here pay here lot nearby, but couldn't get past the 16-21% rates on cars that are 8-15 years old with more than 150000 miles on them. so as a last resort i was online and filled out a credit app at this website

http://aceautocreditexpress.com/

normally i wouldnt do that online but figured what did i have to lose? they send the info to a nearby dealer who called me and we worked something out. i did have to put 500 down on an 07 which i financed at 8.24% interest for 72 mths. not sure thats what i wanted to do, but we needed a ride. hope this helps