Hello! My husband was laid off a few months ago and we have been really struggling financially. Mainly, the truck payment has been killing us! WE had some money in savings to help cover the payment and we are just about out of money. We were wondering if we could get some advice on the best course of action to take. We have been thinking about turning the truck in and doing a voluntary repo. The problem is that we are really upside down on the loan. If the lender sold the truck themselves there would probably be about $9000 left over. We are afraid that they would come after us for the difference. The lender is Bank of America. Has anyone had any experience with them as far as voluntary repo? I know some lenders write the difference off, but I have a feeling they would come after us. Help! What should we do? Do you think BK is the better route? FYI....we have about $5000 in cc debt too. One other thing......we would like to get a house in about 3 years. So, we need to think ahead about how this is going to effect getting a house too!
You definitely don't want to file for BK at this point. You should avoid that at all costs unless there really is no other solution for you. Have you considered a scenario in which you sell the truck yourself? If you are both unemployed and remain that way, you will likely end up with no choice but to file BK....so get jobs...both of you...perhaps 2 each!
Filing Bk for $14000 might not be your best move at this point, but it does wipe out the debt. You can always file later if things get worse. Most likely BA will come after you for the $9000. If you don't have any assets for them to attach then it's not a big deal. Just another collection account. With a $9000 collection on your report a mortgage lender most likely will want it paid off before giving you a mortgage. This is where things might get tricky. Sometimes the banks will give you an extension on the payments and add them to the back of the loan. This will buy you some time. Don't tell the bank you're thinking of giving the truck back because they might repo it the first chance they get.
