Expect your credit score to drop anywhere from 50 to 150 points, depending on other credit factors. That's not to say you should sit back and let your lender take your car. You might still be able to make arrangements with them.
Sell it privately
You can post the car for sale on Craigslist, eBay Facebook Marketplace and/or other sites. Ideally, you sell it for enough to wipe out your car debt, including the negative equity. If that's not possible, you'll need to come up with the difference out of pocket.
A Repossession Can be Removed, but It's Not Easy
If you have a repossession in your credit history and it's reported accurately and you can't afford to pay off the bad debt, you'll have a hard time removing the negative mark from your credit report.
You can sell your car to a dealership even if it's on finance from another dealership or lender. It doesn't matter if it's a HP or PCP agreement either, as the process for selling your car is the same for both.
Voluntary surrender and repossession are both loan defaults, which stay on your credit reports for seven years. That type of negative mark will harm your scores, especially your automotive-specific credit scores.
The simple answer is yes, a voluntary repossession affects your credit score. Even if a borrower does give up their vehicle voluntarily, their credit score still takes a hit.
Will CarMax Buy an Upside Down Car? Yes, CarMax will buy your car even without you buying any car from them. If your loan is upside down, it's much more difficult to catch up on your repayments because your car's value continues to decline over time.
Yes. Until the sale of your car to Carvana is final, continue to make your normal loan payments to avoid late payment penalties with your lender. Any overpayments will be reimbursed to you.
Voluntarily surrendering your vehicle may be slightly better than having it repossessed. Unfortunately, both are very negative and will have a serious impact on your credit scores.
A repossession is going to drop your credit score between 50 to 150 points. The repo will stay on your credit report for 7 years. If you speak with the lender, in some cases they will negotiate a deal that does not include your credit being damaged.
In most cases, you should be able to get a home loan even if you have a repossession on your credit report. But it will not be easy, especially since the current mortgage market has tightened because of the economic effects of the coronavirus. You may have to shop around and look harder than usual.
A voluntary surrender occurs when you contact the lender on your own to let them know you can no longer make payments and make arrangements to give up the vehicle. You still lose the vehicle, but surrendering it voluntarily allows you to avoid the stress and potential embarrassment of a repossession.
Some car dealers advertise that, when you trade in your car to buy another one, they'll pay off the balance of your loan. No matter how much you owe. But what if you owe more than the car is worth? That's called “negative equity,” and the dealer's promises to pay off your loan may be misleading.
Any remaining debt could be sent to collections.
Lenders sell repossessed cars at auction, and if it doesn't recoup the remaining balance of the loan financing it, you'll owe what's called a "deficiency balance." Ultimately, the lender could sue you for the money you owe.
If you return the car to the lender, the lender will likely sell it. It will apply the proceeds of the sale to your car loan balance, after reimbursing itself for the costs of sale and certain fees.
Will a car dealership settle my finance? Another short answer: yes. This is a popular process for people looking to upgrade or change their car before paying off the total outstanding finance.
If your car's trade-in value is more than your current loan balance, then you're all set—you can just pay off the old loan and apply the difference toward the cost of your new vehicle.
Cons for using Carvana
The prices of cars may be on the higher side compared to private party sales or other used car dealers. No opportunity to test drive the car upon delivery. Buyers might not see certain features or damage from the online pictures alone.
If your car is worth as much as or close to the balance on your account, selling it could enable you to pay off the loan without harming your credit.
Yes, Carvana Auto Loan reports your account activity to the following credit reporting agencies: Equifax. Experian. Transunion.
Yes! CarMax will buy a car with a loan on it in most cases. Unless you're way too far upside down on the loan, CarMax is likely to purchase the car from you. If you want to sell a vehicle to CarMax that still has a car loan on it, schedule a meeting or walk into a branch near you.
If your pay-off amount is more than our offer for your car, the difference is called “negative equity.” In some cases, the negative equity can be included in your financing when you buy a car from CarMax. If not, we'll calculate the difference between your pay-off and our offer to you and you can pay CarMax directly.