If paying off the car's negative equity in one fell swoop isn't on the table, pay a little more each month toward the principal. For example, if your monthly car payment is $351, round up to $400 each month, with $49 going toward the principal. The more you can pay, the faster you'll get rid of the negative equity.
Refinancing Your Upside Down Auto Loan
If you have been suckered into a car loan in which you owe more money to the lender than the car you bought with the loan is worth, otherwise known as an upside down car loan, a good way to get yourself out of this hole is to refinance your upside down auto loan.
Unfortunately, most lenders won't refinance a car with negative equity without a credit score of 750 or higher—but you still have some options if not! Instead of trying to refinance immediately, start to pay your loan down more efficiently.
You have negative equity. If your car is worth less than what you still owe, you have a negative equity car also known as being “upside-down” or “underwater” on your car loan. When trading in a car with negative equity, you'll have to pay the difference between the loan balance and the trade-in value.
The best way to determine if the negative equity is too much is to calculate the Loan-to-Value ratio (LTV). Ideally, the loan amount should not exceed 125% of the resale value.
If you financed your car with a Personal Contract Purchase loan and you've already paid off at least 50% of the amount owing, you can hand it back to the lender. Keep in mind that this 50% figure also includes fees and interest.
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.
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.
If you're upside down on your car loan, it's a good idea to delay your trade-in if you can — unless you are comfortable paying off your negative equity upfront. But if you need a new car soon and a negative equity rollover is your only option, consider buying a used car and borrowing as little as possible.
Trading in a Car with Positive Equity
When you trade in your car, you'll get the difference ($2,000), which represents your equity in the car. If you're financing your new car, then you can use your equity in the old one toward your down payment. That can be a way to lower the total cost of your new loan.
Lease a new car with a big rebate: Rolling over the negative equity into a lease might also make sense. Since lease payments tend to be lower than traditional car payments, you might not feel the sting of the negative equity penalty quite as much. And when the lease is over, your negative equity will be gone, too.
No, you usually cannot do this. However, if you made your purchase from a dealership and want to refinance something else, they may accommodate you in the name of good business. Dealers generally aim to have you return one day when you're ready to make your next purchase, after all.
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.
Voluntarily surrendering your vehicle will have a substantially negative impact on your credit scores because it means that you did not fulfill the original loan agreement. When you voluntarily surrender your vehicle, the lender will sell the car to recover as much of the money owed as possible.
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.
If you can't resume payments and get caught up, your car can be repossessed. Worse, you could still owe money on your former car after you no longer have it. The repercussions can stick with your credit rating for years, making it hard to borrow money again, and increasing the interest on any loan you do get.
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.
While you can't swap a finance agreement from one car to another, there may still be the option to change your car if you have finance outstanding. To do so, you could pay off the remaining balance, then sell your car and buy a new one. Or you could part-exchange through your dealership.
A voluntary termination of a car finance agreement can indeed appear on your credit file. However, it's not likely to have any impact on your credit score, or your ability to get finance in the future. If you can't keep up with your monthly car finance repayments, you might be tempted to simply stop paying.
Your car loan doesn't disappear if you trade in your car. However, the trade-in value of your car becomes credit towards your loan. This credit might cover the whole balance. If it doesn't, your dealer will roll over your loan, combining the deficit with the amount owing on your new car.
Selling a car with positive equity is a good place to be. It means the sales price or trade-in value is more than what you owe on the loan. So, you could walk away with some money in your pocket, or you could apply the positive equity to a new car loan.
Before selling your car, you'll want to wait until you have enough equity to make a profit from the deal—otherwise, you'll get no benefit from the transaction. For example, if the private-party sale value of your car is $10,000 and you owe $4,000 on your auto loan, you have $6,000 in positive equity.