THREE MONTHS BEHIND

Everybody’s Uncle

We currently have a vehicle where the payments are just too high for us. We’ve held on for about 4 years but just can’t afford the payments anymore and are now 3 months behind. The company does not want to work with us. We’ve asked for deferments, re-finance, lower payments but they don’t want to do any. We’ve tried re-financing with other companies but our credit is shaky.
Is there anything we can do?
Linda
Arizona

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Linda,
After 4 years of payments the principal amount should be a small portion of the original amount owed and under most conditions should be manageable if spread over a few years.  Using home equity and credit cards are obvious sources of temporary funding. Call one of your credit card companies; they can be very creative if you don’t mind the high rates. Finding addition income is always a possibility. There are companies that specialize in high risk loans at high interest rates.
Drastic cuts in life style are painful but are better than facing default. Tighten your belts. Eating out, takeout, movies, cable, cell phone, are often bad habits more than necessities. Food budgets, phone bill, utilities, gasoline and all non-necessities might be pared back until things stabilize. 
More creative: family or friends can be lien holders on the car. You could ask a family member for help. As a tactic you could consider sending a portion of the amount due each month. More times than not people tend to send nothing instead of making a good faith effort. If the issue appears in front of a judge or if common sense is in play a partial payment could serve to forestall repossession (which should be avoided any way possible – read my other columns).
Everybody’s Uncle