Car loans, student loan consolidation, oh my!

[Deleted]

I need financial input and unfortunately there isn't many other places to find that info.

My car loan is crippling me and I need help figuring out my options. I've mentioned this before but can't recall the solutions. What do you need from me to help?

Car loan - $13,000+
Worth - $7000
Interest rate - 20%

Student loans are all over the place. I wonder if having one payment is easier than a million

Total student loans - $48,000+

Let's not dwell on how I got here. That doesn't help me any. I'm looking for additional income of $500 or more but so far no luck

I guess I'm mostly just asking about student loan consolidation and advice on my auto loan. .

[chikastuff]

Student loan consolidation is easy peasy. Are they federal or private?

[Deleted]

Federal.

Is there a specific company or organization I should look into?

[kadams767]

loanconsolidation.ed.gov/AppEntry/apply-online/appindex.jsp

There are calculators and some FAQs on this site to help determine if a federal loan consolidation will be helpful.

Also, I think you can track down all of your student loan info through www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/

[Deleted]

May 5, 2014 20:39:09 GMT -5 kadams767 said:

loanconsolidation.ed.gov/AppEntry/apply-online/appindex.jsp

There are calculators and some FAQs on this site to help determine if a federal loan consolidation will be helpful.

Also, I think you can track down all of your student loan info through https://
www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/

Fabulous! Thanks.

I have all the information but they are split between one entity and another. I'm wondering if it might be easier / better / save more to have them all under one bill.

I've been deferring them for 2 years and need to get focused on paying down my debt. I have some great 1,3,5 year Financial goals that finally look/feel attainable.

Any advice on the car? From my googling it looks like I'm pretty stuck paying it off. Which is another couple years of $400/month payments. Just makes me sick to my stomach.

[Deleted]

Credit unions have great rates for car loans. Is your credit score good?

[Deleted]

My credit score is horrible. 2013 was a rough year financially. I made less than $15,000 in 2013 while having over $1600/month in expenses. Needless to say, my credit is far worse than it was before. I have charge offs, my car loan has been 60-89 days late for over a year. :-\

Yikes, saying it out loud is scary. But, I need to confront and deal with my debt demons or I'm never going to have the life I want

[Deleted]

Have you looked in the IBR for the student loans? If you made so little you would likely have a very small payment. Consolidation is also very easy. I consolidated my $14k in student loans through nelnet.com. It was very simple and dropped my payments from $138/month to $86/month.

The car loan is a more difficult issue. You are upside down and may not have many options. I wish I had a suggestion, but I don't.

[chikastuff]

My federal loans were consolidated under the Direct Loans program.

[krystee]

I don't know if student loan consolidation rates are based on credit score at all, but if so you'll want to wait until your score improves if you can, because you can only consolidate once, ever. If you have a couple at low interest rates, leave those out of the consolidation and keep the low rates.

Can you deliver pizzas or bartend at night? A couple of months with $800-$1,000 extra would get you right side up on the car and give you more options.

[Deleted]

I'm salary (and benefits) now which that my repayment plan is based on what I make now. I'm still waiting for paperwork before I'll know my final figure.

I've been looking for a bartending job but surprisingly haven't had much luck. Considering I have 6 years experience. I'm not giving up hope but every month my car payment is killing me.

[agnes]

luckyae13, I mean bliss, I thought you sold your car and got a bike?  

[Deleted]

Thinking back to all of your posts about this in the past, it seems like getting rid of the car right now is not really an option. What is your current living situation? Could you live with multiple roommates to decrease your living expenses? I know how much you've disliked living with roommates in the past but it may be worth it financially to do this for a year or two to pay down some debt. It seems like this might be your best approach to paying down that debt if you are upside down with the car and don't have the best credit.

[Deleted]

I live with roommates now. I'm about 7ish miles from work. I could move further inland and decrease rent but then I'd make up for it in gas and utilities. I looked at the various costs before finding my current place. I'm still looking to decrease rent but when I do other bills increase.

So it's tricky. I'm really not spending more than $100/month on fun/booze so I'm not overspending.

There's just simply not enough to go around. I need to get a bartending job. So maybe I should ask for good vibes instead. :-)

[AAM2012]

Didn't we warn you of this when you moved out west? We also warned you when you bought your car. We asked you all of these "How you gonna pay for it?" questions and you basically told us to MYOB. Hmm yeah ...good vibes to you.

$100 on fun money is what I get a month so you may want to reconsider that if you truly want to pay off your debt.

[kadams767]

May 5, 2014 20:47:56 GMT -5 @blissoff said:

May 5, 2014 20:39:09 GMT -5 kadams767 said:

loanconsolidation.ed.gov/AppEntry/apply-online/appindex.jsp

There are calculators and some FAQs on this site to help determine if a federal loan consolidation will be helpful.

Also, I think you can track down all of your student loan info through https://
www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/

Fabulous! Thanks.

I have all the information but they are split between one entity and another. I'm wondering if it might be easier / better / save more to have them all under one bill.

I've been deferring them for 2 years and need to get focused on paying down my debt. I have some great 1,3,5 year Financial goals that finally look/feel attainable.

Any advice on the car? From my googling it looks like I'm pretty stuck paying it off. Which is another couple years of $400/month payments. Just makes me sick to my stomach.

I don't know what to do about the car, sorry.

Actually, and this is just me thinking out loud, I do sort of wonder if it might not be the worst idea in the world for you to let them repo the car. If your credit is, admittedly, already really terrible, and you are already at the point where the best loan you can get is 20%, I might consider this. I'm not really familiar with the consequences of this other than the credit issues, but does anyone else know? Would they be able to come after her for the difference in amount owed and car's worth? Or do they take the car and that's that?

[gogreengowhite]

From what I understand, if your car gets repo'd you still pay the difference between what you owed on the vehicle and what they were able to sell it for at auction.

At least this is what happened to a member of H's family.

[kadams767]

gogreengowhite, that is what I was wondering.

[evergreen]

Your credit score does not matter when you consolidate your loans as long as you do it through the Federal program and not some private program.  It should help.  When I consolidated my loans my payments across all loans was like $600 and I was able to get an income based plan that took it down to $200 for ten years.  Hopefully by the time the payments go up, you will be on your feet.  I think you are stuck with the car unless you want to just turn it back over to the finance company and negotiate something for the difference between loan amount and value.

Good luck!  I know how hard it is when there just isn't enough money coming in to cover everything and you're not exactly partying all the time.  DH has been out of work for almost three years and shit is getting real.

[illgetthere]

Federal student loan consolidation takes a weighted average of your current rates. I would definitely consolidate them. After that, cut the fun/booze to maybe $25/month for a little while and put that $75 savings plus your student loan saving towards your car. Do everything you can to get the balance closer to value and try to get rid of it. I don't know of any other way to.

[chikastuff]

May 5, 2014 22:16:16 GMT -5 @blissoff said:

I'm salary (and benefits) now which that my repayment plan is based on what I make now. I'm still waiting for paperwork before I'll know my final figure.

I've been looking for a bartending job but surprisingly haven't had much luck. Considering I have 6 years experience. I'm not giving up hope but every month my car payment is killing me.

I believe they go off of your most recent tax return, not your current salary.

[Deleted]

I'd look into what happens if you let your car get reposessed, and I might just do that if I were you. Are you in LA now? I know many people there drive but there is public transportation. I am certainly not an expert on how it works, but I know my BF didn't have a car and took the bus when he lived there. I'm sure that is dependent on where you live/work but could be an option.

How much longer do you have on your car loan? I am thinking with that interest rate and the loan balance it's going to be more than a couple of years if you're only paying $400 a month.

[Deleted]

I'm in SD now. I could totally live without the car but getting it repo'd means I'm still responsible for the rest So, I'm not sure that's the best option.

I'm not sure about consolidation but my current loans are based on what I make now. I had to send pay stubs with my paperwork.

Also, I was aware of this moving and figured because I could "afford" it that it wouldn't be an issue. Turns out a year later and my thinking has changed and so have my goals. Don't really think that's a crime, people change and grow up.



pay stubs with my

[Deleted]

Ftr in slc I was paying $500/month in rent so if I was still there I'd be able to put $400/month extra towards the car. Which is what I was doing in slc, then I lost my job and decided to move. Could I have gotten another job in slc, saved and then moved sure. But, I didn't and figured I'd rather scrimp building the life I want for myself instead of partying it away in slc.

It's a decision I made and despite my current financial picture I'm glad I did. I'm happy here and have an amazing job. Even if I'm making pennies by MM / AMM2012 standards.

[Deleted]

Sorry on the website on my phone and editing sucks.

I believe I have 4 more years on the car loan. Bleh.

[more adventurous]

I do know that with IBR through federal consolidation they go off of your last tax return information (or, they did back when we did it). But, you can also just consolidate with standard repayment and that may help you as well (plus, you'll never have to worry about the monthly amounts going up). My husband did standard on his and I believe it took his payments from over $800 to $380.

[agnes]

Yes, people change and grow up. But you keep coming here asking the same questions, getting the same advice, and ignoring it or doing the opposite.

I used to like you bliss, really I did. Now I'm at the point where a lot of other posters got to YEARS before: frustrated.

Honestly, you should let your car go to repo. IF your car is in fact worth $7000. Paying off the difference of $6,000 will go much faster than 13k. You're credit is already been shitty, it's not going to make much of a difference. And you REALLY should get a bike and just ride that and/or use public transportation.

You have been saying you're "salary with benefits" for months and months and months now. I don't believe it. While you think jobs that don't require a degree are beneath you and you're above Admin Assistant jobs, you should really take ANY job you can get. Even if you don't like it. Even if you took a full-time receptionist job for $12 an hour you'd make almost 10k more than what you did last year.

$100 a month on non-necessities when you didn't even make 15k last year IS over spending.

You are in this situation because you keep putting yourself there. But whatever, start throwing your temper tantrum like you always do. Haters gonna hate.

I don't know why I'm bothering with this post.

[pinkdutchtulips]

May 6, 2014 6:54:34 GMT -5 kadams767 said:

May 5, 2014 20:47:56 GMT -5 @blissoff said:

Fabulous! Thanks.

I have all the information but they are split between one entity and another. I'm wondering if it might be easier / better / save more to have them all under one bill.

I've been deferring them for 2 years and need to get focused on paying down my debt. I have some great 1,3,5 year Financial goals that finally look/feel attainable.

Any advice on the car? From my googling it looks like I'm pretty stuck paying it off. Which is another couple years of $400/month payments. Just makes me sick to my stomach.

I don't know what to do about the car, sorry.

Actually, and this is just me thinking out loud, I do sort of wonder if it might not be the worst idea in the world for you to let them repo the car. If your credit is, admittedly, already really terrible, and you are already at the point where the best loan you can get is 20%, I might consider this. I'm not really familiar with the consequences of this other than the credit issues, but does anyone else know? Would they be able to come after her for the difference in amount owed and car's worth? Or do they take the car and that's that?

2013 was a hellish year for me too financially. when a car is repo'd they sell it and come after you for the difference.

[Deleted]

May 6, 2014 10:51:01 GMT -5 more adventurous said:

I do know that with IBR through federal consolidation they go off of your last tax return information (or, they did back when we did it). But, you can also just consolidate with standard repayment and that may help you as well (plus, you'll never have to worry about the monthly amounts going up). My husband did standard on his and I believe it took his payments from over $800 to $380.

This is good to know!!!

I'm going to look into it more. Glad to hear positive feedback from it.

[more adventurous]

May 6, 2014 12:34:51 GMT -5 @blissoff said:

This is good to know!!!

I'm going to look into it more. Glad to hear positive feedback from it.

Oh, and I meant to add that they should give you all of the information on your different options before you commit to it (or at least, the resources to calculate everything yourself), because I believe you have to choose on your application which type of repayment plan you are requesting. Also, I know a PP mentioned to leave out your lower interest loans, but since they take the average it actually worked out better for us to leave them in (to bring the consolidated rate down), plus that added the benefit of convenience with less payments to make. Definitely weigh your options there. The whole process is a little time consuming and involves a bit of a waiting game, but it's definitely worth looking into! HTH!