Bob and his wife, Muriel, were beside themselves. Here they had a $567.91/month payment and nothing to drive. The finance company insisted on receiving all the money and would not reduce any payments. Bob and Muriel had just started getting back on track from some shaky credit the past six months due to some unexpected home repairs and medical bills. They had refinanced their home a year ago and had little equity at the moment. What to do they ask themselves? Bob and Muriel took delivery of the salvage vehicle. They ran ads in the local paper under auto parts and sold the engine, transmission, three doors that were good, the tires and wheels and junked the remainder for scrap and were only able to raise about $1,100 dollars due to the extensive damage on the car. The salvage yard was offering $600. The parts sale amounted to about two payments. However, Bob needed a car so he took the $1,100 and bought a beater used car for cash. At work, Bob learned of a co-worker who had a similar situation but owned like $13,000 in dead money from being upside down and due to the aggressive collection efforts by the bank, decided to go Chapter 7 bankruptcy by meeting the means test of not making too much money. His co-worker was renting a home at the time and had a mountain of credit card debt as well and not able to make choke this last payment down without the use of the vehicle as well. Bob and Muriel, however, took the bull by the horns and both got part time jobs and vowed to payoff the dead money on the totaled car as soon as possible. They were able to do it in six months and were actually starting to save a little money very week vowing to not get caught again in this death cycle of debt. Questions such as Do we want it? or Do we need it? were now asked before ANY purchase.

All that glitters is not gold. Bob and Muriel found out the hard way about being under insured on their auto and where they owed more than it was worth. If anyone finds themselves in that situation, it will be necessary to break the cycle by paying down the loan in say 48 months in hopes that the value will hold long enough for the debt to go down below it. The alternative is devastating. While driving up and down the roads, due to aggressive selling and lending polices, you will find many vehicle owners who are upside down on the value versus debt. There might be one in front of you, beside you, or in back of you. There is only one sure way to find out. WHAM. One might be able to escape when an accident occurs IF the automobile is NOT TOTALLED. If the car is totaled and the owner is upside down then they will need to hold on for a roller coaster ride. Avoiding the symptoms of this malady is the only cure. Pay down the car note quickly otherwise the thin ice will not hold the weight of a ton of debt. The Credit Coroners report showed Death by drowning in debt while being upside down and turned around.

Dale Rogers
www.brokencredit.com
www.sellerhelpsbuyer.com

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