$14000 negative equity help

[BuckyBadger]

I'm getting the sense that you're searching for a different answer. Are you wanting someone to tell you that you should declare bankruptcy or something?

The answer is that you craw out from under this debt.

How you do this is by slashing all expenses and increasing your income. If your dad cosigned this thing (which was a terrible idea on his part, but that's over and done with now) he's probably pretty motivated to help you get this thing paid off.

Are you living at home? How are you surviving on $400 a month? Cut your phone to a $10/month prepaid plan. Stop paying for gas except to drive to interviews and your job. All the time that you're not going on interviews or working should be spent trying to make a few hundred bucks a month. House sit. Walk dogs. Rake leaves. Anything is better than what you have now.

Honestly, your best bet is to impose on your parents until you get a job. Then impose on them some more while you save EVERY SINGLE PENNY from your new job and pay that car off AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I don't care if you have one of those crazy 6 year loans. Pay it off in two years. Then keep the car for the next 10 years - at least.

What's the term of that loan? How much are your other expenses?

It's time to get serious about this - owing $27k on a $13k car is a big deal and you need to treat it as such. I'm amazed that they let you do such a thing...

[disneysteve]

What's yoir advice on how I should go about clearing my debt?

The way to attack the debt is to up your income. You say you are looking for work. What does that mean? Are you looking for a job in your field or are you looking for anything and everything you possibly can? No job should be too menial or beneath you at this point. Waiter, pizza delivery, retail stockroom, dog-walking, hauling construction materials, scrubbing toilets, whatever you can get. You can't live on 15 hours/week. You have landscaping experience? Great. Have you contacted every landscaper in town to try and get a job? Have you considered going out on your own and lining up some landscaping work? I'm sure for a couple hundred bucks, you can pick up a mower and edger on craigslist and start doing some lawns. If it snows where you live, start lining up some shoveling jobs now. Put flyers in everyone's mailbox to let them know you're available. I know we are always looking for someone to help shovel our walk when it snows.

There are always jobs out there. You just need to find them - or create them yourself.

[Petunia 100]

Right now my income is low..I got laid off from my landscaping job and work part-time for 15 hours a week. I still haven't been able to collect my unemployment but I am currently looking for another job. Things aren't looking good, my income is close to $400 take home while my expenses are about $600 without gas or food. (Just car payment, insurance, and phone). Currently my biggest obstacle is finding a job as quickly as possible. Before I was laid off, monthly income was $2200 take home. What's yoir advice on how I should go about clearing my debt?

It's going to be quite difficult until your income increases. How are you managing now? Drawing from savings? Using credit cards?

I suggest you begin tracking your spending. Most people are surprised when they see in black and white how much they are spending on unnecessary items. I know I was.

Once you have more income than expenses, you can begin to make real progress.

Maybe there is some room for savings on your insurance and telephone bills? Have you shopped your insurance around, to make sure you are getting the best rate you can? How about your phone plan? Many of the people here have discovered Ting and Republic Wireless, which offer some very inexpensive plans.

You said your father co-signed for you, so I hope that means you did get a nice low interest rate on your car loan?

Best of luck to you with your job search.

[Benjay9812]

Welcome to the Saving Advice forums, Benjay.

What do you want to do about the car loan? Selling the car won't clear the debt. Unfortunately, this is the result of rolling negative equity from one car to another.

You're still very young. Resolve now to learn from past mistakes and make better decisions in the future. In my opinion, that's really the best thing you can do.

What do your income and living expenses look like? If you are careful with every dollar, you should be able to throw extra at your car loan to get from under this debt as quickly as possible.

I think those Elantras are very nice cars. Take good care of yours and it should be a reliable car long after the loan has been paid in full.

Right now my income is low..I got laid off from my landscaping job and work part-time for 15 hours a week. I still haven't been able to collect my unemployment but I am currently looking for another job. Things aren't looking good, my income is close to $400 take home while my expenses are about $600 without gas or food. (Just car payment, insurance, and phone). Currently my biggest obstacle is finding a job as quickly as possible. Before I was laid off, monthly income was $2200 take home. What's yoir advice on how I should go about clearing my debt?

[Petunia 100]

I own an currently paying an auto loan for my 2013 Elantra GT. Before this vehicle I had been paying a loan on a 2007 g6, and before that a 2003 grand am. Both my previous cars ended up having big problems and I had to get rid of them(it wouldn't have made sense to repair them). Anyways, I accumulated $14000 debt which is now tacked onto the $13000 I paid for my Elantra resulting in a $27000 car loan at the age of 21 co-signed by my father. I am paying a ridiculous amount of money for this car and though I've been affording the payments it just isn't reasonable to be paying this much. Does anyone have any advice on what I can do now* ? Please no criticism on my past decisions .

Welcome to the Saving Advice forums, Benjay.

What do you want to do about the car loan? Selling the car won't clear the debt. Unfortunately, this is the result of rolling negative equity from one car to another.

You're still very young. Resolve now to learn from past mistakes and make better decisions in the future. In my opinion, that's really the best thing you can do.

What do your income and living expenses look like? If you are careful with every dollar, you should be able to throw extra at your car loan to get from under this debt as quickly as possible.

I think those Elantras are very nice cars. Take good care of yours and it should be a reliable car long after the loan has been paid in full.

[Benjay9812]

I own an currently paying an auto loan for my 2013 Elantra GT. Before this vehicle I had been paying a loan on a 2007 g6, and before that a 2003 grand am. Both my previous cars ended up having big problems and I had to get rid of them(it wouldn't have made sense to repair them). Anyways, I accumulated $14000 debt which is now tacked onto the $13000 I paid for my Elantra resulting in a $27000 car loan at the age of 21 co-signed by my father. I am paying a ridiculous amount of money for this car and though I've been affording the payments it just isn't reasonable to be paying this much. Does anyone have any advice on what I can do now* ? Please no criticism on my past decisions .