• RagingRobot@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You don’t even have to go bankrupt you can just give the car to the bank that has your loan. You’ll be fine. Just without a car lol

    • Thetimefarm@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Not if you owe more than the car is worth, you’re on the hook for the difference.

      • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        If someone can’t pay a $400 payment, they certainly don’t have the money to pay the car off. Something something blood from a stone.

      • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Not if they take the car for not paying lol that’s where the not paying part comes in. You just get bad credit. Not the end of the world like people make it out to be

        • TitanLaGrange@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          They’d legally still on the hook for the difference, and if it’s a large enough amount for the creditor to care about they’ll come after you for it using the variety of means available. In the US that can include taking the money from the debtor’s bank account or having their employer take it out of their paycheck before paying the debtor.

          There are some ways around that. You can self-employ and ignore the garnishment request, but that works best if you have a constantly changing client list, like a roofing contractor or wedding-dress-maker or whatever. You have to be careful about keeping cash in your business because they can show up with the sheriff and take any cash, or in extreme cases they can seize non-exempt property (like, they wouldn’t generally be able to seize the lawnmower you use for your lawnmowing business).

          Also, just not having any money is a pretty good defense. There are limits to wage garnishment for example.

          But yeah, in a lot of cases it’s not even close to being worth the effort to chase someone down to collect, so you get a ding on your credit report for a few years, and then almost nobody cares.

        • Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          1 year ago

          Then you can buy your own car at auction for pennies in the dollar. As long as you don’t need to get a new loan for 7ish years you are free and clear.

          • TitanLaGrange@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            As long as you don’t need to get a new loan for 7ish years

            Yep, and depending on the severity of the debt and other factors you’ll mostly just pay higher interest rates on loans for several years. You have to fuck up pretty bad before nobody will loan you money (though that probably depends on a lot of demographic factors too).