What happens if I’m late with a car payment?
The COVID-19 crisis has hurt a lot of people in a lot of ways. Even if you’ve been fortunate enough to not to have lost a family member to the disease, you might have had to go without a paycheck for at least a little while. A hard realization of life is that bills don’t go away just because people have fallen on hard times. If you’ve been wrestling with the question, ‘What happens if I’m late with a car payment,’ the financial team at Meridian Honda wanted to help shed some light on the subject. We can’t promise we’ll have an answer that you want to hear, but sometimes knowing more about the problems we’re facing can be helpful. Let’s see what our team found.
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Before we get too deep into the weeds, it’s important to note that your situation could be very different. The information contained below is meant to be considered on a broad basis. This is in no way meant to replace qualified financial or legal advice.
When is a car payment considered late?
Most financial institutions will report a late car loan payment to credit agencies once it is 30 days past due. This kind of entry on a person’s credit history will almost certainly result in a drop in their credit score. Most lenders will begin the legal process to repossess a vehicle when three or more payments have been missed.
What should I do?
Banks, credit unions and other lenders are not in the business of selling cars. Given the tough economic conditions affecting much of the country, people might be able to work something out. The key to avoiding repossession or other financial hardships is for people in trouble to go on offense.
Reach out to the lender and talk to them about the problems you’re having. It’s not out of the question for them to find a way to work with you so you can keep your vehicle while also working to get out of your financial predicament. Just about all financial experts agree that the worst thing a person who is behind on car payments to do is nothing.
If you think there is something Meridian Honda can do to help you during these tough times, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us today.
