SPECELIZEDRIDER

I live in Vegas where it is hotter than hell, and My bank might have screwed me over on my car loan so I might lose my jeep. I work 12 miles away and in Vegas everything is really spread out. life is going to really suck for a while. Vegas is not the place to be car free.

Artkansas 

I used to commute about 10 miles to my job in the Palm Springs area. So it can be done. Just take it easy in the afternoons during summer and enjoy the heck out of the winter

Bicycling in 120 degree heat

no1mad 

Stay hydrated and don't push it too hard and you'll be fine.

Smallwheels

Try to sell your Jeep before the bank takes it. Hide it somewhere if the repo guys have been called. At the sale the buyer will have to give the title company the full amount due. That will at least keep your credit rating a bit better, if you care about such things.

Newspaperguy

How's the transit system in Las Vegas? Would that be workable for times when it's too hot to ride?

poormanbiking

Being from Phoenix all I can say is take it easy and pace yourself. Hopefully after a few months you could pay cash for a car. From experience its not an impossible feat.

Tom Stormcrowe

How did they screw you over? Bailment on the contract and they initially agreed and then denied the loan ex post facto after you took possession of the Jeep?

Dahon.Steve

I looked at the bus map for southern Nevada and there seems to be ALOT of options! You can multimode commute with a two inexpensive junk bikes using the bus to do most of the work. I used to have a junk bike in New York City that would take me 2.5 miles to my job. That rusting heavy department store bike lived on the streets for close to three years before the city removed it once and for all.

https://www.rtcsouthernnevada.com/tra...MapMay2012.pdf

iheartbacon

I bought a brand new pick up, put $5,000 down, and made 3 monthly payments of $700. Then the bank decided I was too high risk and gave me 30 days to pay off the loan or return the truck. The police said it was a civil matter and the lawyers I talked to all wanted a lot of money up front. There was a clause in the contract that basically said the bank has the right to terminate the sales contract any time they want. It really sucked. It showed up on my credit report as a repossession. This was several years ago when I lived in Texas.

Smallwheels

Civil law only works for people with plenty of money. Criminal law is similar if you must use a court appointed attorney who doesn't have the time or resources to investigate the truth.

I-Like-To-Bike

Sounds peculiar to me.

iheartbacon

My bankruptcy from the previous year didn't show up on my credit report, so I didn't disclose it when I bought the truck. Then it showed up a few weeks after I closed the deal. It's probably not something that happens all the time.

wahoonc

Happens with a fair bit of frequency. There was a segment on one of the news shows concerning this, there is also one where the dealer will take a down payment and "get you into the new vehicle" then find out they can't get you credit at the agreed upon rate and you either come up with more down payment, higher monthly payments, or give the car back and hopefully get your trade back. There have been several states' attorney generals filing suits.

Aaron

GodsBassist

^ This exact thing happened to me 8 years ago. Dealer couldn't finance me and told me they wanted the car back. I ultimately found financing but had been driving around in this thing for a month already!

SPECELIZEDRIDER

I an hoping it is a big mistake, but if not then Im just going to have to bike it for awhile and save up cash, I really hat banks. I made my payment on the 12th then got the letter on the 14th saying they couldn't finance me, in thinking it has got to be an error.

lasauge 

Can't live with em', tough to live without em'.

cale

See if you can find someone to carpool with. Even people that work in nearby businesses might be looking for someone in their area to share the cost of gas. With the price of gas getting high and the opportunity to use HOV lanes can be strong motivators. Advertise in Craigslist for carpool options or post a notice at a park and ride location near your home.

Other options, if the job's not that great, consider getting a job closer to where you live. If your apartment sucks, look at getting one closer to work.

Artkansas 

Join a credit union, and get your financing arranged before you go buy a car. Getting it arranged at the dealership is not the best of ideas if you can avoid it.

Doohickie

I've done this a few times now, although not exactly like that. I got online financing (through one of the credit card companies), went to the dealer with financing all set up, then the dealers asked for a chance to beat it, and worked with a local credit union to get me a lower interest rate.

treebound 

Let's see, if a borrower gave a down payment, then made several monthly payments, and then if the lendor decided to revoke the loan, I wonder how many parts of the vehicle the borrower could sell to functionally get the borrower's money back out of the vehicle, and I wonder if the lendor would have any legal recourse against the borrower if the borrower had otherwise been acting in good faith and if nothing had been deliberately hidden by the borrower when applying for the loan. Fair is fair, and sometimes life ain't so fair.

Artkansas 

Yeah, getting the financing nailed down before buying the car is the best way to avoid a surprise.

iheartbacon

That was my downfall, I should have disclosed the bankruptcy. I thought that since it hadn't shown up on my credit report in a year that it would never show up. $1500 of that down payment was the trade in on my old truck. When the bank took the truck back I didn't get the $1500 or the truck back. Didn't get the other $3,500 cash I put as a down payment back either. The $2100 in payments I made I lost as well. The worst was at the time I was hot shotting small construction equipment (skid steers, track hoes, trenchers, compactors, etc.) around Texas and Oklahoma. Losing the new truck and my old truck put me out of business. Never in my life would I have thought that buying a pick up would result in me losing my livelihood. I had built my business from the ground up using a beat up old Chevy 1 ton. 3 years of blood, sweat, and tears. A lot of sacrifice. The reason I went bankrupt is I had a lot of accounts (small contractors) in collections. I was basically operating on credit and needed to shed some bad debts and change things up so I could stay in business.

The lawyers told me I had 3 options. Give the truck back and cut my losses. Hide the truck and go to court over it, which would likely take years. Get my case reviewed by a judge and only turn over the truck if a court order is issued. Bank of America has a lot of lawyers on the payroll. They stall and delay and drive up your legal costs until you give up. Just like any other big corporation. Or I could have given the truck back and gone to court. At the end of the day the last 2 options weren't viable. It was just too damn expensive.

wahoonc

The law will favor the bank. I have seen people that put down a pretty substantial down payment have a car repossessed, sold at auction and have the bank get a judgement against them for the difference in sale versus what was owed. Banks will pad the charges unless limited by state law, and not very many states do.

Aaron

Roody

THAT sounds like a plan! Good luck...

SPECELIZEDRIDER

well the Bank said it was a mistake so all is good for now, in jeepin to work.