r/FinancialPlanning 9h ago

Suggestions on surrendering a car?

2 Upvotes

My fiance has a car that she currently owes something like $11k on, and the motor recently ate itself. (Allegedly ran out of oil or something...)

We reached out to her loan servicer/lien holder and described our situation to them: she's not working and has no income right now, we're looking at a $6k repair to get the car working (totally not worth it as she's not taken good care of it) and don't think it's worth continuing to make payments on a car that we can't use and can't afford to fix. We effectively informed them that we'd like to surrender the car.

Some agent told her that they'd send over a packet that she needed to fill out and return, which I read through after receiving and am encouraging her NOT to fill it out and return it, as it has language in it where she surrenders all her rights through the process. So, I'm reaching out to Reddit for advice on how we can proceed with the surrender without her signing everything away and STILL being on the hook for everything. It would seem to me that we could either generate some version of their paperwork ourselves to submit to them (minus the language that keeps us on the hook for remaining balances, etc). That might be wishful thinking in this day and age, but wondering if anyone out there might be able to help point us in the right direction so we retain all of our rights as possible.


r/FinancialPlanning 7h ago

Need help making a financial decision on automobile..

0 Upvotes

Currently have a 2023 Honda Accord Hybrid Sport L with 85k miles. It’s a lease and I am at the end of my lease. However I work at a Honda/acura dealership and they allow you to get an employee matching program where they pay for your lease. My question is should I trade in my accord hybrid lease for an Acura lease because of the employee matching program? They match your leased monthly payment for only Acuras. I was thinking of picking an integra or ADX and singing on for one of their employee lease programs. Currently my payoff is 21k for my 23 accord. I was planning on refinancing the rest in a 36 month loan to finish paying it off. It is a hybrid and I get 45 mpg. I won’t get that with any Acura. Also insurance will probably go up a little bit, but nothing crazy. I don’t want to lose the hybrid capability but I’m also worried about the reliability of my accord hybrid after 100k miles when the hybrid battery warranty runs out.

I also drive a ton of miles every year just commuting to work, so I will almost certainly be over the mileage allowance which is basically the whole reason im in this predicament. I know on the backside if I had the same mileage for an Acura, the vehicle would actually be upside down. The only reason why I’m not upside down is because there aren’t many accord hybrids used right now.. I’m kind of thinking just drive the accord hybrids until the end 200k plus miles but who knows if Hondas are reliable like that anymore, especially hybrids.


r/FinancialPlanning 19h ago

Opening retirement account at 34?

5 Upvotes

Hi, I had a rough time in my twenties and spent a lot of time with a lot of mental health challenges. There's a lot of things that were never explained to me..such as going to the gyno and retirement planning...etc. Getting cervical cancer shots...Idk well I'm catching up now.

I don't have any debt, but recently found out people have been contributing to their retirement accounts since their twenties. I have about 70k saved up, but that's just cash in a savings account. I'm not sure what the best move for me right now is in terms of starting a retirement account. People keep saying to get my employer to match, but I'm starting grad school soon. It's a fellowship program, so I'll be getting a stipend of $60k/year. Could I also invest that? I have been keeping expenses low by living with family and will be able to continue doing so since the university is nearby. Not sure what the best move is. Thank you.

Also no debt. I'm super new to this. I just throw money in a savings account attached to my bank.