|
Quite the sticky situation. Right off the bat, the term is "repossession". Possession sounds like your vehicle had a ghostly spirit enter it and take over. Crazy that a leasing company would let a client go 4 months before sending a bailiff.
If you choose to let the vehicle go then your wife will get hit with an "involuntary repossession" stain on her credit. If you choose to take the vehicle back afterwards then that stain will stay but they will report as "account paid" once completed. It stays as to show future creditors that you ran into a situation but then rectified it afterwards. If the loan itself is far more than you can afford then just make a deal with the leasing company for the negative equity shortfall and move onto something less expensive. However, with that new credit stain your wife may be subject to higher interest rates from future lenders do to the optics of the risk on paper when viewing her credit.
How was your wife's credit when you first got the vehicle?
Was it a prime rate lease? Or a high interest rate lease?
Do you need your wife's good credit to further your lives together? ie: mortgage
If not, then take the hit and don't pay anything. If so, then make a deal with the company to save what decent credit she has left (those missed payments are not looking pretty right now)
Ask your lender what the long term effects of each choice are and see what they say.
|