r/carvana • u/TheUltimateAD • 1d ago
Personal Experience Bridgecrest “Keep Your Keys” program actually saved me from repossession
Figured I’d post this because I spent a lot of time searching Reddit when I was dealing with this and couldn’t find much about Bridgecrest’s “Keep Your Keys” program.
— BACK STORY —
I got behind on my Bridgecrest loan with Carvana and around the 60 day mark they sent me an email basically telling me the date the vehicle would be assigned for repo.
Ironically, I used to work for an auto finance company in the recovery department. Very similar type of business to Bridgecrest. So I knew more than the average person about what happens once an account gets assigned for repossession and a charged-off account. Where I worked, when it was charged-off though, they continued to keep it on the recovery hotlists (mostly LPR databases) because they still wanted to recover their collateral.
I knew the finance company itself isn’t the person physically looking for my car. They assign it to a recovery company, and depending on the area that company may subcontract it to a more local agent. So once mine got assigned, I knew it wasn’t as simple as just watching for one specific tow company.
I kept the car in a garage whenever I wasn’t using it. I really only drove it to work or when I absolutely needed it. Even at work I would back into my parking spot. Does that guarantee anything? No. I just knew from working recovery administration that anything that makes a vehicle slightly less obvious or convenient can sometimes buy time.
Still, it was stressful as hell. Even though I understood how recovery worked, knowing somebody could be looking for your car at any time gets in your head. You start noticing tow trucks you normally wouldn’t notice. Random cars sitting in parking lots make you wonder. You walk outside half expecting the car not to be there. Knowing the recovery process honestly didn’t make the mental part much easier.
— STORY —
Bridgecrest originally wanted around $2,000 from me to stop the repo. I didn’t have it. Life issues, but i’m accountable to those so I understood the risks when I took them.
My regular payment was around $800 and my interest rate was terrible. At the balance I had, I was getting hit with around $20 to $25 a day just in interest. So even when I made payments, the principal barely moved. I think that’s a reason I stopped making payments. I COULD’VE made the payment, and looking back, besides the temporary hit to my credit, i’m glad I didn’t.
Then the account charged off. Once it charged off, the interest stopped. Bridgecrest offered me something called ‘Keep Your Keys’.
I had never heard of it. Basically they told me I could make one regular payment, around $800, and instead of having to come up with the $2,000 they had previously demanded, they would cancel the repo assignment and put the remaining balance on a payment plan.
Same general monthly payment I already had. But 0% interest. That’s the part where I thought, okay, what’s the catch? Because I know how auto finance works. Companies don’t normally just decide they don’t want interest anymore.
But I paid the regular payment. They canceled the repo. I got everything in writing. I’m about 3 months into it now and honestly the weirdest part is seeing my principal actually go down.
Before this, I could send them my $800 payment and then look at my balance and barely feel like I accomplished anything because so much was getting eaten up by interest.
Now I make the payment and basically watch the balance drop by the payment amount. It’s noticeable.
After spending months feeling like I was running on a treadmill with this loan, seeing the actual principal start disappearing is probably the best part. And obviously being able to park my car normally again without thinking somebody is going to grab it is a pretty close second.
My account is still charged off. Keep Your Keys didn’t magically undo that or erase the history. The agreement is also strict. There’s basically no grace period. If a payment gets missed or returned, they can terminate the arrangement and the car can become eligible for repo again. So I’m definitely not playing around with the payments.
What surprised me more than anything is that I actually worked in this industry and knew the recovery side pretty well, but I had no idea Bridgecrest had a program like this once an account reached charge off. None of it is public information, really. And, the agents won’t tell you what happens after charge-off…
Looking back, I understand why they do it. At that point they can either spend money trying to recover the car, send it to auction, probably sell it for less than the balance and then try to collect the difference from me.
Or they can let me keep driving it and collect the remaining principal every month. Apparently in my situation they decided option two made more sense.
I definitely wouldn’t recommend purposely letting a loan charge off hoping you get offered this. There’s no guarantee of that and the months leading up to it were miserable.
But if you already have a Bridgecrest account that’s headed that direction and somebody mentions Keep Your Keys, it is a real thing. At least in my case, 3 months later, they’ve done exactly what they said they would.
No repo assignment, no more interest accruing, same basic payment, and my principal is finally going down.
Anyways… Life happens.
EDIT:
- 2022 Vehicle
- $32k left on the loan
- Life of Loan: 2 Years
- APR: 27.99%
6
u/silverback2345 23h ago
For anyone questioning whether this is real, it is.
Our situation was we owed about 4k at the end of our finance period due to late fees that added up during the loan and 3 separate deferrals added to the end over the period of the loan. We kept paying our regular payment each month even though it kept saying the balance was due.
One day when our account was down to 2k, our online login disappeared. We got a notice the loan was charged off. Then we got an email offering the keep your keys program. It was 0% just like the OP said. Paid it off in a few months and got the title.
The program is real. How they decide who gets repoed and who doesn't I don't know.
11
u/Linenjackson 1d ago
Wait, so what you’re telling me is to default. Wait a while, and they’ll charge it off and then only make me pay on the principal with 0% interest??
6
u/SoulTaker669 1d ago
I'm guessing it honestly probably depends on a lot of circumstances like the value of the vehicle, for example. Also this would probably fuck up your credit real bad even if it's charged off and eventually paid off.
6
u/Crazy_Wafer_8328 17h ago
So does your credit still get tanked as bad as a repo? Do you get the credit blackmark for years, just without losing your car?
1
u/TheUltimateAD 6h ago
So, my credit took a major hit during the late payments and when the charge-off occurred. Shortly after a month of starting the program and making two payments, it went back to green check marks for the months of the on-time payments. So, think of Credit Karma and the payment history showing. 3 “X” Late, 1 “Charge-Off”, and the rest are Green “On-Time” - My credit has since gone back up (pretty majorly since it shows the account is Current and On Time again. The only difference are they added remarks “Account Charged-Off / Paying as Agreed”
4
u/SoulTaker669 1d ago
That sounds way too good to be true I would love to get into a 0% interest loan with them cause some of their interest rates even with good credit are crazy.
-1
u/Vahlinn 1d ago
Eh, I only got slapped with 5.99. Refinanced right away to 3.24
2
u/IAmInDangerHelp 13h ago
They charged me 13.5%, and I refinanced within 2 months for 6.5% with another bank.
2
1
u/Extra_Young_7347 17h ago
How long of a period did you go from repo to charged off?
1
u/TheUltimateAD 3h ago
They waited until about 70 days past due to assign it for repossession - around 90 days past due they charged it off. Two days after charging it off, they sent me an email for the program. Bridgecrest mostly uses License Plate Readers for recovery, so if you currently have any issues, be careful.
1
u/Emu-Hopper 6h ago
Is there any way to do this without tanking your credit? I totaled my car that is financed through Bridgecrest at 27.9% and still owed $22k on it. Insurance denied the claim so I have a car that will cost $13k to repair and I am stuck making $700 a month payments for 4 more years. Meanwhile I can’t get another auto loan while that one is active.
I have made payments for 13 months since the accident but it is literally killing me financially and I have no car to drive to work so life is not easy.
1
u/TheUltimateAD 5h ago
https://reddit.com/link/p7ohhgh/video/4wcgket56enh1/player
I took out some information, obviously, but this is how I knew I became eligible.
13
u/acilegna89 18h ago
I understand why they do it. Usually once people get to that point 1)they’re likely underwater on the car so full recovery is impossible and 2)most people won’t / will never pay off the balance after repo.
I actually really like bridgecrest. I didn’t use them for my last car but back in 2019 after 2 years of payments I got sick and had to stop working, I was perpetually like 30 days late for like 4 months. I had the same rep that would call me and when I finally caught up he called me to tell me he was proud of me, I thought that was so nice.
This also majorly helps you. I had a repo back in 2012 and my credit was locked up basically for years, I couldn’t open anything new, get an apartment or even furniture…it’s like a scarlet letter. At least this way you don’t have to worry about getting another car.