The Lowdown on Buy Here Pay Here Programs

     Nowadays, the American populations needs an automobile to get around.  It is assumed that we all have one or we can all get one.  Buy here and pay here programs have become common as people with low income, no credit or bad credit go in search of a car.

    I was twenty-two years old when I bought my first car.  It was at a local JD Byrider car shop.  The process seemed easy enough.  My now ex-boyfriend and I pooled our money together to come up with the needed down-payment.  The loan place wanted an application, a run-down of our monthly expenses, three references and job verification.

     Thirty minutes after I bought my car and called to get insurance put on it, I was leaving the car lot with my new car.  I paid on my car every month for two years as was agreed upon.  However, two years into the agreement, I lost my job in telemarketing.  I took a temporary job as a bellringer and made some payments, but the buy-here pay-here place started harassing me.  They called multiple times a day wanting to know when the next payment would be.  They said a temporary job was not good enough.   When I could not tell them when I would have a permanent job, they showed up and towed my car away.  They called me and said for the car to be at the shop at 3 p.m. and I agreed.  I needed to clean the contents out. 

     J.D. Byrider says that they will work with you in case of a situation like mine.  They lied.  Just last year, I found out that there was a class-action lawsuit against J.D. Byrider for wrongful termination of an agreement.  If I had known about it, I would have been in on it.

     Five years later, I tried a local buy-here and pay-here shop.  They assured me that they were different. They had private lenders.  The car buying process was similar, except this time, I had a car to trade in so no down-payment was needed.  I had the loan and payed on it for two years before I developed a chronic illness and could no longer work any more.  My husband called the place and told them to come get my van.  They told me that I would be losing out because my credit would hurt.  I later learned that this place was not even reporting to the credit bureaus as they promised.  They only reported to them after I was unable to keep paying.

     Overall, my rating of buy-here and pay-here programs is a thumbs down.  I will not be going this route again.  I found these car dealerships to be dishonest and unfair in dealing with me.  I feel that everyone needs to have a low-down on how fair these places are when something happens and you can not pay.