More and more I am seeing both Washington and Oregon consumers forced into bankruptcy as a result of Yo-Yo financing schemes utilized by local car dealerships. Often the consumer has no idea that the practice was intentional.

In essence, Yo-Yo financing is the practice where the consumer signs off on a car deal and drives it off the lot with the promise that the dealer will formalize the financing afterwards. Of course later, the consumer gets a call and learns for the first time that the financing has fallen through and that the only way to get the deal done is with a different car or higher interest financing. If the consumer says no deal, the dealer says the trade-in has already been sold or that the consumers will lose the downpayment.

This is just the kind of thing that in and of itself might not force bankruptcy, but couple it with one bad credit card, one unexpected medical bill or one missed paycheck and the choice is either bankruptcy or a lifetime of collections calls and bad credit.

If you believe that you have recently been victimized through a Yo-Yo financing scheme, give us a call before it’s too late. If it is too late for us to force the car back on the dealer, call us anyway: This is just the kind of debt that can easily be discharged in bankruptcy. Moreover, we can often reduce the amounts of these debts and the interest rates through bankruptcy. I will look forward to hearing from you.