Need to get Nissan Leaf off my liability FAST! Ok to payoff

Situation: For home loan purpose, I need to turn in my car early. Essentially I need the liability of the lease taken off from me - so I can get the home loan I want. I dont mind paying the remainder of lease upfront (5 months or less). But beyond paying it off early, I think the lender wants me to also turn in the car into the dealership ASAP. (FYI: it was a 2 year lease and all previous payments were timely)

Question 1:: The lease states some 30 days written notice. Does anyone know that if I pay the remainder of lease off, + disposition fee tomorrow, then do I have to worry about some 30 day notice?

Question 2:: What is the process of transferring lease to a relative? How long does it take? Can I pay the full lease off and transfer the car to relative - and remove my name completely off the lease (so the relative can at least benefit for 5 months or so)?

Regarding turning the car in early, you have to wait until no more than 60 days prior to the maturity date on the lease before you can turn the car in without penalty. Otherwise, your only option would be to buy the car from NMAC and then sell it back to them or trying to sell it yourself. With resale values so much less than the residuals on leases, you could be looking at many thousands of dollars in losses.

Also, NMAC keeps your name on the lease, even if there was a way to transfer it to someone else before the 60-day deadline. For credit accounting purposes, you are still liable, so a lease transfer isn't likely to help your ability to take on more debt.

If your lease expires in June, this year, you are looking at April before you can get out of your lease without taking a huge hit.


For other reasons, I've been trying to get out of my lease for the better part of the past year. At this point, I know I have no choice but to wait until May (my lease maturity date in in July).

I was in the same situation when I was shopping for a house mortgage last year. It was very simple, I issued a check to pay "advance" for my remaining lease balance. I didn't end my lease. I showed the loan officer the prove that I don't have to any lease payment anymore. It was the quickest way and there is no additional fee you have to worry about.

Weatherman said:

Regarding turning the car in early, you have to wait until no more than 60 days prior to the maturity date on the lease before you can turn the car in without penalty.

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Thx guys!
So even if I fully pay off remainder of the months of the lease, are you saying that NMAC will not allow turning in the car 4 months earlier than official end of lease??

Dis you read Freeewilly' post? You can pay the remaining payments, keep the car, and show the Loan Officer the receipt showing you owe no more on it.

LeftieBiker said:

Dis you read Freeewilly' post? You can pay the remaining payments, keep the car, and show the Loan Officer the receipt showing you owe no more on it.

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I did read the post. The reason I asked the question is because my loan officer is checking whether that is acceptable or is it required that I actually turn in the car - and I wanted to be prepared that if in the (il-logical) case, where the loan officer insists that I need to also turn in my car - and actually prove that the lease has successfully ended, I already know what my options are in that case.

Yes, I agree, its silly to ask to turn in a fully paid off lease earlier than end term, but I have seen other silly requirements in the loan process already.

If anyone knows the answer, please do let me know.

aFriend said:

LeftieBiker said:

Dis you read Freeewilly' post? You can pay the remaining payments, keep the car, and show the Loan Officer the receipt showing you owe no more on it.

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I did read the post. The reason I asked the question is because my loan officer is checking whether that is acceptable or is it required that I actually turn in the car - and I wanted to be prepared that if in the (il-logical) case, where the loan officer insists that I need to also turn in my car - and actually prove that the lease has successfully ended, I already know what my options are in that case.

Yes, I agree, its silly to ask to turn in a fully paid off lease earlier than end term, but I have seen other silly requirements in the loan process already.

If anyone knows the answer, please do let me know.

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The only way this could possibly be an issue for the loan officer is if you extend your lease past your turn-in date. If you turn in the car early your out a car - sounds really silly

My loan officer first asked me to buy out the car to avoid the lease payment. I have no interest of keeping the car, so I came out with the idea of paying the remaining lease payments off. I hope it works for you, too.

The other obvious thing is to shop around for your mortgage. Unless you are in a very bad credit situation (which seems unlikely if you got a decent deal on the Leaf Lease), you should be able to find more than one mortgage company interested in your business. Obviously the better your credit the easier it is to shop around... (what's the saying "The less you need it the easier it is to borrow money"?).

Anyway - any reasonable loan officer should be able to look at your total liability for the car and your available cash on hand to do the calculations. It sounds like what you are facing is the "% of income to service debt" issue? If that is the case then perhaps you can demonstrate your expenses are less than the 'textbook' percentages (i.e. you pay less for gas/maintenance for example). Again - the key is finding a loan officer willing to be reasonable - and who has the authority to make such decisions (credit unions historically were better in this area).

Good luck!