Voluntary surrender of a car - no such thing

This probably isn't the exact right place for this post, but I thought I'd bring it up anyway, since I have so many clients ask me about it.

So many clients say to me, "We didn't want to let our car be repossessed, so we 'voluntarily surrendered' it back to the dealership."

There is no such thing as "voluntary surrender"! While it might be a nice thing to do for your creditor, since they won't have to come and find the car and tow it away, it does nothing for your credit. The same thing will happen to you whether they take it from you or you give it back: they will sell the car and sue you for whatever is left on your loan minus what pitifully small price they sell the car for. And your credit report will say, "Repossession," not "voluntary surrender."