Crap! My car is gone! :eek: :mad:We are reasonably sure that the fiancing company took it. This company isn’t even a real bank. They are not FDIC insured, and you can’t get accounts of any kind through them. They appear to be a company of exactly 5 people in New Orleans. God only knows what they are- perhaps agents of Satan. The bank that I initially got a loan from went under, and their outstanding loans were sold wholesale without notice. Anyway, I am now financed through Crescent “Bank.” They are hell to work with. For awhile they wouldn’t accept checks, credit card, automatic bank payments, or debit card payments- only money transfer through Western Union (specifically and only WU). A month later they would only accept payments from my husband’s bank (Well’s Fargo) but not from mine (BofA).
So a few days ago they call me and say that they are taking my car March 1st, since I am one month behind on payments. I ask them why, since their policy is repo after 3 months. They say, “changed our policy.” This happens almost every month, BTW. I try to make payment and get told, “we changed our policy- now we only accept payments in x form.” Or better still- “we changed the terms of your loan- now your rate is x%.”
Yes I know this is illegal. At one point we had to file charges with the FTC for harassment. After that they told us they would repo the car for filing them. We reminded them that such a thing would be very very illegal and we would be reporting that threat too. They backed off.
Anyway, tonight they came and took the car. The bastards. We had a lot of things in it, including our baby’s car seat. :smack:
We’ve never had this happen before. What do we do? Don’t we legally have to get our property inside the car back at least? Can we get the car back? Is this breach of contract (since they told us several different things about their policies)? Has anyone had this happen before, and if so, what did you do? Did it work? Anyone know a good way to bargain with these “people”?
We looked up info on this company before and found numerous complaints were filed with various companies, BBB, FTC, etc for similar behavior. So we are not alone, at least.
You just plain shouldn’t have let them take the car. I would have watched it carefully and whenever someone came to take it I would physically refuse to allow them to do so, and inform them I’d be calling the police and we’d leave it to them to sort it out.
The police would probably side with the repo company but I’m obstinate like this anyways.
Of course I never would have let it get to this level, I would have gone to a lawyer the very first time they tried to change my loan rates or any of the other BS they did.
As it is, you need to go to a lawyer now. Your credit is going to get messed up badly if you don’t sue the pants off this bank and break all association from them.
Not to judge, but I honestly don’t get how you let it go this far. You did the right thing with FTC reports and such but you should have gone to a lawyer right away when this all started because lawyers tend to scare scumbags like crooked banks a lot more than paperwark sent off to the bureaucracy does.
They came while we were out for a walk. At 10 PM at night. Without notice. It’s all very…odd.
Of course, we haven’t yet been able to define a definite physical address for them. Seriously.
The funniest part about this is that in 10 days we would have bought the car outright with our tax refund. We are almost tempted to let them keep it, knowing that it needs work and has 100k worth of miles on it. If it wouldn’t fuck my credit permanently, I might actually do that.
The car has been cursed since day 1. Three words: 2001 Ford Focus.
Yes. And mine was especially the Devil. It doesn’t have a horn anymore. Why? Because of some weird flaw that made it go off over and over and over again at random. We finally just disconnected it.
The gauges (speed, heat, gas) sometimes go wonky as well.
The radio turns itself on. While the car is off.
I often said I was going to take it out back and shoot it, and if I could sell it for enough to pay the loan off, I would. I tried once. The car dealerships laughed at me. A lot. Wouldn’t accept a 2001 as a trade-in.
I shoulda bought an Edsel…
Seriously, though…Should I even try and get it back? Or have it auctioned, pay the remainder of balance (if any) and get the credit to be repo:paid in full. Otherwise, best case scenario, I have a year left of payments and it needs some major work.
Anyone here with good solid advice on such matters?
I think you really need to go see a lawyer. The fact is working with a bank like this you could easily end up with all kinds of crazy things on your credit report. You may not want the car back but you need to make sure you don’t suffer seriously credit-wise for years because of this.
You don’t even know the half of it. The first bank (American Investment Bank) that went under? They reported bad data to all the credit companies for their loans. I.E. they just kept reporting that payments weren’t made for about a year after they no longer owned the loan and they no longer existed. That took two years to straighten out. Experian finally removed the entire thing because the company never responded to them either.
Like I said, this car was cursed from the beginning. The whole story is so bad, it’s almost funny.
Since I’ve had it:
It’s been broken into three times, once through the windshield- only once was anything stolen from it though
It’s been towed repeatedly when the horn went off randomly while I was at work/school/etc. Once the cops denied having it, reported it stolen, and then called me up to give it back.
When we moved last summer, we had it shipped instead of driving it. The movers (who were hired by someone else as a wedding “gift”) stored LIVE CHICKENS in it. Don’t ask how we knew. Lets just say there was evidence.
Various parts have been recalled. Repeatedly.
It has had bizarre electrical malfunctions that have never been able to be correctly diagnosed or fixed
Multiple tickets for various driving and parking offenses were incorrectly assigned to my car by the CA DMV (but subsequently removed after I proved it hadn’t even been in the state at the time)
The whole bank-going-under fiasco
Etc etc
It’s posessed.
Also, we don’t know that it was repoed. We just assume. We went out, came back, and it was gone. Witnesses say it was towed away. By whom? Who knows?
If it was stolen, that would actually be the funniest thing ever. Our insurance would cover it, and I’d be rid of the albatross of doom.
Meanwhile, assuming it is repo’d, some advice beyond “call a lawyer” would be helpful.
As I understand it, you don’t actually know who took your car, though you have ample circumstantial evidence to suspect the finance company. Even so, their legal right to repo the car is dubious given their arbitrary contract bending shennanigans. Why not report the car as stolen? If it wasn’t the finance company, you’ll want to have done that in a timely manner for insurance purposes. If it was the finance company, they’ll have to prove that they actually have the right to repo the car, won’t they?
Good luck. Sudden deprivation of my means of transportation would be a logistic nightmare for me, and I don’t have the demands of a wife, child, and job to get to.
It would only affect your credit rating for 7 years, after that it rolls off.
It may not even impact your rating at all depending on your other credit history. I had one “ding” on my credit report from a previous marriage but the rest of my credit was spotless. I was never refused credit over that blemish and it has been long enough now that it doesn’t show up anymore.
Leaving aside for the moment the obvious logistical problems involved in a nonexistent company reporting anything to anyone, I do find a glimmer of black humor in that anecdote:
"If we gotta go under, we’re taking as many of those fckers with us as we can."*
So many of us are forced into relations with soulless, impersonal companies that it’s almost refreshing to hear of an actively nasty one.
It sounds like the car wasn’t even properly repossessed. No warnings, etc.
By law, the lienholders have to allow you to recover personal items from the car.
First thing I’d do is report the car stolen. Then find a lawyer. If you’re lucky, you can get them under RICO and get triple damages, and then buy a real vehicle.
Let’s look at a couple of numbers: #1 - the amount of money left on your loan #2 - the book value of the car
I’d bet that #2 is rather larger than #1. Assuming this, you’ve been scammed. They deliberately make it impossible for you to pay, then take the car back for “non payment” then sell the car for more than the loan was worth. If #1 is greater than #2, they just lost a ton of money, they get less on the resale and have to pay the repo guy, somehow I doubt they would choose this course of action.
You need to get the law on your side, now. Call a lawyer and call the cops. Tell them both your story in full. Make sure the cops know that you’ve made the effort to pay and they’ve refused to accept normal payment methods so that they could take your car and sell it rather than manage the loan. Can you make the payment right away if asked?
Question, though. Is there a substantial difference in quality between American Focuses and European ones? The models look the same at first glance, but the Focus has a pretty good reliability reputation on this side of the pond. So I was kind of surprised to see eveyone agreeing that it was a piece of junk.
I’m guesssing the American ones are built in the US, or Mexico or something?
I’m sorry for your vehicular misfortune, inkleberry, but that line has to be the funniest thing I’ve read all week.
Just for the record, I vote for reporting it stolen. Afterall, you really don’t know that it’s been repoed (and let anyone try to prove that you did–you don’t have anything in writing saying it’s going to be, do you?)
Please don’t lie to the police and pretend you don’t know about the intent to repo. Once they find the car has been repo’d (and the company cheerfuly mentions that they contacted you about it) they will drop their attempt to recover and possibly charge you with a false report.
If you sue (and you should) don’t sue to get the car back. Sue for the replacement value of the car. That way, you can buy something decent, and let Beelzebub Bank & Trust worry about the crappy Focus. I definitely think they were scamming you, and wanted you to fall behind.
I’ll second that. File a stolen car report, but admit up front the repo angle. Hell, tell them you think it was fraudulently repo’ed. Cover all the angles.
Call the cops. Be honest with them. They’ll know ALL about such things as repo (having probably answered these calls before). Tell them you got no notice nor ability to reclaim your possessions. Turn over all the data to them about the firm.
Talk to a prosector about whether the financing company is guilty of any crime for taking your stuff.
Find yourself a lawyer who will not only work to get your car back but is willing to SUE their asses for a cut.
“They put one of yours in the hospital…you put one of theirs in the morgue.”
Call the finance company. They should tell you if they have your car. They have to tell you what you need to do to bring the loan current. They also have to give you the opportunity to pick up your personal possession. You may be charged a “cleaning fee” for them to remove your items from the car.
The cars are usually sold at auction for about 1/2 their blue book price. The proceeds will be applied to your amount owed but you would still be responsible for the balance. For example, say you owe $8,000, the blue book value is $5,000 and it gets sold for $3,000. After “handling fees” about $2,500 is applied to your loan and you are still responsible for more than the car was worth.
Just a suggestion, but I would also contact the Louisiana State Attorney’s office and discuss this company’s actions with them. If everything happened exactly as you stated in the OP, I imagine they would be pretty interested in knowing about it.
Although I do not have any specific knowledge as to how auto loans work, I can speak with some authority on how mortgae loans work. I mention the following as points you should chek into and see if they apply here as well (not legal advice of course, but things to ask your attorney about):
While a financial institution has the right to sell your loan to another servicer, the only way such action affects you is who has the right to collect your payments. The terms of your loan (repayment period, interest rate, etc.) may NOT be changed, except as provided for by your original financial contract (such as an adjustable rate loan. and then changes must still follow the original rules).
*Should the loan be sold you must be informed in writing, and provided with information regarding where and to whom your payment is to be made. You must also be informed of the effective date of the transfer. With a mortgage loan, there is a grace period associated with sending in the first payment to the new recipient. During the 60 day period following the transfer of the loan servicing, a payment received by your old servicer before its due date may not be treated as late by the new servicer.
Like I said: not sure if that also applies to auto loans, but worth asking your attorney about. And I would definitely speak to one if I were you.
A month later they would only accept payments from my husband’s bank (Well’s Fargo) but not from mine (BofA).