My husband had a truck repossessed back in Feb. 2000. He had bought it 1 1/2 years before that. He had tried to get caught up but they wanted to collect repo fees before it was even repo’d so he let them get it. His stepfather was a co-signer at the time. My husband and his stepfather were never contacted again to tell them where it was being auctioned. They have never been informed how much it was auctioned for. This was almost a brand new truck with low miles on it. They called and harassed him for a few weeks last year and gave up. Now today we have a notice that they are wanting almost $14,000 for a truck that we don’t own and it has been over 8 years and is no longer on his credit report.

I currently have around $18,000 in debt, $10,000 of which is from credit cards, $8,000 from an auto loan (The car was repo-ed and this is the remainder balance I owe after auction). I also have $17,000 in student loans. I have been unable to pay on my credit cards for the past year and a half, so the interest rates are through the roof and my credit score is extremely horrible. Would it be better for me to file for bankruptcy at this point? or try to negotiate a settlement payment for my debts and try to rebuild my credit?

Last regular car payment Jun 08, car was repossed Sept 08. After auction I paid the $5100 balance due in Oct 08. I understand repo will remain on my credit file for 7 years. My question when does the 7 years start for credit report? Is it 7 yrs from last pay Oct 08, or 7 yr from my last regular payment June 08 or 7 years from the date of repossesion 9/08?

I can’t get my car back, but I do want to try to fix my credit. The car was just recently repossessed and I don’t even have close to enough money to get it back. I know that I am going to have to pay the difference at auction and the other fees, but I still want to try to fix my credit. Is there any way to fix credit after a repo without getting the car back??

I may have to return my car due to the insurance being crazy on it and am worried, after reading some things, that the bank may sue me for what it may not get once it is auctioned / sold off. Can I be sued in Washington state after a repo like this?

I have a buddy of mine at work. When he was 18 years old he bought a car for $12000. The financing company told him that he missed a payment when he didn’t. Him being young he paid the supposed missed payment. After about 5 months they contacted him again saying he missed yet another payment when he didn’t. They threatened to repo it and he told them to do it. They auctioned the car for $4000 and told him to pay the difference. By the time he was 25 years old he finished paying off the $4000 that they settled with him on instead of the $8000 for the difference. They even took it off of him credit report when he was 25. So here he is, 6 years after it came off him credit report, and 13 years later, and he gets a call from a lawer hired by the financing company to sue him for $12000 that he owed on the car. Saying he never paid a dime. Does anyone have any plans of options I could give him? He lives in Georgia at the moment if that helps.
On top of that, he’s received nothing in writing from the law office or the finance company stating that he’s to be sent to court. He’s only been contacted by phone and they’ve threatened to send him to court if he doesn’t have proof that he paid it off within 24 hours. They read him his social security number, and every address he’s ever lived at. He said it sounded fishy because when they called him initially they stated that they read it from his credit report and it was removed when he was 25. Sound fishy to anyone else? What should he do?
New Info. He gave me the phone number to the “law firm.” It turns out that they’re not in california at all. They’re a collection agency in Washinton called Green Tree Acquisitions. They’ve broken several laws thus far such as harrassment, calling of family members, raising their voice, not informing him that they’re a debt collection agency, threatening his credit, and this is only the peak of the list. No he doesn’t have any receipts, like I said, he’s 31 now, this all happened when he was 18 and was settled at 25, after 13 years he assumed it was over and just recently tossed the paperwork. I also learned that they couldn’t even sue him if they wanted to due to the Statue of Limitations Laws.

I’m sorry if this is a long story. I’ll try to keep it short.

Basically, before I met my husband, my husband co-signed on two credit applications with his friend Chris. Chris was his employee at the time. My husband was mislead by the co-signing process. He understood he would be a reference, but he had no idea that his credit would be affected or that he would be responsible for these debts. One account was for a car, another account was for an engagement ring. My husband was angry about being named as a co-signer, but Chris made regular payments, until my husband and Chris had a falling out. Basically, this Chris guy did several horrible things to him and to me (I had met my husband by this time). Chris stopped paying. My husband got deployed, and he is currently deployed. Since he has been deployed, he has never made any payments at all. The car was repo’ed. I am getting letters and calls from collections agencies wanting $6000 after auction for the car and $2000 for the ring. We don’t have this kind of money right now. I called Chris, and he said he would make payments. This was last month, and I called and neither have had payments made on them. I called again, but now he isn’t answer. My husband’s deployed and he can’t take care of it. He agreed to pay the bills, and he agreed that if he couldn’t he would let us know. In short this guy has an alcohol problem. My husband and I have no idea what to do. Should we take him to small claims court and sue him over this? What are our options? We don’t have $8000 offhand, and we don’t want to make payments on a car and a ring that we will never see or have. What is there that we can do?

Nice answers only please. Thank you.

i have a car that is less than 2 yrs old. had problems the last 7 months. finally, the dealership said big time engine problems. need to replace. BUT because i can’t provide history, the dealership denied fixing. 8K to fix which i don’t have. dealer suggest i trade in. tried trading in – loan is more than car – they don’t want to trade. suggest volunteer surrender. only way they can do deal is the surrender AND having spouse purchase another vehicle. purchased vehicle and called in the surrender. bank suggest private sale but i’ll be getting the same amount in private sale vs. their auction with the engine problems! can’t afford it both ways. am i stuck with being sued/judgements, etc. NOT FAIR .. but what do i do????
okay … if i surrender, i still owe .. that i get .. but if i surrender and can’t pay simply because there IS no $$’s, then how do they sue someone who doesn’t own anything (no mortgage/full-time mom – all but car under spouse). credit will take a nosedive, but say i wait the 7 years or miraculously, the account is deleted (credit dispute not answered w/in timeframe etc., – okay, i said miraculously!) , what happens to the monies owed? i’m trying to understand these new terms i’m reading on the web i.e. ‘judgements’, ’statute of limitation’ and how this all ties together …

Over a year ago, my husband and I bought a car for him to drive. His credit was bad so we bought the car in my name.

Several months later he moved out, leaving the car. I already had a car of my own and didn’t want his car, but kept making payments as it was in my name. Gradually I realized I couldn’t keep making payments, but since I owed more than the car was worth (I was “upside down”) I couldn’t sell. I called the finance company and explained the situation but they wouldn’t offer any way out.

Recently I found someone who wanted the car and didn’t mind making the rest of the payments, so I let her begin making them. She is also paying for the car’s insurance, which I control, as I wanted to make sure it was ALWAYS insured.

What sort of promissory note can I prepare that states she will receive the car title when she pays it off 100%? I realize this isn’t an ideal solution, but my only other choice was to let the finance company repo the car. They would have auctioned it and billed me for the difference.

My car was repo’d about 2 weeks ago. I lost my job about 6-7 weeks ago. I was told that by filing chapter 7 bankruptcy, I would be able to “wipe out” or be protected from having to pay the difference that is owed on the car after it goes to auction. From my understanding, Chap. 7, I would be able to leave out certain items, like my credit cards that have all been paid on time for 7+ years. Any advice or help?? I live in Michigan, if that matters for bankruptcy laws.

I did a voluntary repo; and they said my car will be auctioned off; but I will still probably owe 6000, what if I don’t have the money to still pay?

HE SAID HE INCLUDED THE TRUCK IN HIS BANKRUPTCY BUT DID NOT MAKE THE PAYMENTS. I OFFERED TO REFI IN MY NAME ONLY, HE REFUSED. THE FINANCE CO COULD NOT FIND HIM, SO OF COURSE THEY FOUND ME, I TOLD THEM WHERE THE TRUCK WAS AND IT WAS REPO’D. WHEN IT WAS SOLD AT AUCTION I HAD TO PAY THE DIFFERENCE. IF I WERE TO FIND HIM, CAN I SUE HIM FOR AT LEAST HALF? I UNDERSTAND MY PART…BUT HE SHOULD HAVE TO PAY SOMETHING!!