Car repossession - how far can they go?
I only know the basics of this because I get contacted by the collector! My daughter & husband are about 3-4 payments behind on 2 cars through Honda Finance. We offered my daughter the money to catch up on the lesser car payment & for them to turn back the other car (i think one car is $550 and the other is $250/mth) & give her another $1000 to buy a used cheap car. She refused our offer & is trying to come up with (I will guess) $2400+ & then, they think, be caught up. We are getting calls from an investigator (I will guess a repo place) asking about my daughter. We finally have stopped answering the phone. Today, someone came to our house (my daughter lives in another state) & gave some stupid excuse looking for her. Based on past phone calls, we knew better. Can the creditor keep bothering us - hoping my daughter will be here one day. I already know my daughter is dumb and I shouldnt have to put up with this, but can the collection company keep doing this to us?
I am not a co-signer. We don’t see my daughter. My daughter is in possession of the cars, not me. They identified themselves as “independent party, trying to get ‘my daughter’ to sign a petition for a * court judge”. I am a paralegal in this county - I know all judges running for office. When I asked to see the petition, they said “NO”, got in their cars and left. When I tried to get their license plate no. they pulled out of my driveway real fast. I know what my daughter is doing is wrong - I have offered our help - she refused … do I have to be continued to be harassed from the collection/repo companies?
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June 21st, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Of course they can.
You have their possession, which, according to the paperwork you signed, basically gives them any right they need, to repossess it. Especially since it’s already 3-4 payments late.
The smart thing to do, is to stop avoiding your legal obligation, and to give them the vehicle. Or the money. With some extra, to make them happier.
As it is, you’re interfering with a legal repossession. Which is a crime in itself.
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:06 pm
If you are co-signors on the loan they can.
If these are private investigators looking for your daughter for all the same reason, and are hired by the same company, you can get a court ordered injunction to prevent them from harrassing you. If they are looking for her for different reasons, you’re out of luck unless you have a good lawyer.
To be honest, it sounds like there is more at stake than a couple of Hondas. Are you sure that your daughter isn’t into someone a little more serious than Honda Finance?
June 24th, 2009 at 3:49 am
Unfortunately, the laws tend to favor collections companies in their attempts to recoup the debt- although they still must conform to the standards and obey the laws of the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act). Collections companies do hot have to abide by the Do Not Call/Solicit rules, so they can continue to call you until the issue is resolved, but the law says they cannot threaten you and they must identify themselves as a debt collector.
If you are getting visits from repo agents, then it may already be too late to prevent repossession since Honda has already written off the debt or is in the process of doing so. Also, repo agents may not fall under the FCRA laws because they are technically not debt collectors but rather recovery specialists.
One more thing, although rare, I have seen a few cases where the car company has reported cars as “stolen” if they cannot be recovered and are unpaid for, so you may want to warn your daughter to simply turn in the car to avoid any issues with the DMV when renewing license and/or registration. In these cases, Honda can also file a civil complaint and sue your daughter in court. They can also 1099 the car as bad debt in which case the IRS will come after your daughter for taxes on the value of the car at the time the debts were written off.
June 26th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
There are very few things they can’t do (thank you, Congress) with the laws favoring the banks written by the politicians they bought. Take all of the paperwork you have and your log of the phone calls and pay for an hour of attorney time to make sure of your situation.