Posted: 6/9/2005 9:07:57 PM EDT
|
I have a good friend who has been out of work for a while and is leasing a car (GMAC). He is starting a new job next week. The problem is, he owes 3 car payments. I am considering paying them current for him, but GMAC doesn't want to take the money. Here's my question - do they have to take the money up until the reposess his vehicle? I KNOW that in a house foreclosure situation, the bank HAS to take the money up until the day of the auction. I have used this to my advantage when someone owed me money on a second I gave them on a house I sold - the first mortgage holder had filed for foreclosure, which would have wiped me out. I cured the first, by making 3 payments for these people, and then I foreclosed. I did this because there was significant equity in the house. I would like to help him out, but not if GMAC is going to take the money I give him and just put it toward repo legal fees or something. I have advised him to keep the damn car in his garage, I'm not sure what rights the repo man has (despite seeing the film  ).No, I don't care if I don't get the money back, so him paying me is not a concern. |
He needs to see a lawyer and maybe file for bankruptcy... this will stop the creditors in their tracks and give him negotiating room. If he don’t GMAC will end up taking the car and he will lose any equity he has in it. And he needs to hide the car well until he does this. |
This is his only debt as far as I know. Not sure if he has equity, it is a lease. I know he won't file for bankruptcy anyway - even if they took the car and he owed them some money he'd make them payments to settle his debt. |
I would just give him the money and he could pay them however he wants to - I am not directly involved, and they can piss up a rope if they think they can "get me" because I gave him some money. |
Well in that case he might as well pay them weather they take the car or not cause they will keep coming after the money even after the repo. |
I was referring to the suggestion, not made by you, that your friend hide the vehicle.
|
Gotcha. What if he normally keeps it in his garage? The repo guy would be pretty much fucked, yes? Any repo men members here with some stories of "the chase"? 
|
Coming from a former member of the trade, let me share some things with yall.. It all depends on the asset recovery agent assigned to pick up your buddies car. Back when I was doing recovery work we were paid hourly, so i tended to be laid back about snatching up peoples stuff. repo 1 car in a month or 200 I still got paid the same. Unfortunately most agencies now work on a commission basis, so the amount of trouble your buddy can expect depends on how good of a month the assigned agent is having. If hes having a great month with a lot on his plate, he may drive by your buddies house once or twice when hes in the area, and after not seeing the target vehicle for awhile forget about it and move on to other things. If this is the case youre pretty much home free after 2 or 3 months (If you havent made a payment in 6 months and still have your vehicle, then you can lighten up on your precautions as its entirely likely the recovery agency has given up on you) Now if the recovery agent is having a very lean month and your buddy is the only thing on his plate at the moment, then the agent is very likely to stalk you, and not give up until he either gets more assignments or gets your car. Also if hes a real prick, then your 'precautions' may piss him off enough that he'll make it a point to get your vehicle by any means nessasary. With that being said, I'll get into what you all really want to hear- nasty tricks, and what works and what doesnt. firstly keep in mind that recovery agents follow the same philosophy as most other people youre likely to meet-- Its only wrong if you get caught Keeping your car in the garage? that doesnt phase them unless you also happen to have a security system. Ive known folks i the industry who have no compunctions about picking your locks, making entry into the house/garage, opening the main garage door, and leaving in/with your car. Technically this is B&E in any state of the union, but its only wrong if you get caught. Technically speaking you dont even have to hide it in your garage- park it in your driveway and block it in with another vehicle. Legally they cant move one vehicle to get to another, but once again dont expect the law to save you. If they really want you, but cant get to your car at your house, then a desperate agent (or a real prick) will stalk you as you go about daily business, and snatch it while youre in the store, at work, etc.. Of course I havent been doing this in over 5 years, so doubtless theres an absolute ton of stuff Im forgetting. Oh no 'chase'stories from me- Much like getting in trouble, you only get chased if you get caught.. |
It looks like the drama has come to an end - since I have given him the entire amount due, they have agreed to accept it. Your statement above interested me - would you not be in posession of stolen property if you kept hiding out? I'm sure a bank wouldn't just give up and let someone have the car, right? What about when it came time to get plates - I'd assume the DMV has some kind of flag that the vehicle isn't yours or something? |
He needs the car to commute, and he doesn't want his credit all screwed up. He was just out of work for a while. $980 later and he's back in their good graces I guess. |
His credit is probably already screwed up. Late payments show up on credit reports |
Yep, and I'll presume that a few late payments will hurt him less than a repo would have. At any rate. he's back on track which is all that really matters. |
|
Yes, it is already on his credit, but no longer appears as a default. Not good, but not horrible, either, as he paid it off quickly. And kudos to you for being willing to help a buddy like that. There should be more people like you in the world, and less people who take advantage of nice guys and make them fear helping another. I just paid $400 in rent for a friend of mine, loaned another $500 because his ol lady's car broke down and they were that much short towards another one, and gave my roomate a break on his rent for $450. A lady I allowed to stay for a month stole $60 last month. My ol lady's BROTHER stole $600 from us, charged $60 in porn to my cable account a few months ago, and left crack in my basement my oldest daughter (13 at the time) found. I have been used and abused up to the point my 45 Caspian was stolen. Sucks to get taken advantage of, but if we all helped out friends a little more in this world we'd be in a much better place. Way to go, bro. |
|
Your friend should be cautious now. It is entirely likely that if he defaults that lease again, GMAC will immediately file a replevin action. In a nutshell, instead of having the tow driver at the door, it will be a sherriff AND a tow driver... Either the truck or your buddy will be going for a ride. And, I should add, accounts previously out for repo are not given as much time as first offenders.. He could lose it at two payments behind. |
|
I can speak on this, since I have experienced this before. I bought a car and made payments for two and one half years without incident. I was even a payment ahead, if I had any problems down the road.... Lost my job, continued to make payments as I was solvent for 6 months. Then I ran out of money and got no job interviews. I ended up getting 3 months behind and made a deferment payment, they took the money but refused to credit it to my account. The repo asswipes took the car at 3 am but knocked on my door. I answered it with a holstered 45 because I had no idea who was there. This was just months after a home invasion incident I had. 2 guys, in excess of 300 lbs, with 6 cell mag lights at my door. Yeah, I was a little shocked. They ended up refusing to give me my personal belongings, called the police to say I threatened to kill them and I brandished a weapon. No charges filed. 1 week later went to their office to get my stuff and had 2 Maricopa County Sheriff's Deputies and one future armed Posse member with me as witnesses. After they refused to return my stuff and demanded that I get a local police officer there before they would. I left to call local police and request an officer. Wait and wait and wait. I left after almost an hour of waiting. I got called back by police on my way back home (30 miles) and was told if I didn't return, I would have a warrant out for me. Went back and repo agency claimed I assaulted one staff member, broke a phone and then they claim they locked me out and I broke through a glass door to get at them. Glass was broken from the inside to outside. I went to jail, they didn't return half my stuff and I was eventually convicted of criminal damage due to an underhanded repo company who out and out lied about me several times. Oh yeah, the finance company sold my Jeep at auction for $3700, was blue booked at $9000 and I still owed $14,000. So they have me listed as owing them $10,000. Sure, they'll get their money over that little incident - WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER!!!!! The thing is, I was trying to work with them and had just sent in a payment. Being upfront and honest just doesn't pay sometimes. |
Wow. Unfortunately, I think I would have wound up killing someone over that. Seriously. Things like this are why I buy cars cash, and if I can't afford a nice new Mercedes or whatever, so be it. |
This would be one case where possession really is 10/10ths of the law. Said vehicle is in your possession, its in your garage, you have the keys, and most importantly its registered/insured in your name. Yes the bank will want either the money or the asset returned to them, but the process if fairly complicated. The recovery agent is merely the easiest (and thus first) step they can use to retrieve the vehicle. If the recovery agent is unable to retrieve the vehicle, then they (the bank) must go through the court system to get whats due to them. Its basically the same idea as if you were to default on your home mortgage- the bank cant just step in when youre not home and change the locks, they must go throught the courts to have you evicted, thenthey can take possession of the house. Same goes for cars, however considering the costs involved to 'evict' you from your car, often times it is cost prohibitive to take it to court so that the bank will get thier Corolla back. Therefore if you are a deadbeat and have an inexpensive car, then once you avoid the repo guys youre homefree (just dont plan on ever being able to transfer title to anyone else- when it comes time for a new vehicle youll have to either scrap this one or part it out) As its just not cost effective to go to the expense ofdefaulting on a cheap car. However if you have something pricey, then quite often they will do anything required to retain possession of the vehilce. As far as getting new plates or renewing your registration yearly, the DMV isn't connected to the banks computers (that I know of). If you have the old registration, as well as proof of insurance on the vehicle in question, then you should have no problems renewing your registration. Please bear in mind that Ive been out of the game for 5 years, some things have undoubtedly changed. YMMV |
Holy crap! That's one of the saddest things I've ever read here! Jeebus! |
|
The best thing to do is try to sell it if you can no longer make the payments, get at least what you owe for it. Also being up front and honest woth the lender will in most cases help you. Try to get a good relationship going with your local bank,get to know a couple loan officers, if you ever do run onto hard times, sometimes they can be a good allie to have on your side. and finally if you do have a vehicle that in repo status, dont play games, offer to turn over the vehicle to the lender, and clean it up before you do. It is the right thing to do. Sometimes bad things happen to good people , people who have allways been able to pay thier bills on time and in full, by keeping the lines of communication open, both parties can benifit from it. I know that is not the "in" thing to say or even to think like that in todays world, but integrity will go a long way. |
You have to get a loan for the diff. and/ or get a bill of sale and that will release the title to the new owner upon payment. |
|
Guys, Sorry. I didn't intend to detract from the original post at all. I've been through it before. Pete, I tried to explain to the Peoria AZ PD that the events told by the repo co were incorrect. I told them that being a former Army Ranger, I'd have left nothing but a pile of bodies on the ground and rubble in my wake. There simply would not have been a building left after I was done and no witnesses at all. Peoria insisted that they needed to "secure" my secured firearms. They were secured in a friends vehicle (MCSO Deputy) which was locked and parked 100 yards from the area. 6 PD officers between me and it. They finally gave up on that. Those were just the highlights. It goes further than that including a visit from some plain clothed Tempe PD SWAT officers to see if I would be a problem in the future - because I demonstrated some of the products I offer to a couple of patrol officers and they saw I had an "AR-15" rifle on the table. I was busy fitting a batch of 100 slings to be shipped to Iraq. The rifle was missing the bolt carrier. So I got "investigated" for future reference. I also got picked up on a bogus bench warrant from Peoria and spent 30 hours as Sheriff Joe's "guest." That sucked big time. Although my block name was "Snake" after that and I did qualify for a spider web tat, but not a teardrop. I had not killed a man in the clink nor had I known a man killed there. I'll just have to live with that pain.... Good thing was that my firearms rights are secure, I still have my CCW and I still carry better weapons than the PD does, even when unemployed. And, until I had to come to Ohio, was in the hiring/training process for Arizona State University PD. Funny how things work out. Hope your friend gets everything worked out. |
|
+1 you are a better man than most 
|
I learned everything I know about loaning money from my Grandfather, who was taught by his father, a loanshark. He was in the habit of burning debtor's houses down and breaking legs for non-payment. His advise was simple. Never loan money to friends and family. You can get it back, but not without doing something you don't want to do. It ain't worth it." |