Collections Law/repo debt

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Expert: Creditwrench - 11/19/2008


Question
Hi, I have a question concerning a vehicle repo from 2006.  I had a 1999 ford escort that was repo'd back in 2006 by i think ford motor credit company.  My mom was a co-signer on this loan as well.  In 2004 I filled chapter 7 bankruptcy, but not on the vehicle and I was told that I would still be able to keep the car and would continue receiving payments and such.  Well long story short, after the bankruptcy I never received anything from ford motor company and neither did my mom who was the co-signer.  In 2006 they came and got the car, woke up 1 morning and it was gone.  I called and they refused to speak with me only my mother and they stated they repo'd it due to the bankruptcy.  then my mother started receiving letters in the mail stating they were auctioning the vehicle off and we, rather she, had to pay off the amounts after the auction.  well after those notices we never received anything else.  nothing with amounts owed, nada.  so all of a sudden someone called my mom at her work number and stated that they were collecting this and that she owed 1500 bucks.  my mom stated that this was my debt and to contact me, and the person stated they could not.  i am all for paying this debt as it is mine, but i am confused shouldn't they have done this in 2006?  and will this reflect on her credit report?  thanks

Answer

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Yes, it will reflect on her credit report and probably yours too. You say that you are all for paying the debt?? Don't make that mistake. There are several reasons why you should not pay that debt. One of them is that as the debt gets older the less impact it has on a credit score. If you pay it that bad report gets a new report tacked on showing recent collection activity. It may even re-age the debt although it is illegal for them to do that it happens all the time.

Another reason is, of course, you would simply be throwing good money after bad. Why would you want to pay for something you can never have or get any good out of? That's not good business sense and in these tough economic times you need to be thinking in terms of making good financial decisions, not bad ones like that.

Of course, they may very well come after both you and your mom with a lawsuit. In case that happens I'm sure you would want to do the most you could to protect your mom. In order to do that you need to learn a little bit of law and how to win in court without lawyers because a lawyer will probably charge you more to "help" you out by trying to make a deal with the plaintiff. That deal would most likely be to have you pay about 80% of whatever they claim you owe at that time. Then the lawyer will want a hefty fee for selling you down the river.

Learn the law, catch them violating it and sue them and see how fast they get religion and go away.  

Creditwrench

Expertise

Debt Collections law, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), federal law, how to properly answer court summons for collection cases, how to prepare federal cases against debt collectors, how to deal with debt collection phone calls.

Experience

I've been an active consumer advocate for more than 40 years and have helped hundreds of people win cases against debt collectors as well as helping them defeat demands for summary judgment lodged against them by banks, debt collectors and defeat mortgage foreclosures and keep their homes.

Education/Credentials
Paralegal courses for the most part.
I have been teaching people how to deal with judgments, mortgage foreclosures and other such problems both on and off the internet for many, many years. I am a Richard Cornforth information provider ever since 2000 and worked with many other organizations and causes since 1980. I was Oklahoma State Chairman for the nationwide drive to defeat the Constitutional Convention which was proposed by various factions within our federal government such as the Council of State Governments and the National Organization of State Governors who were working hard to organize a Constitutional Convention to be held in 1995 for the purpose of rewriting our American Constitution to be more acceptable to the United Nations. I worked with Senator Charles Duke of Colorado and Senator Don Rogers of California and many others across the nation to keep them from getting the number of delegate states required to lawfully hold a Con-Con and we were successful. I have worked with many other legislative issues in Oklahoma and have always been very successful.

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