Expert: Creditwrench - 7/29/2008

Question
QUESTION: My car was reposessed yesterday. What true rights do I have in this situation. They took it in the middle of night on a Sunday. I realize we are behind and have been trying to catch back up. We were like 3 months behind but have been paying each month to keep from getting behind. I now have to pay $2100.00 plus collection fees within 10 days or will sale it and I have to pay it still the balance? I can not use bankruptcy option, not elgible. Live in Alabama.

ANSWER: Do you have the money? Do you want the car back?

Quite frankly if I were to get a car repoed I'd just figure they must have wanted it worse than I did. Then I'd just sit back and wait for the inevitable which would be that they would sell the car and try to come after me for the deficiency balance which I would never pay under any circumstances. They would finally turn it over to a debt collector and that is when the fun would begin.

I'd wait until the debt collector started in on me and I'd be keeping a careful record of every contact either by phone or by letter and the violations of law that would be made by them. I'd send them a validation letter and if I didn't have my validation within 30 days I'd use the next letter in the creditwrench series. Of course, there isn't any law that says they have to have the validation in my hands within 30 days or any other time limit. I'd send them the second letter just to let them know I'm not going to give them any time to play around.

Then I'd wait 15 days after they got the second letter and send them the third letter in the creditwrench series. Keep shoving them down the primrose path. Don't give them any breathing room.

Fifteen days after they got the third letter I'd send them the 4th letter in the creditwrench series. That one would contain my fully prepared federal case against them for whatever violations I might have against them at that time. It would also contain an intent to sue form also properly filled out. Once they see that the federal case is all properly prepared, meets all the federal rules of procedure requirements they would most likely not want to go any further. In the unlikely event that they do then I'd just go ahead and pull the trigger on them.

If I didn't feel I really had enough violations to make it worthwhile I'd probably just sit back and see what they do next.

If they get stupid and file a lawsuit then I'd start the process all over again with the lawyer and drag him into court as well. One federal case against the debt collector and another one against the lawyer naming the debt collector as a co-defendant.

By that time they would be wanting to know how much it is going to cost them to make me go away. That's when the cheese gets real binding. I want them to go away, forget about their lawsuit, get it all off my credit reports, pay my filing fees, court costs, buy me a new car to replace the one they took and pay me damages on top of that.

Oh, they don't want to do all of that? O.K. Fine with me. We will just go to a full blown trial and let them explain to a federal judge and 12 jurors why they broke the law so many times.  

They don't want to do that because it costs them way too much money to do that when they couldn't possibly win.

Now you know what I would do. What will you do?



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Have they broken any laws at this point in my state like taking out of my driveway between 12-7am on a Sunday and the fact we were making payments although we were behind I realize?

Answer
None of those are violations of law if you live in what is known as a "self help" state such as Oklahoma.

Since the repo already happened you will have to wait until they start trying to collect from you before you can start getting pro-active.

There aren't any violation that I know of that would let you do anything at this point in time.