     Morgan Appel (Downinsocal) | Monday, May 22, 2000 - 11:13 am 
Howdy Gang!
Wanted to pick people's brains to see what the brilliant and beleaguered thought about this situation.
I just had a vehicle repossessed by the collective genius at Wells Fargo Bank. They cited the repo as voluntary, though I did nothing but sit on my duff and wait for them to take the %^&^%*& thing. These guys took it from my current address--they know where to come and get it.
Flash forward. About a month passes, and out of the blue they call and what to know how I will handle the deficiency balance of $12k! (My God!) This is the first I've heard from these cretins--I never had a chance to bid on the vehicle--in other words was not notified of its sale, nor was I ever afforded the opportunity to claim my personal property. Why? They claim (mind you, claim) that they sent mail to another address. Well, believe you me, I've had everything forwarded to the current address, and these morons sure knew where to pick the vehicle up!
So. The question is, isn't this a violation of UCC (even though the vehicle was a lease)? Do I:
a) Threaten them with litigation to erase the deficiency balance
b) Sue their stage coach driving butts or
c) Tell them I'll pay them $1 per month for the next 12,000 months
Advice much appreciated! |
| Jennifer Persinger (Velvet) | Wednesday, May 24, 2000 - 01:54 pm
I have to admit, I'm curious as well. I never recieved notice when my car was repossessed (voluntarily, I might add. I calld up and told them to take it - I was in Indiana, having left my abusive ex-husband - the car was in California. The bank said, sure, no problem. I heard *nothing* else from them (even with mail forwarded), and then 11 months later, I start getting nasty phone calls from a collection agency who doesn't give a hoot about anything but getting my money.
Uh ... huh? Where did that come from? Bank had my address and phone number that whole time and made NO attempt to contact me for any purpose - not even to let me know they'd taken back the car, let alone to give me a chance to place a bid on it and get it back (I might have had the money to do so - likely not, but I might have).
I have a feeling this is where the mystery judgement came from, but it's still not showing up as such (the original loan was taken out in California in 1996). |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Wednesday, May 24, 2000 - 04:36 pm
I somehow missed Morgan's posting, and unfortunately I really don't know anything about repos.
It would SEEM that they should have to notify you about the sale of the car as well as your personal property. I assume storage places have to notify delinquent customers about the sale of the stored property, because I've seen the notices posted.
Why wouldn't that apply to a car and its contents? |
| Mitch (Voigtkampff) | Thursday, May 25, 2000 - 11:35 am
The Uniform Commercial Code does require notification. Even though it is a uniform law, I cannot assume that it is the same in every state. But here in Florida, it appears that if there is a repossession and the consumer is not notified, then the sale in considered to be commercially reasonable. As a result, a presumption arises that the property was sold for an unreasonably low price. So, as a result, the law consideres no money to be owed for deficiency. But that presumption can be rebutted by the bank. I only read a few cases regarding this). It was leisure reading so I did not put much time into it. I recommend asking local attorneys about the UCC and "commercial reasonable" repo sales. |
| Madaboutcredit (Madaboutcredit) | Thursday, May 25, 2000 - 03:49 pm
I bought a used car from a strange used car dealer a few years back. After a few months it turned out to be a lemon. The finance company, Credit Acceptance Corp in Michigan, called me a few months after I stopped paying (I had to put a ton of money into it and it still wouldn't work so I stopped paying) and wondered what happened. I offered them the car back and they didn't want it. They stopped calling me for almost 7 months. The city towed the car because I couldn't drive it. Then 1 day I received a call from a law office demanding payment (with appropriate 21% interest added on) or they will take legal action. Anyway, I paid for 6 more months (Car debt was 4K, I paid almost 2K). I offered to settle and they would NOT hear of it.
I also found out CAC is a company that is being investigated for predatory loan practices.
I will cut and paste the article here when I can find it again. |
| Morgan Appel (Downinsocal) | Friday, May 26, 2000 - 10:21 am
Hey guys!
I sent out a certified letter to Wells Fargo saying that failure to notify me was a violation of UCC, as was not affording me the opportunity to pick up my stuff. I threatened them with 'appropriate action that could end up in compensatory damages and dismissal of their claim' unless they either brought my car back with all the stuff in it, washed, with a full tank of gas--or drop the deficiency claim.
It was your basic 'you screwed up, so go to hell' letter. I'll let you all know what happens. |
