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Borrowers facing repossession may contact the police to have an officer on hand when it’s time to surrender their vehicle. As well, the repo agent may request the presence of law enforcement. But can police assist with the car repossession?
Read on to learn more about the role of law enforcement in the process of repossessing a car, truck, motorcycle, RV or boat.
Continue reading Can the Police Help with My Car Repossession? →
When you default on a car loan, your lender can repossess your vehicle. Most defaults come from someone failing to make their monthly payments. If you’re up to date on your payments and your car was repossessed, then clearly, a wrongful car repossession has occurred.
But even if you have missed payments, lenders and repo agents need to follow the law. If your vehicle has been unlawfully repossessed, you may be able to sue your lender and the repo agent.
Here’s what lenders and repossession companies need to do to stay within the bounds of the law: Continue reading What Can I Do If My Car Was Repossessed by Mistake? →
Protection from RepossessionThe Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) provides special protections for active service members that have defaulted on car loan payments. To qualify, servicemembers must have signed the loan agreement, and paid at least the deposit or first installment payment, before entering military service. To repossess a vehicle, the lender must obtain a court order.
Vehicle repossessions occur for a number of reasons. Most often, a vehicle is repossessed due to missed payments or the lapse of insurance. When a car is repossessed, lenders need to follow the law, whether payments were missed or not. If the lender overlooks the law, the servicemember may bring a lawsuit against the lender.
After a vehicle has been repossessed, the lender is required to send proper notices to the borrower. Shortly after the repossession, the lender will send a letter called a Notice of Intent to Sell Property, which confirms the repossession occurred and details terms for to retrieve the vehicle. If the borrower is not able to meet the terms, the lender may choose to sell the vehicle at an auction or private sale. Once the sale has taken place, the lender will send a second letter called a Deficiency Notice, which informs the borrower of the sale price of the vehicle and any remaining balance due. If the borrower is not notified properly, there may be grounds to file a lawsuit against the lender.
If a servicemember’s vehicle has been repossessed, he or she may face loss or denial of a security clearance, or other types of punishment based on mismanagement of their finances. In addition, credit reports may list delinquencies or the repossession and lower credit scores, which make it difficult to obtain a new loan.
All consumers are entitled to receive one free credit report every twelve months directly from Transunion, Experian and Equifax. Check your credit reports , and make sure the information is accurate.
Servicemembers that have fallen behind on payments for auto loans and are facing repossession should seek the advice from a qualified consumer protection attorney to advise on their consumer rights.
Flitter Milz is a nationally recognized consumer protection law firm who knows the laws to protect borrowers from wrongful repossession and inaccurate credit reporting. Contact us for a no cost consultation.
Pictured above: Attorneys Cary Flitter (center), Andy Milz (left), Jody López-Jacobs (right).
Once a borrower defaults on terms of his or her auto loan agreement, the lender may repossess the vehicle. The agreement details events that lead to a default. For example, failure to make monthly payments on time, or in full, are common defaults. Lenders are not generally required to notify the borrower in advance of a repossession.
Lenders usually contract with a third-party, such as a towing company or forwarding service, to handle the repossession. The repo agent is provided with home and work addresses, and any other useful information to help locate you and your vehicle.
Without warning, the repo agent comes to take the vehicle from your home, place of employment, a location in your neighborhood, or even the store where you shop. Some vehicles, often those bought from a used car lot that also accepts payment (called a buy-here, pay-here lot), may have a location device or a kill-switch installed.
Lenders and their hired repossession agents must follow the law when taking a vehicle. If a car or truck has been wrongfully repossessed, the borrower may have the right to sue the lender and repo agent, even if the borrower missed payments or defaulted in some way.
If the lender did not have the right to repossess your vehicle but did so anyway, a wrongful repossession may have occurred.
First, gather your loan agreement and review the terms for default. Second, review your payment records for amounts paid, payment date, form of payment, (such as check or money order), and the date the payment was applied to your account.
If the repossession agent didn’t follow the law when they took your vehicle, it may be considered unlawful vehicle repossession.
Vehicle repossession often takes the consumer by surprise. Confrontations may develop, and either the borrower or repo agent calls the police for assistance. The police are to aid in keeping the peace. They may assist in diffusing an altercation between the repo agent and the borrower.
The police are not supposed to enable a repossession, or order the borrower to “step aside” or “turn over keys”. They may not threaten arrest or command the borrower to turn over the vehicle. At this point, the police may have crossed the line from keeping the peace to breaching the peace. This could be a violation of your constitutional rights, enabling you to bring a lawsuit against the police department, the repossession company, and the lender for a wrongful repossession.
During the repossession, take written notes of the events that occur. Be sure to include:
Gather and remove all personal property and car loan documents from the vehicle, including:
After the repossession, the lender is required to provide certain notices to the consumer. First, a Notice of Intent to Sell Property is to be sent and received in advance of the vehicle’s sale or auction. It states terms to get your vehicle back, along with date and time of sale or auction. As well, this notice will state the location of your vehicle so that you can retrieve personal property.
Second, a Deficiency Notice is sent after the vehicle’s sale. This notice presents the sale amount of the vehicle, subtracted from the balance owed on the loan, and states any deficient balance or surplus. Even larger banks or credit unions make mistakes in these documents. At times, this could make the repossession illegal.
After your car, truck, or motorcycle has been repossessed, contact Flitter Milz, a qualified consumer rights law firm, who is experienced in car repossession law. You may be able to pursue a case against the lender, and possibly the repo agent, for a wrongful repossession.
In most states, repossession agents have to inform the local police department of their intent to seize a vehicle before the repossession takes place.
During the vehicle repossession, the police may be contacted by the borrower or the repo agent to come to the scene. Whether it is the borrower or repo agent who contacts the police, the officer must follow specific guidelines so he or she doesn’t violate the borrower’s constitutional rights.
The police are there to help keep the peace. If the situation becomes volatile, they should assist in diffusing the confrontation between the repo agent and the borrower.
The police are there to protect you and keep anyone from being harmed. It is not the police’s role to assist the repo-man in taking your car.
The police should not assist or enable the repossession.
Unless the lender has taken the unusual step of obtaining a court order, the police should not order you to turn over your keys or to “step aside” and let the repo man take your vehicle.
If the police threaten you with arrest or command you to turn over the vehicle, they may have crossed the line from keeping the peace to breaching the peace. This could violate your constitutional rights.
While you obviously may need to yield to the command of an armed law enforcement officer, make it clear that you protest the repossession.
You may be entitled to bring a lawsuit against the police department, the repossession company, and the lender for wrongful vehicle repossession.
Gather statements from witnesses, if any, and obtain the police report that details the incident. Take a video of your interaction with the repo agent and/or police officers. Photographs the scene, including your vehicle and any damaged property. Write a statement, including the date and time, of what happened.
Flitter Milz is a nationally recognized consumer protection law firm that evaluates matters for consumers who have had a vehicle repossessed. There is no cost for the legal review. Contact Us today.
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