How can this happen?

[jatneal]

Hello all,

I have a charge off with an old car loan back in 2007. The OC and the CA are both reporting.  The OC claims that they have only assigned the debt, but the CA says they own it.  After the car was charged off, I still had the car, they recently found it, and it was repoed.  The repo is not showing on either tradeline, I have not recieved a defiency notice yet, but the CA recently changed their balance from 4496 to 4196, so Im guessing that could be the amount it sold for at the auction. 

My questions are:

1. Should I make a settlement to the OC since they claim they still own the debt. Is the debt still showing as a chargeoff instead of a repo because they cant update the tradeline once it is reported as charged off?

2. Should I DV the CA, but if doing this will this trigger a lawsuit?

3. They are obviously confused about who owns the debt so how should I go about figuring this out?

I am aiming to buy a car next year, and I want to get this negative line off of my CRs. 

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[LIGHTNIN]

Is the OC reporting a balance on your CR??

[GregB]

IF the change in the amount that you owe the CA was due to the sale of the car and they are reporting you owe $4196, then that would be the additional amount you owe, not the amount for which the car was sold.

Perhaps you owed $4496, they sold the car for a third of that and added about a quarter of that in fees and interest. I can't think of any other reason that the balance would go down. Did you mean that the amount they sold it for was the difference?

It seems you might be in a far worse situation than you think. Did you think that they wouldn't come after you for a bunch more money? I think this will be a big hit on your report for much longer than a year. I would do what you can to get it straightened out sooner rather than later.

[jatneal]

Okay sorry for the confusion.  When I say that the balance changed, what I meant was that I assumed they sold the car for $300. Changing the balance from 4496 to 4196.  The amount that the OC charged off was 4496.  The CA is the only one who has changed their balance.  They are both reporting balances whichh is why I am confused as to who actually owns the debt.  The CA did initially mail me a letter BEFORE the auction telling me the date of the auction, and with the fees, and interest I would owe them around 7000 Before the Auction, but the amount they are reporting is the balance before the repo that the OC charged off.  I am very confused about how to handle this situation, so I hoped to have shed some light on my dilemma.  Thanks for your help

[GregB]

After seeing that the charge off was $4496, I assumed the car would be sold for quite a bit more than $300. I know the market for used cars is bad and that there are few buyers at those auctions. Sounds like you had a good idea that you would end up owing them a fair amount of money.

I'm sorry I have little help for you on how to proceed with making this better.

I can advise you to be very careful giving any information to a collection agency when you speak with them. That applies if you contact them now or when they finally contact you.

[jatneal]

Im only guessing that this is the amount that they sold the car for.  Like I said I havent received a defiency balance after the repo.  Also being that the original contract was in Ohio, and I now live in California is the SOL based on OH law or CA law? 

Also I googled the CA which claims to be a "inhouse" collection agency for the OC.  On my reports they are located in the same city and state, but the CA uses a PO box for their address.  They also have a couple of court cases which were given judgements, but were later reversed because the assignment wasnt documented properly. Which is seeming like the case here because like I said they both tell me that they own the account. 

I'm so confused as to what to do, I kind of want to let sleeping dogs lie, and wait it out.  But I also wanted to try and purchase a new car at the beginning of next year since I am in a better financial position. 

I know my post is a bit long, but I want to make sure that I answer all questions that anyone may have so that I can get the proper help in what to do with this situation.

Thank you all for your time, and help.

[hisfrogness]

If the OC, which I assume is a bank, is telling you that they still own the debt, then I would just pay them. They were the ones who dealt with the CA and they will be responsible for clearing up the matter once they take your money.

The SOL would be OH's unless there were extenuatinig circumstances.

[guiness56]

SOL can be either the state you currently reside in or the state you obtained the credit in.  They will use the one most beneficial to them.

[hisfrogness]

Does that mean they will actually sue you in the state that has the longer SOL or that a judge in either state will grant them the longer SOL?

[guiness56]

It could happen either way.  I know my state will accept out of state judgments.