Car repossesion question

[Anonymous]

Here's another question about a car repossession.

My ex-wife and I have a car that is jointly financed.  In the divorce, she was awarded the car and has sole responsibility for it.  Her credit is so bad that she cannot get it refinanced so it is still in both of our names.  She is not making the payments and has told me that she is just going to let it get repossessed.  Do I have any recourse here or am I just screwed?  I have explained all of this to the finance company but they don't care.  They just want their money.  If it is repossessed, what will it do to my credit and can they garnish my wages for the money or will they just garnish hers since the divorce states the car is her sole reponsiblity?

Thanks in advance for any advise.

[Anonymous]

Would taking the car back off of her be an option? Then you possibly refinance it so its in your name only? If all shes gonna do is have it repossessed i would go that route, if it's an option. As far as your credit, i'd imagine it would effect it negatively since it's still in your name as well as hers.

[Anonymous]

Your divorce decree is not binding on your joint creditors.

In general, a judge's ruling is only binding on the parties that are a part of the action -- and the creditors were not. This is a frequently overlooked and misunderstood part of divorce law, and one of the reasons divorce is one of the most common causes of bad credit.

Your can refinance the car yourself.

You, of course, can sue her for the damage to your credit, not that that will help.

[Anonymous]

Refinancing the car in my name only would be difficult for me since I have pretty bad credit due in part to some collections accounts that were incurred during our marriage as well.  Plus, I pay child support and can't really afford to make a car payment as well. 

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry, it sounds like you're going to have to take the hit.

[Anonymous]

Depending on what degree of cooperation she is willing to show, you could agree to sell the car, and apply the proceeds to paying off the car note.  I don't know whether you've paid enough on the car to not be upside-down, but if you could come out at least close to even, that might make you able to pay the male tax and a (substantially reduced) car note.

[Vapchez]

If at all possible, sell the car, pay down the loan, and arrange payments to pay off what is left.  In 1999, I co-signed for my brother to buy a car at the urging of my mother.  In restrospect, I should not have done it even if they were both mad at me for the rest of my life.  In a couple of years, he quit paying on the car and now we have a judgment under both our names.  I currently make $100 payments to pay the judgment off because I didn't want them garnishing my paycheck.  They don't care who they get the money from as long as they get it.  Unfortunately, I waited too late to make arrangements with the finance company to stop the judgment from going through.  If you can at all help it, you definitely do not want the judgment on your credit report.  It's there for at least 7 years and will affect your buying a new car or purchasing a home because they don't care that you were not the primary borrower only that the car was repossed.

[Anonymous]

You may be able to take her back to family court, and have the court order her to sell the car.  

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, Skippy is right about divorce decrees and who is responsible for certain debt. The creditors don't care since the binding contract was made prior to your divorce. My advice is try and negotiate with the creditor and if nothing works out arrange a voluntary reposession so you don't get stuck with more fees like- Towing and they often use repo-men that charge a pretty penny. All these extra expenses will be added to your total balance not to mention the repo men often use "shady" tactics like entering garages etc to get the car. (I know, I worked for a finance company)

Okay so worst scenario- they take the car back, sell it for less than what is owed and you are stuck with a balance. Since both you and your wife are joint signers you should be able to split that by half for your portion- again, you have to negotiate with them first.

After one to two years it will have less negative impact on your credit report and you could even begin to dispute that this is not yours. I successfully deleted two items this way on my own report, using the divorce decree as my anchor but you should wait at least one year.

[Anonymous]

Here's the kicker in this whole scenario.  I would love to sell the vehicle to pay off at least part of the loan but last fall my ex-wife wrecked the vehicle and did not have insurance on it so it has not been fixed.  It needs several thousand dollars worth of repairs to it before it will even be driveable again so I can't just sell it and can't afford to have it fixed myself.  Any advise?