Lawsuit over car repo

Anonymous · ‎05-21-2011

Hey all looking for some advice, first a little background on me.I have had some credit problems in the past mostly becasue of losing a job about 7 years ago and not being able to have enough money to survive.Through the dispute processand paying off most of my debt my score is back in the mid 600's and it shouldn't be long before I'm in the 700's. I now have a very good job and have only about 5000 in debt left to pay off.

My question is this I had a car repossessed in 2004, the bank sold the account to a collection lawyer. The lawyer sued me and got a default judgment for $28,000 because I didnt think it was a big deal to go to court for that, oops, big mistake. So now they've had me paying $50 a month for the last 4 or 5 years and threaten to take me back to court if I do not pay. Do I have any options in this situation other than paying them another $26,000? its looking like $50 a month for the next 43 years. Is there a legal way to get out of paying this? It is absolutelty stupid for me to pay this amount of money for something I dont even have anymore.

Anonymous · ‎05-21-2011

@Anonymous wrote:
Hey all looking for some advice, first a little background on me.I have had some credit problems in the past mostly becasue of losing a job about 7 years ago and not being able to have enough money to survive.Through the dispute processand paying off most of my debt my score is back in the mid 600's and it shouldn't be long before I'm in the 700's. I now have a very good job and have only about 5000 in debt left to pay off.

My question is this I had a car repossessed in 2004, the bank sold the account to a collection lawyer. The lawyer sued me and got a default judgment for $28,000 because I didnt think it was a big deal to go to court for that, oops, big mistake. So now they've had me paying $50 a month for the last 4 or 5 years and threaten to take me back to court if I do not pay. Do I have any options in this situation other than paying them another $26,000? its looking like $50 a month for the next 43 years. Is there a legal way to get out of paying this? It is absolutelty stupid for me to pay this amount of money for something I dont even have anymore.

True that you do not have the car anymore, but then the bank doesn't have their money anymore, either.

I only see three ways to get out of paying.

1. File for bankruptcy;

2. Wait for the statute of limitations on enforcement of judgments expires; or

3. Divine Intervention.

Each state is different, but generally the statute of limitations on enforcement of judgments can be very long -- something like ten years -- and often renewable.

It seems you are very lucky in that they are not charging you interest. In the vast majority of states judgments gather statutory interest at around 10% per year. Without interest, at $50 per month it will take you about 45 years to pay off the debt. If they were charging you interest, $50 per month doesn't even begin to cover the interest and you could pay a trillion more years and still owe them more $28,000.

Bankrupt2019 · ‎05-21-2011

I dont know what happened but hade to re-register a new name.......... Had I gone to court they probably wouldn't have gotten the judgment they did, they sold a 30000 car for $2000 at aution and sued me for the rest....that is insane. I could have sold the damn thing for what i owed and payed em off!

Anonymous · ‎05-21-2011

@Bankrupt2019 wrote:
I dont know what happened but hade to re-register a new name.......... Had I gone to court they probably wouldn't have gotten the judgment they did, they sold a 30000 car for $2000 at aution and sued me for the rest....that is insane. I could have sold the damn thing for what i owed and payed em off!

Yup, hindsight is 20/20. Not appearing in court was a very big -- and expensive -- mistake.

I'm not sure how much you paid for the car, but if you paid $30k then the minute you drove the car off the lot it was only worth, at most, about $22k. I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt they would have only gotten $2k for the car at auction. I would be surprised if at least $8k of the judgment wasn't for legal fees, court costs and interest over the years it took them to ultimately sue you.

In any event, it's all water under the bridge now. I don't really see any legal options for you except bankruptcy or paying. If you had a lump sum of cash you could probably settle the issue for less -- maybe even far less -- than the full amount still owed.

Anonymous · ‎05-21-2011

Been there. They are sold to the highest bidder.

The lender doesn't care as long as they get their money.

Anonymous · ‎05-21-2011

@Anonymous wrote:
Been there. They are sold to the highest bidder.

The lender doesn't care as long as they get their money.

Sounds like you could get some incredible bargains if you go to a car auction.

Bankrupt2019 · ‎05-21-2011

yah, i got royally screwed... I have payed every other debt i have but refuse to pay this one.....any more than $50 at a time anyway...Ultimately it was my fault but the damn bank let me get in over my head. Never again will I make that mistake. I have spent years paying off and getting back to where I am now and its just not worth it to file bankruptcy at this point. so hopefully I can just get away with it like it is....if they ever find out what im making now I could be screwed into paying more though. Is there any legal way to approach this? any legal way out of it? I guess maybe I should contact a lawyer. I'm only a month away from the last negative thing on my credit report being gone. last thing I need is a bankruptcy at this point. Maybe they'll take 5 grand and call it a day.

Anonymous · ‎05-21-2011

@Bankrupt2019 wrote:
yah, i got royally screwed... I have payed every other debt i have but refuse to pay this one.....any more than $50 at a time anyway...Ultimately it was my fault but the damn bank let me get in over my head. Never again will I make that mistake. I have spent years paying off and getting back to where I am now and its just not worth it to file bankruptcy at this point. so hopefully I can just get away with it like it is....if they ever find out what im making now I could be screwed into paying more though. Is there any legal way to approach this? any legal way out of it? I guess maybe I should contact a lawyer. I'm only a month away from the last negative thing on my credit report being gone. last thing I need is a bankruptcy at this point. Maybe they'll take 5 grand and call it a day.

Maybe they will take $5k. It seems like a little low to me, but you never know what they'll say until you try. Be aware, however, that by offering $5k they might get the idea that you have some money squirreled away somewhere or have a decent job and decide to take action to enforce their judgment. In many states they can garnish wages and / or attach bank accounts.

As a lawyer who has seen literally thousands of cases such as the one you've presented, I can tell you that legally you have 4 options:

1. Pay / or settle the judgment;

2. Don't pay and wait to see what action they take;

3. File for bankruptcy; or

4. Divine Intervention.

By your own admission you knew they were suing you yet chose not to participate so that pretty much cuts off any chances you'd have in attacking the judgment for lack of jurisdiction.

Bankrupt2019 · ‎05-21-2011

yeah i was 20 years old and ignorant when all of this went down. I am older and wiser now. This stuff will not happen again, blame it on bad parenting lol. I screwed up. So from your point of view its probably best that I keep giving them the $50 a month and not say anyhting else about it? Its not listed on any of my credit reports. and the tradeline for the repo should be gone in November.

Anonymous · ‎05-21-2011

@Bankrupt2019 wrote:
yeah i was 20 years old and ignorant when all of this went down. I am older and wiser now. This stuff will not happen again, blame it on bad parenting lol. I screwed up. So from your point of view its probably best that I keep giving them the $50 a month and not say anyhting else about it? Its not listed on any of my credit reports. and the tradeline for the repo should be gone in November.

Is the judgment listed on your credit reports?

$50 per month is a pretty good deal unless they are charging you interest. Even if they are charging you interest, $50 per month may be the cheapest way out under certain circumstances.

In what state did they get the judgment? The reason I ask is, as mentioned before, each state has a statute of limitations (SOL) on enforcement of judgments. A rough average is probably about ten years. After ten years they cannot enforce the judgment against you and should you stop paying, they cannot do anything but cry and moan. Of course, judgments can usually be renewed for another ten years and then during that time period they can still enforce their judgment, but very few judgment creditors go to the time and effort of renewing their judgment. One important factor to take into consideration when looking at the SOL for your state is that some states allow for tolling (suspending) the SOL during the times you are making payments.

So, with a little bit of luck, if you've been paying $50 per month for, say, 5 years now, maybe after 5 more years you can safely tell the judgment creditor to go pound salt. If not 5, then likely 15. Fifteen years of $50 per month is only $9,000 in largely devalued dollars. That's better than $26k. Probably even better than $5k in today's dollars.