Rebuilding after repossession

[Anonymous]

So I have been in the process of working on rebuilding my credit. I had a lot of student loans and collection accounts. Since I started working on it August 1st I have went up 50 points. I went out of town last week and came back to find out my old car had been repossessed. I have a new car but has been holding on to this one contemplating purchasing it for the remaining balance due after I had finished my.lease payments. Because I had taken so long and not made any payments towards the final lump sum payment they just took the car. They wanted $6200 and I didn't have that at once so I have to let the repossession go through.

My question is, how much can I expect my score to decline? And how soon should I expect it to show up? I never missed one payment with that car in four years!! And it still shows current and paid at this moment. Once the repossession shows, what can I so to stay on the increase with my score? I have been paying down my two cards (cap one and one store card) and working on getting collection accounts settled or removed.

Any advice that you all could offer I would greatly appreciate it! I'm in such a panic about my simple mess up thats going to cost me so much!!

[Anonymous]

No late payments and they took the car??

[Anonymous]

Yep! Lease was up and I had that balloon payment at the end. I was trying to decide if I was going to keep the car or give it back. Went beyond the 30 days you have to decide (I went like 2 months. Sad I know but I wasn't driving it either) and they took the car. I called to make arrangements and they said since I waa at the end of my lease and didn't have any additional payments to make that there was nothing they could do. Either I pay the balloon payment or it's a repossession.

[Anonymous]

This is such an odd ball situation, please follow up with if indeed this proceeds as
1) A repo
2) A collection attempt towards the balance due

It doesn't 'feel' like a 'repo'
Yes, there's a ball payment but that was due even if the car was turned in ( in which case, the party would just attempt to collect/sue for breach of contract, etc)

Again, no notes were missed here...this was more of a possession repo vs a financial report
Meaning sometimes a spouse or parent will send over a repo guy just to get possession of property they feel is theirs but it's not a payment issue (and neither is this one)

The 'real' issue is once the lease term was up.. it's like a person keeping a rental car to long, to the 'waiting' person/company it's like a stolen car, a missing asset...their mindset may be CYA get that asset BACK in possession

Especially, if an AR showed an new vehicle loan

Either way...They may have sent a repo provider to go get their car and want the OP to pay and may sue but I'm not sure that's a repo in the sense of a car being repo'd for payments

I get that the balloon payment wasn't made but had the car been turned in w/o payment, it would have just been an unpaid bill NOT a credit based repo

Had the OP mailed the balloon payment AND not returned the car they STILL would have sent troops to go pick up their car...so the two are actually separate issues....the OP just so happen not to do either, which makes it interesting, I'm intrigued

[Anonymous]

Exactly. I would have taken it as a collection on my report but a repo doesn't feel right. If they indeed do put it on my report as a repo am I able to fight this? Especially since I have a perfect pay history which they admitted to as well when I called about the situation. They told me I had until the 5th to redeem. I was going to attempt but simply cannot afford it so I am going to wait and see what happens following that. Honestly I was wondering why they didn't just keep the car since thats what they would have done if I turned it in anyway and charged me for whatever (additional mileage, repairs, etc) we shall see what happens. I just don't want to lose the progress I have made on my reports already

[Anonymous]

See there's a disconnect somewhere if they are offering a chance to REDEEM ( you didn't mention that initially) it appears they THINK you had some sort of payment still due or they are crazy one of the two

Because, if the only ...wait, wait ya know what I'm not normally a lease guy but it just dawned on me duh?

That last payment, the balloon IS the final payment smh

I believe the theory their working with is you didn't make the payment that was due but KEPT the car, you said you were near 2 months over, right?

It's becoming clearer to me now
You're thinking, I'll hold on to the car while I think it over but on paper you have an overdue payment AND possession of the car

I hate to say it but by you continuing to hold on to the car vs giving it back I think that might actually open the door for these sons a ... to call that a repo vs had you given the property back, then you just owe MONEY

I really think that failure to return that car, COUPLED with NOT making a payment could actually be seen as a car out with 💰 due = repo

It took me a minute to get there was initially my thought pattern was a payments were done and the business transaction was complete minus the incidentals (overages etc) but if the contract specifies that, that 'last' payment is indeed a payment then not turning that car in on time becomes HUGE

It'd be as if someone made 59 or 60 car notes and didn't make #60...the difference in a lease scenario is there is an asset to retrieve whereas in a purchase no lender is expending energy, effort and cost over one payment but the collection process, late payment no pink slip, late fees all that absolutely will be in play over that last payment

I think obviously there might be a HUGE difference between turning in the car and owing a balance that one can sue for vs a payment ( balloon or not) is due and the car is still out....

The more I think about it...car out, payment due sounds like a repo

Maybe you can work a deal to pay all repo fees, associated fees NOW and be very sorry for failing to turn the car in and see if whatever pay back plan that would have been offered had it been turned in with short money on time can be extended to you as a courtesy, w/o the repo being recorded as such again let's handle that cost TODAY so nobody is outta pocket ☺
* A losing position, normally because from their POV I'm still left to chase 💰 owed, the only from their POV I'd wipe the repo is ALL my money because right now is my most powerful position to collect, everything moving forward is a crapshoot.

I'm so sorry this happened but for others this should be a HUGE lesson... I missed it myself at 1st glance

I'm thinking overdue like a car rental i.e they can call the cops stolen car, can charge extra days etc

But with the lease what I now think is critical, is a payment is due in ADDITION to the car been out...that changes it from a car being out to a car being out AND a car note not being paid = not paid as agreed, classic non payment issue at that point vs overdue bill/fine.

[Anonymous]

This is definitely the most expensive lesson I have EVER learned. I have tried reasoning and all sorts of options to avoid them recordin it as a repo and They are refusing. So now I am just trying to figure out what to do to lessen the impact or just keep working towards a positive score again.

Currently my scores are TU 516 EQ 516 and EX 522. I have about 9 collection accounts and a host of student loans. Then I have the car which is showing current never late, a store card with a $2 balance and a cap one card with a $500 dollar balance. (Total credit $750) I am currently working on paying cap one completely off. I am in a agreement with my student loans to get them out of deferment. I also have gotten a secured loan from my CU to show some more positive pay history and my grandmother added me as an AU on her credit card but I haven't seen that show up yet. Is there anything else that I should be doing?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Exactly. I would have taken it as a collection on my report but a repo doesn't feel right. If they indeed do put it on my report as a repo am I able to fight this? Especially since I have a perfect pay history which they admitted to as well when I called about the situation. They told me I had until the 5th to redeem. I was going to attempt but simply cannot afford it so I am going to wait and see what happens following that. Honestly I was wondering why they didn't just keep the car since thats what they would have done if I turned it in anyway and charged me for whatever (additional mileage, repairs, etc) we shall see what happens. I just don't want to lose the progress I have made on my reports already

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I used to be a collection manager for an auto finance company, so let me give my two cents:

It was a repo. Yes, you did make all the monthly payments required but then there is that balloon payment of the buy-out if you intend to keep the car. You kept the car by not turning it it, you didn't pay the buy out payment, they repoed. Since only one payment was due at the time of the repo (the buy out amount) your only recourse was to pay the buy out plus the repo expenses and the car is yours, BUT - they had to repo it to get you to act. It was a repo and they will probably keep the rpo on your credit file.

[Anonymous]

To answer you straight up, to a straight up question " looking" credit pretty can't be a concern for you right now IMO it's a little importance or impact for where you are financially

You've got to keep your expenses minimal and make some 💰 ( assuming you aren't burning it) the bottom line is somehow there are collections, no money to pay known balloon payments, etc

It seems to be a big 💰 making deficit until that's addressed, honesty with scores the 5-teens before the repo , priorities other than score must be shored up .

I'm not understanding why a $2 balance is allowed to report, adding another TL with a balance ( which lowers scores) when there's a $500 balance ( the amount doesn't matter, what matters is yet another CC with a balance, period) by allowing a $2 it just adds to one more unpaid reporting balance due...does Grandma's CC have a balance...if so that's ANOTHER card with a balance.

But IMO again figuring out the 💰 issue HAS to paramount otherwise what's the point

___

Looks like @Flyingifr verifies what I thought might be true about that pesky balloon payment, it's A payment and leaving it and the car outstanding open the door to a legitimate repo...a darn shame

[Anonymous]

For about 2 years while i finished school my income was minimal. Hence some of the collections. However, I have started working full time and have had a considerable increase in my income. Because of that I am now working to pay everything off including collections and current obligations. As far as my grandmother, She doesn't have a balance on her card. She pays it off in full every month. For both of the cards I have they are also both current never late. It's just a matter of paying off the remaining balance on the one. Because I don't have the total amount for the car at once I would like to make arrangements to have it paid off asap. I even offered an arrangement that would have it completely paid off in September which they declined. Because of that I am going to just keep working at paying it off with them and then at least letting it report with a zero balance since it has to report.

Like I said it is a lesson learned. I was responsible all the way up to the end when I didn't take care of the situation right away and now it's costing me.