Car Loan written off years ago

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by cakemama, Nov 12, 2014.

  1. cakemama

    cakemama New Member

    So, in the lovely world of divorce here was an attempt on my end to keep things as civil as possible, so our agreements for financial responsibility were made outside of the courtroom. My ex was very confrontational which is why he is my ex, so I just wanted OUT as quick and easy as possible. He agreed to pay the balance of the car loan, which he failed to do. The bank wrote it off as bad debt instead of repossessing the vehicle. It has been 5 years since they wrote off the debt.

    Questions:

    Am I able to have the lien removed somehow? Suing my ex is out of the question, turns out he couldnâ??t pay it even if I asked him to.

    Am I able to â??transferâ? the vehicle into someone elseâ??s name? I have a friend who desperately needs a vehicle and I was going to let her drive it, but I donâ??t want to be responsible if she gets in an accident.

    Lastly, the marriage and car purchase were both done at 18 years old when I thought I knew everything!  Now, nearly 30â?¦ I realize I know nothing  Lessons learned, for sure!

    How do I fix this, if possible?
     
  2. jam237

    jam237 Well-Known Member

    Most of these questions may require someone who is able to provide specific legal advice. Most of us are not lawyers, don't play one on TV, and can not provide legal advice.

    If there is a lien, more than likely the only way to remove the lien is to pay the debt, or to make whatever arrangements that the lien holder will make to remove the lien.

    More than likely, any type of transfer would require satisfaction of the lien.
     
  3. credit guy

    credit guy Member

    look up your states statue of limitations
     
  4. jam237

    jam237 Well-Known Member

    The statutes of limitations doesn't extinguish a lien that was already placed to enforce collection of a debt. This is why the OP needs to seek legal advice on this question.
     
  5. jshimmer

    jshimmer Well-Known Member

    To jam237:

    "Legal advice" is overkill on such a rudimentary situation. See my response to the OP below. Also, you said, "The statutes of limitations doesn't extinguish a lien that was already placed to enforce collection of a debt.". The SOL has ZERO effect on a real property lien. The SOL defines the period during which the creditor/lender can file suit against you in court. Even if the SOL expires and they do not sue you, that does NOT mean they have to release the lien on the property. You may not be legally required to repay the debt, but they still have a claim (lien) on the property. The SOL affects this in no way, shape or form.

    To the OP (and future readers):

    The lien can only be released by the lienholder. Period. Until you satisfy any outstanding debt, it's not going to be released. "Writing off" a debt doesn't mean they can't or wont' (attempt to) collect it. That's a tax issue (for them). It means nothing relative to you still owing them money.

    You can't transfer a title for a vehicle with a lienholder listed on it unless you have a release of lien. It doesn't matter if the lien is from a lender that wrote off the debt 5 years ago or if it is for a vehicle that you just bought 5 months ago and are current on all payments - you can't transfer ownership of the property until the leinholder releases the lien.

    You're right - making big decisions such as taking out loans or getting married has consequences, sometimes unintended.
     
  6. jam237

    jam237 Well-Known Member

    jshimmer, as I said, if they wanted to try to find a way to CHALLENGE the lien, the only way to do that would be to obtain legal advice. Whether that is overkill or not is relative to HOW MOTIVATED the OP is to try to get rid of the lien.

    If you notice, my reply about the SOL was in regards to credit guy's comment that the OP should look up the SOL, thank you for agreeing with me that credit guy's comment was incorrect.
     
  7. jshimmer

    jshimmer Well-Known Member

    Giving false hope (that one can challenge a lien after NOT paying off the debt) isn't the best advice to give people, lawyer or no lawyer, overkill or not.

    Yes, SOL comment was correct, and I recognized that :)

    I don't like giving people bad information or false hope. I also don't agree with telling people to file erroneous diksputes with the CRA, just in case they can somehow skirt by the law and get negative, factual information removed when it shouldn't. 999 out of 1,000 times, it doesn't work, but it delays the resolution of LEGITIMATE disputes of others.

    I guess I'm a personal responsibility & accountability kind of person. Some people don't share the same moral compass.
     
  8. jam237

    jam237 Well-Known Member

    I share the moral compass, as I said, the poster in the other thread asked if the initial dispute didn't work, what could, and the best thing would be to FIND a factual error, and then dispute that factual error. Since the poster didn't include any information about the tradeline, no one can say what those factual errors could be, just that would be what the poster would want to look for.
     

Share This Page