Hello all. I haven't been to creditnet in awhile, but, everyone was very helpful in the past and I was hoping for a bit more advice. About 4yrs ago I bought a car from a "we finance anyone" dealership. I made the payments regularly until the car was about half paid off. I missed one payment and the car was repo'd. Well, I never planned on giving them another penny. They took the car and a I figured that was that. Not so. After 3yrs of hearing nothing about it (i'd almost forgotten the horrible incident myself) I was recently served papers that i was going to be sued in small claims court for the balance. Now, I know for a fact the car was resold because i did a car fax report. I ,however, don't know for how much. I believe they have to subtract the price they got for the car from my debt. Well I guess before i go into all the details I'll ask my questions. I need to either agree to this debt in court or dispute it at which point a court date will be set. I know I probably owe them $ but is there anyway to get the numbers out of them. ex) repo cost..re-sale price of car..interest rate being charged..?? This is a shady dealer and I don't trust them at all to be honest about what I owe them. Now, if a judgement is made against me what can they do to collect? I bought the car in Illinois and I live in Missouri. The court date is in Illinois. If a judgement is ruled against me in IL can they do anything to me in MO. if so what? Is settlement for a lower $ amount ever possible? how do i go about that? well, i guess thats enough questions for now. I know they are probably legally right to collect this $ (maybe not as much as they claim). but, I really don't want to give these people one red cent seeing that they repo'd my car after being only nine days late. Oh and did i mentioned I had never made a late payment to them before that. Thanks in advance for your help. P
I am not legal savvy by any means but I have learned a few things as my mom has recently been served about an old debt. Is the debt within statute of limitations for your state? I have a feeling it may be just from the sounds of your post. I do know one thing, you will have to file an answer with the court, and the answer has to be filed within a certain time frame. If you do not they will automatically win a default judgment againest you. My mom's debt was out of sol, we did the legwork on our own, and it is tough stuff to prepare a document going pro se, but we finally got it done and filed her answer with the court. Hopefully we have seen the end of that. However if the debt is within sol it may be to your advantage to consult an attorny on this. Alot will offer free consults and if you shop around a bit you can prob get one who will let you pay his fees out. Hopefully those more knowledgable will chime in soon, but I do know time is of the essence with these things, my instinct would be that if the debt is within sol, get an attorny. I hope this helps a little. I feel your pain. Tegleg
Here is the sol list for the states. State Oral Agreements Written Contracts Promissory Notes Open Accounts Alabama 6 6 6 3 Alaska 6 6 6 6 Arizona 3 6 5 3 Arkansas 3 5 6 3 California 2 4 4 4 Colorado 6 6 6 6 Connecticut 3 6 6 6 Delaware 3 3 6 3 D.C. 3 3 3 3 Florida 4 5 5 4 Georgia 4 6 6 4 Hawaii 6 6 6 6 Idaho 4 5 10 4 Illinois 5 10 6 5 Indiana 6 10 10 6 Iowa 5 10 5 5 Kansas 3 5 5 3 Kentucky 5 15 15 5 Louisiana 10 10 10 3 Maine 6 6 6 6 Maryland 3 3 6 3 Massachusetts 6 6 6 6 Michigan 6 6 6 6 Minnesota 6 6 6 6 Mississippi 3 3 3 3 Missouri 5 10 10 5 Montana 5 8 8 5 Nebraska 4 5 6 4 Nevada 4 6 3 4 New Hampshire 3 3 6 3 New Jersey 6 6 6 6 New Mexico 4 6 6 4 New York 6 6 6 6 North Carolina 3 3 5 3 North Dakota 6 6 6 6 Ohio 6 15 15 ? Oklahoma 3 5 5 3 Oregon 6 6 6 6 Pennsylvania 4 6 4 6 Rhode Island 15 15 10 10 South Carolina 10 10 3 3 South Dakota 6 6 6 6 Tennessee 6 6 6 6 Texas 4 4 4 4 Utah 4 6 6 4 Vermont 6 6 5 6 Virginia 3 5 6 3 Washington 3 6 6 3 West Virginia 5 10 6 5 Wisconsin 6 6 10 6 Wyoming 8
Did you sign for service? How much did you pay on the car and what are they asking for? Do you still have the contract?
did sign I did sign. I have the contract but only because they included a copy with my court papers. The car was 5000 used. i put 1000 down taking a loan for 4000. I paid about 2000 towards it before the repo. Still owing 2000 plus the interest. They resold the car and are required ,i believe, to subtract the amount they receive from it from the amount i owe them. They claim I owe 3000 after subtracting unspecified amount they sold the car for. Adding 680 interest and adding unspecified repo costs/etc I am still in the SOL in both states. Since I live in a different state than the state they are taking me to small claims in can they do anything nasty to collect?
