I was hoping I could get some advice from anyone who has been through this same situation. In 1996 while I was in the army, I purchased a new plymouth neon from a dealer. I gave too much information to the dealer and must have portrayed to them a young 19-year-old guy in need of any loan they could give me. The dealer told me Chrysler Financial would give me the loan at 19.5 percent interest. I thought that interest sounded high but they told me it was the only way I could get a loan. I took the loan with the monthly payments being 323.33 and 1000 dollars down. For the first year I paid 400 dollars a month instead of the 323.33 hoping the balance would drop quicker. A year later I decided to sell-off the extended warranty and put it towards my balance also (that was for around 600). For the next 2 years I paid 323.33.I became late a couple of times on the payments after my parents passed away. I called Chrysler and had told them my parents passed on and had run into money problems dealing with their bills. I asked them if I could re-finance through them and lower the monthly payments. They were rude and told me they didn't do that. By this time I was behind on many of my bills and my credit was suffering. I couldn't get refinanced through anyone. I started to become 30 days late on some payments but still found some way to pay them while also in school. Chrysler started to harass me at work and school calling and hanging up. They also started to call my neighbors and were leaving messages with them to call Chrysler. I finally called a man by the name of Mr. Taylor who had been leaving the messages with my neighbors. He told me over the phone if I voluntarily surrendered the automobile, he would take care of the balance, not sue me and I would have one less bill to worry about. He said that obligation would be taken care of and I didn't need to be sued while I was in school. I trusted him and thought wow, what a great guy. I gave the car back to Chrysler paying a total of 13,159 dollars so far thinking everything was taken care of. I continued school thinking I didnt have to worry about that problem any longer. A couple of weeks went by and I get a call from law firm representing Chrysler stating they wish to sue me for the balance of the car. I was perplexed and thought everything had been taken care of. For Mr. Taylor told me he would take care of it. In panic, I never contacted their lawyer again. I received a letter from them stating they had auctioned the car off for 3500 dollars. Add that to the 13,159 and it comes to 16,659 for a car I no longer had. They told me I still owed around 5300 dollars for the car. I didn't know what to do, so I did nothing. I moved to the East Coast to live and checked my credit report. I found a judgement for that amount on my report. If I pay that 5300 dollars, I will have paid around 22,000 dollars for a car I don't even have any longer. Is there anything I can do about this? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Helloooooooooo There is a new poster on the board with the user name "smellme." This is his thread. I was wondering the same thing, hehe.
Hehe I was only playing on his words. geesh, the critics on what humor is defined. I thought it was hilarious.
Thanks for the advice kiyi. How do I go about doing such a thing? Do I contact the court where the judgement was made? Oh and I came up with this screen name from late night college chat rooms. My friends and I would go in and goof around after some late night studying. Some people would say I smell like curdled cheese dipped in vinegar with a hint of tulip. lol
Basically you write up a motion just like a lawyer would be put it as a Pro Se, cause you are representing yourself.
smellme, Just because you never got physically served with a lawsuit, doesn't mean the service was improper.Most states have a procedure where you can sue someone that can't be found. Things like a newspaper notice for a certain number of weeks in the last known county of residence or, certied mail to the last known address. What you need to do is get the file from the courthouse and read the description of service and then, see if it conforms to state law.
I just had success getting a judgment removed by following a trick I learned about here. Find out what address you were using at the time the jdugeemnt was obtained. Dispute that "previous address" off your credit report. Once it is removed, then dispute the judgement with the CRA. Of course, it would take additional maneuvering if you are still living at old address.....
Wow, this site is awesome. I want to thank all of you who responded to this so far. I had another question regarding this issue. The terms for the loan were for 5 years. The total amount paid over the 5 years including the interest would have been for the amount that is left on the judgement against me. I voluntarily surrendered the car to Chrysler on their verbal lie stating this would be taken care of w/o anymore worries. This was 3 years into the contract. Can they collect the projected interest lost for the following 2 years of the loan? If I pay that judgement, then they will have made the entire amount including interest for the 5 year loan. I am trying to figure out if I have any leg to stand on.
Smellme, What they did was sell the car for whatever they could get for it. Of course, it was less than the loan amount. That is called the defiencey. You owe that plus whatever interest rate that the judgement accrued {that's set by state law}, and the expenses of the sale and finally, whatever legal fees the car dealer incurred. The file at the courthouse should show all that information. In fact, if they did not break down the damages to the judge, that may well be grounds to get the judgement vacated. The first step though is get the file and see what you're dealing with.
Forgive me for asking, but isn't a neon only a 10K car? How do they come up with 22K owing? I'd ask them for accounting statements for the balance due and for the loan itself.
The loan was for 13,000 dollars. It would have been 22,000 with the interest over the years. I've paid well over the 13,000 so far. Paying the judgement will get them their 22,000 dollars even though I only had the car for 1/2 the loan period. That is something I was confused on. I didn't think they could sue me for the un-earned interest for the remainder of the loan period. I knew another college student who had given her car up to Chrysler/Diablo (lol) Financial owing a balance of over 6000 dollars. They didnt sue her and charged off the account. I had told them my parents had passed and that was the reason my car payment was late before. I believe they thought I was going to get some huge money from their death, so they sued me. In all, I ended up paying their bills off, taking care of my brother and getting into debt. Darn mess. I told Chrysler this but didn't seem to give a flying hoot. Darn vultures!
