My friend is filing Chapter 7 and has an appointment with her attorney today to give him all the forms she filled out and pay her filing fee. She is 3 months behind on her car payment and they want to repo the van. She hasn't been hiding it and thinks she will probably let them have it and pay cash for another car after the BK. Her attorney told her that if she can hang on to it until he files then she will have a car until the BK is over which would help her since she has 3 children in school and they live about 8 miles from anyone or anything. First the repo man called her yesterday and said that he wanted to just come by and photograph it to show the condition to the finance company. I told her he was lying and trying to make an appointment to repo since she lives so far away. Then he called and said that he was going to turn it in for felony concealment since she was hiding it. Well it never left her house all weekend. I don't think he knew where she lived. Today he left a message that she had to turn it over today. Now he just called her husband's work and told the operator to deliver the message, "Call me today. I am going to repo your car today." He could have asked to speak to her husband but didn't, just wanted to deliver the message through a 3rd party. Can he be harassing them like this? I know she won't have a case number for a few days. I also know that their urgency is because she told them she is meeting with her attorney today and gave them is info. I bet you's never guess this is Americredit. Kim
Ouch... We just did a refi on an Americredit loan. They were charging us 23% interet...new rate is 6.5% Anyhow, tell her to refer him to her attorney. Tell him that he can no longer contact them. He must contact the attorney. That is really all you can do at this point. She may want to research her state ucc law, article 9, regarding secured loans and fed ucc as well. Since the matter IS in the hands of a lawyer, it is his job to handle it. Has she "retained" him as counsel yet, meaning has he been paid at all?
Why won't she have a case # for a few days? They give the case # immediately at the time of filing. I'd tell her lawyer to file today. Even if all the docs aren't ready for filing, they can still file the basic petition and then within xx days they can file the rest. Get that case # and have her call the repo guy.
Thanks, I'll make sure she asks to have them file again.Both Americredit and the repo man are calling her house, her cell, and her husband's work about every 15 minutes. She is worried that her husband will lose his job. I'm so glad I am on the road to better credit and not back in this situation. Kim
Update on this. My friend met with her attorney. He is really no a lot of help. He won't do the basic petition because he would only have 10 days to submit the docs. Now she is really freaking out because that means he won't be done for at least 10 days. She doesn't have anything complicated. Just cc debt, a judgement and the car loan. Her husband's paycheck is set to be garnished for the judgement unless she gets a case number by next Tuesday. She says her attorney is nice but I am wondering if he is good. I don't remember it taking this long when I filed BK. Americredit and the repo man are still calling her almost non stop. I feel sorry for her that this will continue for another couple of weeks unless she parts with the car.
Check your states FDCPA laws. Some are much stronger. In TX, harassing phone calls also include the OC - maybe that will hold them off for a few days. Then - give them the attorney's phone number.
Once you file bankruptcy you get by action of law what is known as an "automatic stay" which means your stuff is temporarily safe from creditors. My advice would be to go to a bookstore and get a do-it-yourself kit and follow the directions. The filing fee for a 7 is $200 and if she makes some mistakes the petition or filing can be amended at a later date. This way she and her husband (if filing jointly) can be protected from judgments and garnishments right away without waiting the 10 days. HTH, clc
I cannot believe this guy. The repo man started calling this morning at 7:30. He has already called almost 20 times. He went to her house and she didn't answer the door so he tried to get it open. Luckily she had the dead bolt locked. He is now following her. She's terrified of him. I told her to go to the sherrif stattion and park. I don't think he'll stick around there. Then she can run her errands. Hopefully her husband will be able to be waiting for her when she gets home and they can quickly lock the gates when she drives in. She's in their other car. They are caretakers of a county park. The repo man told her that if he saw the car he would drive through the gate to get it. I would love to see the county's reaction to that. The crazy thing is this car is not even worth $2000 retail. It is dented and needs major repairs. Has about 125,000 miles on it. You would think it was made of gold.
Look up her repo laws in the UCC code...there is something in there about peaceful reposession. I think this may apply. Not sure what the exact language is, but I am sure "driving thru a gate" isnt permitted.
Look here: http://www.lawdog.com/ click on the link "state laws by state" See if there is something there.
Sounds like several violations of FDCPA going on here, not to mention threats to breach the peace in repo'ing the van.
