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Trying to get WF to Negotiate a Settlement!?!?

Date: Wed, 09/24/2008 - 13:16

Submitted by anonymous
on Wed, 09/24/2008 - 13:16

Posts: 202330 Credits: [Donate]

Total Replies: 16


Hello Everyone.

I'm looking for advice or possible similar circumstances somebody else might have dealt with and what the resolution and approach was.

In a nut shell, I have an Auto Lease through Wells Fargo for an extravagant car which I can't make payments on anymore. My previous employer, which was a family business, majority owned and operated by my Aunt, which I thought did very well financially filed CH11 in Aug-07 and was dissolved in Feb-08. She was extremely generous to the employees and family with the "profits"; come to find out she was stealing Millions of dollars from a bank by factoring fake invoices.

She would always give out nice bonuses. Well one year I made some noises about wanting a Corvette and instead of giving me a bonus she helped put together a lease for it (in my name stating it would help my credit) and then increased my salary to make the payments. It was a 63 month lease which I was able to pay 22 of the payments until the company was dissolved, and I was no longer receiving compensation to pay for it anymore.

Anyways, I am currently about 85 days past due on the lease and they are threatening repossession. I have been aggressively trying to sell the vehicle for months now, but the market for the vehicle is much lower than the pay-off (imagine that, in today’s economy???). Being as much, I can't make up the difference to sell to a buyer and WF won't accept less as a settlement in full. I have been talking to a gentlemen for a few weeks and he keeps giving me "extra time" to find a buyer, but he has to know as well as I do that nobody is going to pay the full amount.

Now I had this same problem with another vehicle that I co-signed on for the same company through US-Bank. However, US-Bank was much more cooperative in negotiating; they ended up accepting $29K on a $45k account balance. The only difference on this account was that the lease was also in the Company’s name, not just mine alone.

Does anyone have any advice or prior experiences they'd like to share. Should I just keep waiting it out and see if WF will settle or will they just come repossess it?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

-Cory


The corvette is 100% in my name; it was not in the company's name at all? And I am not personally bankrupt, just the organization.

Funny you mentioned because the other vehicle that was in the Company's and my name; the bank (US Bank) falsely reported on my personal credit that I was personally bankrupt. That was a fun thing to remedy....


lrhall41

Submitted by on Wed, 09/24/2008 - 14:01

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Quote:

Should I just keep waiting it out and see if WF will settle or will they just come repossess it?
They are never ever going to settle with you as long as you have the vehicle in your possession. Now if they repo it themselves or if you voluntarily repo the car they will likely settle on the deficiency of the balance.


lrhall41

Submitted by mobile0311 on Wed, 09/24/2008 - 14:33

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- mobile0311 -

So is the only reason US Bank settled with me on the other vehicle was because I was a cosigner/gaurantor and the company was on the note as well which was bankrupt. Another twist to the story is that when the company dissolved, another company bought all the assets through the bankruptcy, and had the option to negotiate with any lein holders on assets such as vehicles. We are a contracting company so we had a lot of vehicles, some which were still being financed through Wells Fargo. Now at the time, because of the way bankruptcy law works, the new buyer could chose to assume those contracts/agreements or not depending on whether they thought it was a good deal. Ironically, Wells Fargo was very quick to neotiate on some of the vehicles and excepted up to 30% less the actual pay-off amount in some cases. Again, is this only because the accounts were in bankruptcy??


lrhall41

Submitted by on Wed, 09/24/2008 - 15:25

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Anyone else had any dealing with Wells Fargo or any bank with similar circumstances. I guess what doesn't make sense is why the Bank would rather reposses the vehicle and send it to an auction where they would get a lot less $$ than if it were sold to another individual through me. WF told me that this vehicle was going for around $50k at auctions and I've had offers for up to $60k; it just doesn't make sense that they wouldn't accept it; they should know that if I can't make the monthly payments, I'm certainly not going to be able to pay the difference from the auction to the pay-off; and once the car is gone, its an unsecured amount.....


lrhall41

Submitted by on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 07:12

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It is true that they will try to give you time that is within their power to do....but depending on policy that can only go so far. It is true that it is in their best interest to resolve this without repo because it does become an unsecured debt and if you have nothing to sue for, they can pretty much kiss the amount goodbye.

At this point you honestly don't have many options.....just keep communicating with the reps. If you can't find a buyer by their deadline, then give up the car, at least then you won't have the repo costs added in for whatever that is worth. Once they auction the car and figure the remaining balance owed, then you can begin to negotiate payment with them.

This is pretty much all you can do, unfortunately.


lrhall41

Submitted by goldenbast on Fri, 09/26/2008 - 08:42

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