No proof of paying debt..collection agency wants to collect

How much time elapsed since you bought this car? If the contract says due at signing the burden of proof should be on them. Like you said they would not have let you out without it. Also your loan would show the down payment and the balance due. Where are your loan documents. The dealer does not finance the car, a lender does.

Thank you for your response! I leased the car in January of 2007. It's through a Toyota dealership and at the bottom of the contract where it says amount due at signing or upon delivery of the vehicle: $2000.(this was the down payment) The contract was signed by me and the finance manager. The CA sent the contract to me as their proof with that part of the contract circled and saying "still outstanding". I have no record of the money order as he is back living in Brazil and no longer has an account here in the U.S.. When the CA called me the first time, they told me it was a bounced check. I told them that I never wrote a check and that I had a money order. The guy then back tracked and said "well, that doesn't sound right then." I'm just not sure what to do now that they have sent a letter back with the contract after I sent them a dispute letter. Any idea?

This is a real pickle. Some dealerships are known to allow you drive off without paying the down payment. But there are very few of them out there.

When I purchased my car, I was required to put 2500 down. I didn't have a dime. So the dealership allowed me to pay them every 2 weeks until I paid the full down payment. Pretty much, what they did was went ahead an sent a check for my down payment to the lender and I paid them back. I know it's rare, but some of them will do this stuff.

As far as your situation, I would say they would have to prove they didn't get the money. I mean, the contract says due upon delivery of the vehicle. Well, you have the vehicle, so you paid it. This seems a little shady, if they really didn't get the down payment, they would have been blowing your phone up. Eventually they would have come and got the car and cancelled the deal in their system.

Have you spoke to the dealership about this?

They called me about two weeks after I leased the car and said they didn't get the payment. I told them that I had paid with a money order and told them that I would see if I could get something to prove that they we paid 2000 from the place where we got the money order. In that same week, I moved and never got them the proof nor really tried-they weren't calling everyday after they asked the first time, so I thought they had figured it out and if not, I felt like it was their issue. I didnt' hear from them again for another year. At that time, boyfriend went back to Brazil and there was no chance of getting any proof. I told them the same thing. They called one more time and I was getting pretty upset and told them that they needed to get this figured out and to stop calling me. I haven't heard from the dealership in probably 8 months. And now, I have the CA calling me/sending me letters. I kind of feel the dealership knew they had to prove this and that it's their fault that they can't figure this out and don't know where the money order went. It was as good as cash, so if they lost it or someone cashed it for themselves, I can't do anything about that. I just want to make sure that if I have to go to court over this, it's going to be worth my time to fight it.

This is really is a tuff situation. I don't know how a judge would view this. I know a money order is as good as cash, but if you didn't keep a copy of the money order than you're really up the creek here. I never pay cash for anything anymore because, unless they give you a reciept showing they recieved the money, you don't have any proof that it's been paid.

Good luck on this and maybe someone else will come along with more help.

the thing about money orders is that they are very hard to trace.. i know i sent one out before that needed to be traced and it was a nightmare.

Yea, I've heard tracing a money order is a nightmare. I have never gone through that experience. Thank God!