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Are you facing a repossession? Then you MUST read this...

Submitted by skydivr7673 on Mon, 08/19/2013 - 20:59
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Over the last several months, I have been in a dispute with my auto lender. They have been reporting incorrectly on my credit report, and claiming I was late when I was not.

On June 30 of this year, they reported me as being $880 past due on the credit report.....Ten days later, I get a letter from their attorney, demanding that I pay the "$1,800" that they claim was past due. The numbers are all over the place and nothing makes sense.

OK, so I start disputing. This is important---if you have a dispute, you need to make sure that you file all dispute claims properly. I called the creditor and informed them months ago that the credit reporting was incorrect. They actually told me "thats just how our computer reports it". They refused to address it. Fast forward a few months, and we were denied for a refinance because of this loan and how they are reporting on the credit report. So, I file a dispute with the credit bureau. The creditor responded with that letter I mentioned above. I then sent the creditor a written notice of dispute, in which I requested validation. Since the attorney is acting as a third party, the FDCPA applies to them here. Well, I never heard from the attorney again......

...but I DID hear from someone else. I got a phone call a week and a half ago from a guy....he left me a very serious sounding "it will be in your very best interest to call me back TODAY" voicemail. So, when I got in from work, I called him back. Here's where it gets good. He told me that he works for a state government agency office in my state. He said that he had a court order signed by a specific judge that he named, and said that the court order requires me to hand over possession of a certain truck.

What's the problem, you ask? Several things. One, he had THE WRONG TRUCK. I have never owned the truck he now claimed I was supposed to let him take from me. Two, once he learned that he had the wrong truck, it did not stop him one bit. He did not even pause....he continued on telling me how he needed to take possession of my truck. Now, if you have a court order to do something like this, it will be specific. It will identify the truck in question. So, if you have a court order with the wrong vehicle on it, it is worthless. But he kept pushing....

Long story short, the guy's a fraud. He's an unlicensed repo agent that the lender hired on the sly to try to get the truck from me without going through proper channels--in other words, without going to court. He claimed to be a state govt employee, but the office he said he worked for is not even real, it does not exist. The judge that he named? The guy is the head of our state's office of financial institutions, he's not a judge and never was one. In short, everything the man told me was phony.

So here's where it gets fun....I called my attorney. Since he is a third party, not an employee of the lender, he is acting in the capacity as a debt collector. And the FDCPA applies. He's also on the hook for some criminal charges when we get to that point as well for this stunt. The lender's in some hot water for knowingly contracting with an unlicensed repo agent--they could actually end up losing their lending license over this, depending on how much they have used this guy. Of course, being the kind of guy I am, I recorded both phone calls with this scammer.....its legal in my state to do so without telling him, so I did. The second phone call was me telling him not to contact me anymore, because I learned that he is a fraud and a phony. He cut me off and proceeded to curse me up one side and down the other--more violations that I now have on tape....

This guy, like others, preys on people because the people he preys on usually owe money, so they won't question too much when a repo guy shows up. QUESTION EVERYTHING. Make sure they are legit. In my state, repo agents must be licensed. Check your state's laws. Dont assume that they are legit simply because you owe money. MAKE SURE. Make them follow the law. You might just end up in a situation like this, where you dont owe what they claim you owe and they are breaking laws to boot!

My next action will be a possible FCRA suit against the lender, since we have sustained actual damages as a result of their false reporting. So, by the time we're done with this, we will have gotten back more than the original truck note was in the first place. These crooks will continue to do business like this....UNLESS we hold them accountable until it costs too much!!


a couple of things sky.is this a mom and pop car lot?sure sounds like it.secondly is the judge's name real,and are they in your jurisdiction?if so i would request that judge preside over this.i'm sure they would be thrilled that a piece of garbage invoked their name.yeah i can see you pushing this and both the repo mope,and this car lot being slammed big time.as usual you are on it.go get em.


Submitted by paulmergel on Tue, 08/20/2013 - 05:29

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The lender is not a car lot, they are a finance company. Yes, they are a local outfit. And the idiot named the person he claimed was the judge that signed the court order, but the person he named is not even a judge at all and never was. He is actually the head of our state's office of financial institutions. I contacted that office and his assistant got involved...they are really unhappy over this. The assistant was directed to get back to me and to find out if this is a one-time deal or if this scammer is using their boss's name in this fraud repeatedly. I was able to learn that he uses this scam a lot and has a couple dozen complaints about him with our state officials.

The repo fraud artist is first in my crosshairs....one of the reports I learned about was a woman who filed a complaint about him one week before he contacted me. In her complaint, the woman said that she was driving on the interstate when two trucks boxed her in and began to slow down. They forced her to the shoulder of the highway. This repo crook then forced her out of her car, cursing her up and down the whole way, and then basically stole her car right then and there. They left this woman standing on the shoulder of the interstate as they illegally took her car. So I am focusing on this guy first because I dont want that nonsense to happen to anyone else.

The state agency that I filed a complaint with contacted me yesterday. They also contacted my lender. Because of this, I am able to verify that he is indeed a third party, so the FDCPA claim is valid. The lender claims that they had no idea that this guy wasnt legal and had no part in his actions. But I can show otherwise. So once I am done dealing with him, we're pursuing them next. I disputed on the credit report, and just this morning I got the results....they verified it as being correct. So that's 14 or 15 different violations of FCRA right there, plus the actual loss we suffered when we were denied credit because of their false reporting. And then, to top it all off, when you add in all this other nonsense, I will be asking my attorney tomorrow morning when he gets back into town if a jury trial would be worth doing. The best way to get these folks to start following the laws is to hit them the hardest where it hurts--their money. A jury would LOVE to hear all about the mess they've created....


Submitted by skydivr7673 on Tue, 08/20/2013 - 08:17

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the repo slime really needs to be hit hard.maybe jail time as what he did to that woman is a crime,and bringing that up may make it happen,or he might rat out this lender as part of a deal.you never know.


Submitted by paulmergel on Tue, 08/20/2013 - 09:46

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OK, time for an update....and a good one it is!

I met with my attorney....he laughed when he heard the taped phone calls. We most definitely have a case...and it's not as small as I thought it would be. So, I gather up credit reports. We did dispute through the CRA....they verified everything on my report as correct! I even called the lender and went over everything on the phone with them--on tape, of course--and the woman on the phone was telling me that I was paid current these months...but insisted that they are reporting correctly, and tried to blame the CRA. Her explanation made zero sense.

So my attorney headed out of town last week, and he's coming back today. Cant wait to chat with him.....I learned yesterday that my lender has filed a lawsuit against me in "city court". This is kind of like small claims court but their jurisdiction in civil cases runs up to $20,000.00. So, they filed against me. They used the same attorney that sent me the dunning letter. And THAT is a problem. Because when I got the first letter, I sent this attorney a written notice of dispute/validation request. And I have it on tape that this law office received that letter from me. But I never got any validation, and they never stopped trying to collect. Last week, I got a letter from this attorney telling me that I now owe 150% of what is actually owed. They inflated the balance by a good chunk. The letter also stated that I owed an amount for "court costs". Now, I am no attorney, but I DO know that court costs can only come from a court action. That's what prompted me to start looking at the court clerk offices.

I have not been served yet. They filed the case and did not even pay the filing fees to the court. So, this is just one big comedy of errors on their end.

OK, so here's what I have so far that I can prove.

1--our state official impersonator was acting as a debt collector under the law. Therefore, he is liable for FDCPA damages. We're going after him for that.

2--their attorney is likewise liable under the FDCPA. By continuing to send collection letters and demands for payment--and then also by filing the suit--while ignoring a timely DV request, they are in violation of section 809 of FDCPA. So we are pursuing them for that.

3--the best for last. The lender is on the hook for FCRA violations...LOTS of them. Every single month, they reported the information from previous months in addition to the new info. We have counted up close to FIFTY violations of FCRA on my credit report. FCRA allows the consumer to recover up to $1000 per violation as long as it can be established that they were willful in their negligence. We've got them on tape admitting I was current. We have them on tape acknowledging the errors on my report, and blaming them on the credit bureau...and this kind of error couldnt happen on the CRA's side of things. My attorney is quite convinced that we have them solid on this.

Oh, and I forgot to mention too--the lender is also on the hook for more, once we can show that they were aware of the illegal repo guy's tactics and used him anyways. Depending on what happens in court, this lender could even get shut down and lose their license...it all depends on how much they knew and how much they still used this guy. Doesnt look good for them.

And now, since they have filed against me, they are gonna be mighty angry at me when I move for their case to be dismissed for improper venue and lack of jurisdiction, since the city court's jurisdiction stops well below the amount that will be raised in my counterclaim. Improper venue is because the court is an hour and a half away from me and not at all in my county. They are not going to be happy....they do not know I recorded phone calls, or anything else about what we have so far. I'm sure they will look to settle this one quickly, but I am not so interested in a quick settlement as I am in hitting them in the one place where it hurts--their wallet. Thats the only thing they cared about when they pulled these stunts, so lets see how much they care about money now....


Submitted by skydivr7673 on Wed, 09/11/2013 - 09:48

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WOW! I come back and find this! You GET THEM! This reminds me of Security Finance and good ol' Beverly? remember her?:)

I can't believe this! You should also try to get in touch with that woman, share all the info you have on this criminal outfit before you settle (if you do) and are forced to sign a NDA....all your information would help her as well and so when you are done suing them, she can go after them as well.


Submitted by goldenbast on Sun, 09/29/2013 - 07:09

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