repo-man.jpgThis post will definitely be a little out of left field compared to the rest that Matt normally writes. I thought that a change from the very informative posts would be alright for me to share a little incident that happened to me yesterday morning.

6:45 am…

This is around the typical time I wake up, so when I heard a pounding on the door, it just seemed like a new alarm tone I set. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the nice little alarm by my bedside, rather it was a tall, muscular man with a baseball hat that almost covered his eyes. (This is a time that I wished the peephole on the door wasn’t broken…) He quickly introduced himself as an agent for a private detective firm. Now, I’ve always been a little hesitant to take these guys seriously because I’ve never known how much legal authority they have on us. He asked if I was Joe Fier, which I answered, “yes”. He then quickly became very aggressive sounding while asking me where my Ford Taurus was located. While standing in my doorway, I pointed to my truck across the street and said that’s my only vehicle (in an equally aggressive voice, of course).

He did not believe me and told me to follow him to his tow-truck which was waiting in front of the house. Now, what made this guy think I would leave my house to go see what he had for me in his truck?

“Yeah right, buddy”, I told him, “you bring back whatever it is you need to show me to my front door.”

He stomped away like a pouting 5 year-old and went to his truck. After nearly 10 minutes of waiting while I contemplated shutting the door and going back to sleep, he finally sped-walked back with a laptop in hand. He showed me his “proof” that I owned a Ford Taurus. I told him that this was news to me and that he should do a little more research before trying to repossess a car that I don’t have.

As I was looking at his report with the make, model, color, plate number, and name under the vehicle, I realized this was my father’s car. This should have struck me before, but I was too tired from jumping straight out of bed. My dad and I share the same name, except our middle names are different. My mom and him divorced over seven years ago and he has since moved out of state. After realizing that his report did not show a middle name under the car title, I told him that it could be my father’s car, but I don’t know where he lives. It took a little more explanation and coercing for him to believe me, but it got him to go away and leave me alone. I have had confusion with this in other situations about mixing up my father’s and my name, but never one such as this.

I think we all know that not paying our bills could result in someone like this showing up on our doorsteps. My dad only owes about $1,000 on the car, but the repo agent told me he’s even gone after people for missing the final payment. Never mess around with those bills because there will always be consequences to them.

Here are some tidbits of information about the repossession industry:

  • Repo agents are normally hired by a private detective agency, which are hired by the collecting company (the company that wants our money).
  • Repossession can occur without prior notice to you (which was my case) and normally avoids any court issues.
  • The creditor (repo agent) cannot commit a “breach of the peace”, meaning they cannot use any physical force or threaten to do such.
  • Creditors are legally able to repossess after you “default” on a loan. This could occur even if you are only one day late on a payment.
  • If it’s a car that is repossessed, creditors typically need to give you a 15-day notice before they try selling your vehicle. This is supposed to give you the chance to reclaim it by paying the outstanding balance, along with other repossession fees.
  • Repossession normally only takes place if the collateral is worth more than the financed loan for it.

Those are just a few bits of information I found about repossession, but there is a lot more to learn. If you want to know the exact rules of it all, check into your state’s laws and read over all the contracts you have with your creditors. Always be sure to pay those bills on time so you avoid the scary repo man! You may never think they exist until you miss that payment and you have ‘ol Harry the Repo Dude on your doorstep; you don’t want to know that guy!

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