Can a my car still get repossessed even thoughI have made payments on it?
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Can a my car still get repossessed even thoughI have made payments on it?
I owe $1800 on my car. A repo man said that he was going to repo my car. I had to defer a couple of payments during my loan time. The lender told me that I would have to pay all $1800 to stop my car from being repod. My payments are $300 a month; that’s what I have been paying. I was never told when I deferred the payments that at the end I would owe all the money at once. I have never been late; I only deferred.
Asked on October 27, 2010 under Bankruptcy Law, Tennessee
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 14 years ago | Contributor
The problem is that, by your own admission in what your write, you have had to "defer" several payments. That means you violated your agreement by not paying on time when the payments were do. (Deferring payments is being late on them.) You need to check what your loan agreement says--if it says that in the event of a default, or violation, the lender can repossess the car, then the lender probably does have the right to do this and can use the possibility of repossession as leverage to try to get the money upfront. If you can't work something out with the lender and they do repossess, you could--if you are fully up to date on the payments at present time--try suing them, making the argument that since you are up to date now and the lender accepted your deferred payments, they waived the default and their right to repossess. The problem there is, it's not a guaranteed to win argument, and anyway, you can't bring it in small claims court, which means that you'd have to file in "regular" (e.g. district or municiple) court, which is more costly and complicated.
Again, first check the agreement and read it literally vs. how and when you paid; see if the lender does have the right to reposses in your circumstances. If he does, consider whether you could borrow money from elsewhere (credit card cash advance; home equity loan or line; family; even employer) to satisfy the car loan, then pay off the new lender.
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