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I took a loan out with gmac in 2004/ had been making payments on it for the whole term. Started getting into it with gmac. they put forced insurance on the car in 2008 for a 1600 dollar charge. the car was insured and sent the info to them. filed bk in 2011 discharged June that year, the car was put in because it was on credit report as a charge off of 3500. of that 3500 is late fees they say I owe 892 of insurance claim still. attorney fees and about 600 dollars principal balance.
I have called several times over the past 3 years and stated i need a payment history to see where funds were allocated. right at the time of bk collection company called and said if I paid 700 they would wipe it out and i would get title. I did that but GMAC now Ally says they had the right not to honor that.
They had applied that payment to the insurance so the principal was paid off.
I am assessing my options, but i thought that this wrong.
Any advice on my options please let mkenow
He thinks that they should not have shown up out of nowhere and repossed the vehicle. Credit report shows chargeoff, we had requested info for pay history and they refused to send it. Also i received a 1098C for miscellaneous income for discharged debt, he is in california where i am originally from, but he attorneys i used for bk dont handle that and have not received a call or email back and sale date is the 15th
Was the monies owed discharged in the bankruptcy? When GMC first contacted you after the bankruptcy, what did your attorney tell you to do at that time?
yes it was. they never contacted me. A repo guy just showed up out of nowhere.
i had contacted them and they said they had no info and would have someone call me back
at the time the attorney said since it was junk fees it should be ok
If I am understanding you correctly, the car loan was discharged in the bankruptcy. They should have received a bankruptcy notice, at the time of filing and obviously they did, since they repo'd the car. You can contact your attorney, or the bankruptcy court in your jurisdiction to double check.
If they are listed as creditors, as you suspect(you owe them nothing, not attorney fees, not insurance)....your attorney should send them a copy again of the bankruptcy Notice of meeting of creditors, and a copy of the list of creditors....the page that shows they were listed, and the discharge notice. Your attorney might also send a letter siting the proper BK code/laws, that they are in violation in continuing to try to collect this discharged debt. Those usually work well.
You could research this yourself also, got to the Bankruptcy Court webpage for your state. I've included a link, in the search just type bankruptcy court. Good luck to you
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Since GMAC and Ally is the same company, the only difference is in the name change, when I refer to the lender I'll just refer to them as Ally.
Since you had proven to Ally that you did indeed have insurance on the car, and if your payment of $700 had completely paid off the car and any interest that had accrued on the original balance (not including interest on the bogus forced placed interest) .... then, the repo was illegal, and, you can and should go after them for that.
When the collector told you that if you paid the $700 then you'd get the title, if the collector didn't include a letter from Ally stating that they, Ally, would release the title, or the collector didn't even have that letter in their own files, then the collector had violated the FDCPA by stating you would receive the title if you paid. No collector can hold the title on a vehicle, and, no collector can repo a vehicle .. collectors are not lenders. By telling you that you would get the title when they had no written affirmation from Ally that the title would be released is a clear violation. You can and you should go after them for that.
If the collector does have that letter from Ally, and provides it to you, then you can use that letter against Ally when you go after them for the illegal repo.
If your $700 payment was made after the BK was discharged, then the BK court is pretty much out of the picture, since by making the payment after discharge you had basically reaffirmed the debt. Though, when you get right down to it the BK court is out of the picture anyway, whether payment was made before or after discharge (or even if no payment were made). The BK would not allow the creditor/collector to try to collect on the debt, but it doesn't mean that the creditor (not the collector) cannot repo the vehicle (as long as there is still a true balance still due, not including the bogus forced insurance amount) - you can't have your cake and eat it too.
Since you had paid the the original amount, plus the interest on the original amount, it still makes the repo an illegal action, but not an action that has anything to do with the BK court. You would need to deal with it in a civil court using a consumer credit lawyer instead of with the BK court and using a BK lawyer.
The amount they (Ally and the collector?) are reporting on your credit reports is wrong, and a FCRA violation, since they are including the bogus forced placed insurance and any interest that had accrued on the bogus insurance.
You need to dispute the amount, that one or both are reporting, with each CRA that it is reporting to .. you might just use a simple dispute saying something like 'the amount is incorrect, please correct it or remove it'.
Take all of your paperwork and speak to a consumer credit lawyer. Go after Ally for the illegal repo, go after the collector for the FDCPA violation, and, if which ever one is reporting the wrong amount, or they both are, and they validate the amount with the CRA's after your dispute, instead of correcting it or removing it, then go after them for the FCRA violation.
Be sure to include damages, always include damages (that's where the big money is at, especially if you opt for a jury trial). You would probably not only have damages because of the bogus amount they are reporting, you could possible claim damages for the illegal repo of the vehicle that you had already paid off.
Talk to a consumer credit lawyer, ASAP.
Send disputes to the CRA's for the amount they are reporting, ASAP.
Then - sue 'em.
Last edited by berdee; 09-12-2014 at 02:59 PM..
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