Omaha, NE
My fiance's(R) father(G) wrote up a very simple contract regarding a vehicle. The only information that was included in the contract was a specific amount that R owed him, what the monthly payments would be, and that if R missed a single payment, G would repo the vehicle and sell it. It was signed and dated by both of them and a witness. The beginning of last year, R was having issues making the payments due to several reasons, but G didn't take the vehicle. However towards the end of the year, our situation changed and he was able to make regular payments again. We tried discussing the remaining balance with G and he was being really shady about it. We finally got a number out of him and it seemed way too high for what we've put into it already. We asked to see his paperwork, records, of payments received, and again he wouldn't allow it, acted shady about it. We then decided to cover ourselves and switch from cash (yes, bad idea) to checks. At first, G wouldn't accept checks and admitted because it leaves a paper trail. We basically told him it's either this or no payments, so he accepted checks. We were able to get our hands on G's paperwork and had seen he had added almost $3000 in extra stuff, "late fees", "interest", things he paid for for R that R didn't even know about, "rent" for when he was staying there. There was no where in the contract that stated he could add whatever other fees he wanted to it, and none of it was agreed upon. The contract is literally just "[SET AMOUNT] owed to G by R. Payments of [AMOUNT] to be made monthly until [DATE] when it is paid off, then the title will be signed over. If even one payment is late, the vehicle will be repoed and re-sold, and the rest of the [AMOUNT] will still be owed. If G has to take R to court over this contract, R will be responsible for all court and lawyer fees." Then signed and dated.
Our question is, would we be able to take G to court and sue for the money we've paid, according to his records, then give the truck back and just "pretend" like the contract never happened? The monthly payments are killing us, we have really bad credit and tried getting a personal loan to just pay G off, but no luck. We're looking for options to basically get out of this, without having to "call it a loss", since it has been a pretty decent chunk of money already paid to him.
Thanks for any help or advice!!
My fiance's(R) father(G) wrote up a very simple contract regarding a vehicle. The only information that was included in the contract was a specific amount that R owed him, what the monthly payments would be, and that if R missed a single payment, G would repo the vehicle and sell it. It was signed and dated by both of them and a witness. The beginning of last year, R was having issues making the payments due to several reasons, but G didn't take the vehicle. However towards the end of the year, our situation changed and he was able to make regular payments again. We tried discussing the remaining balance with G and he was being really shady about it. We finally got a number out of him and it seemed way too high for what we've put into it already. We asked to see his paperwork, records, of payments received, and again he wouldn't allow it, acted shady about it. We then decided to cover ourselves and switch from cash (yes, bad idea) to checks. At first, G wouldn't accept checks and admitted because it leaves a paper trail. We basically told him it's either this or no payments, so he accepted checks. We were able to get our hands on G's paperwork and had seen he had added almost $3000 in extra stuff, "late fees", "interest", things he paid for for R that R didn't even know about, "rent" for when he was staying there. There was no where in the contract that stated he could add whatever other fees he wanted to it, and none of it was agreed upon. The contract is literally just "[SET AMOUNT] owed to G by R. Payments of [AMOUNT] to be made monthly until [DATE] when it is paid off, then the title will be signed over. If even one payment is late, the vehicle will be repoed and re-sold, and the rest of the [AMOUNT] will still be owed. If G has to take R to court over this contract, R will be responsible for all court and lawyer fees." Then signed and dated.
Our question is, would we be able to take G to court and sue for the money we've paid, according to his records, then give the truck back and just "pretend" like the contract never happened? The monthly payments are killing us, we have really bad credit and tried getting a personal loan to just pay G off, but no luck. We're looking for options to basically get out of this, without having to "call it a loss", since it has been a pretty decent chunk of money already paid to him.
Thanks for any help or advice!!
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