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Nankg

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Texas

I have a car that (according to my statements) was $955.70 to being paid in full. Due to hurricane Katrina, I was self employed and recently had to close the business (05/2006) because I was not making any profits and am currently seeking employment. My husband is working but is making almost 50% less than what we made pre-Katrina. I called the car company to advise them of the situation and to request the payoff amount to see if maybe I could possibly borrow the money (from family) to just pay the car off. The amount does not measure up to what I thought it would be. I requested a copy of the payment history and calculated that I have paid a total of $20,575.22 which according to the payment history shows the following:

12,318.95 - principal
6,536.49 - interest
1,310.38 - other charges

The amount above only totals to $20,165.82. Where is the difference of 409.40?

My interest rate was 3.14%. The original car loan amount was $15,000. Clearly the interest paid is approx 31%. and I see one entry in December, 2005 that $1,010 was taken from a $2,000 payment (paid to catch up with payments after Katrina) and is listed as "other charges". When I called the representative to explain to me the other charges, she told me that it could be late charges, fees, etc. I requested that she send me the explanations for all of them and she told me the system was recently switched and she does not have the exact reasons and that she had to get a manager to send it to me. I am still waiting. They have since called me to tell me that they may take me to court if I do not pay the remaining amount of $1,002.76 and they may possibly repossess the car.

I am so embarrassed as I should have seen this so long ago. Now, my credit is being ruined (We want to purchase a home within the next 6 months) by this and on top of that, it looks to me that they owe me money!!! Do you see what I see? (Something shady)
 


seniorjudge

Senior Member
Standard answer on expired SOL and/or validation and/or dispute letters. There are thousands of posts similar to yours on this forum so I have prepared a standard answer.

SOL (Statutes of limitation are DEFENSES to lawsuits; they do NOT provide a method to stop someone from suing you. This defense means when they sue you, you answer with the defense that it is barred by the SOL.)

http://www.bcsalliance.com/y_debt_sol.html

http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/Disputing_Collections/SoL-dispute-letter.html


Validation letter samples you can get at :
www.creditinfocenter.com
and www.creditboards.com

Make sure you ask for VALIDATION (and do not accept verification).


Disputes: You can write a letter of dispute to the three credit reporting agencies.

Go this website to find instructions and samples for how to dispute: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/creditreports/

Sometimes errors are easy to remove and sometimes they stick like glue. It is inexpensive to try and not difficult.

I am NOT a creditor-debtor lawyer; stand by for further help.

I am NOT vouching for the accuracy of these websites!

Debt settlement:

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=293829
 

moburkes

Senior Member
So you took out a $15000 loan at 3.14% interest. How long was the term of the loan? How many late payments have you made? How many payments would you expect to have left at this point?
 

TigerD

Senior Member
You may well be right. But you have to get out in front of this. Stop waiting on them and start writing letters and making phone calls.

DC
 

Nankg

Junior Member
Thank you for your assistance. I actually have begun my letter writing campaign. I have sent correspondence to the president of the company as well as the customer service manager requesting itemization of the charges and the like. I also found out that they are members of the BBB and are willing to use arbitration, so I have also begun that process.

The term of the loan was for 60 months and originated 1/2001. I had poor credit when I applied for the loan and unfortunately got a sub-prime lender. I initially had signed for a 13% interest rate but was being charged 25.5% interest. I complained to the Attorney General's office and the company settled with a lesser interest rate 6%. That was in 3/2002. In Nov. 2003, my credit rating improved and I was offered to refinance ($8500) at the present rate of 3.4 interest rate. I was 30 days late one time (6/2004) and had no problems pre-Katrina.

At this point, I expected to have approximately 1 payment left, but was told that it was the four payments. That is when I requested the payment history.

I will look at the suggested sites to find out what else I can do.
 

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