Glad I don't live in MA...

[bezoar]

This is a little series from the Boston Globe. Thank goodness they don't operate like this in OK. Ugly...

Apologies if this has been posted before.

http://www.boston.com/news/special/s...rt1/page1.html

You may have to register (free) to read the whole series -

[JeepMom]

Wow!

[wenderful]

debt collection has certainly turned to dirty business!

[Minnymouth]

Yep, some are like thieves in the nite......

BUT if that debt was discharged in bankruptcy - THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW..... and that makes it a Federal Offense.....

[wenderful]

I guess then that though my husband thinks I'm nuts, it's actually a good idea that I have a copy of our BK and it's discharge right here at my desk at the tips of my fingers..........for easy reference!!!!! (and as a sad reminder to NEVER do this again)

[robivi3]

horrible and the "constables" to back them up. What else can be said. They are afraid to do it in OK because they have the rural Florida mindset. Pull the gun,. worry later. dealing witha co-worker right now, he pulled the gun, made his point, but what a price.

[lrprn]

This is a little series from the Boston Globe. Thank goodness they don't operate like this in OK. Ugly...

Apologies if this has been posted before.

http://www.boston.com/news/special/s...rt1/page1.html

You may have to register (free) to read the whole series -

Thanks for sharing this series, bezoar. Broke my heart to read about what these folks have gone through at the hands of unscrupulous debt collectors. Yes, many of them did owe the debt, but with the gouging "service charges" and the small claims system so tilted towards the debt collectors, they didn't deserve the horrors that happened to many of them. What are we coming to as a country when this is tolerated as acceptable by the very people with the power to stop it - the courts and judges?

[GoingDown]

I've read about similar things happening in other states as well, and what it brings to mind is that for the most part, junk debt buyers are completely ignoring the fact that many of these debts were discharged through bankruptcy. They don't seem to care at all about that. I guess they figure that it would cost the discharged debtor a lot of money to hire an attorney and fight against them-- money that the debtor probably can't afford to spend on legal bills. And they attack so fast and furiously that it doesn't give them much time to act anyways.

The story doesn't mention it ever happening, but I wonder what would have happened if they had seized a car with a car loan on it? Wouldn't the debt collector have to pay off the car loan when they seized it? They couldn't transfer the title to whoever bought it at auction without paying off the original lienholder.

They also never even mention that a portion of the car's equity is exempt. I guess once again, exemptions are really worth all that much because you still have to hire an attorney and file a motion in court to claim them. It's the same thing with checking accounts. In Arizona, for example, $150 in any one checking account is technically exempt, but debt collectors will still seize everything in that checking account until you can prove in court that it was exempt, which would cost you far more than $150.

The people who are down this low probably can't afford to lease a car, but that would keep it safe from creditors.

I guess the only other thing they could do would be to drive really cheap, crappy used cars that don't cost very much to buy and just figure on having to replace them from time to time, but most of the people in this story couldn't afford to do this either. Not to mention the possible repair bills involved with old clunker cars.

I honestly don't know what the solution is to this problem. This one is a stumper for me.

[Fedler]

If you pay your bills you've got nothing to worry about.

[lrprn]

If you pay your bills you've got nothing to worry about.

Fedler, Fedler, Fedler. Obviously you have never been in an unexpected car accident with severe injuries so you couldn't work for months, lost your job without warning and couldn't find another one, had your significant other come home one day to tell you they are leaving you for someone else and moves out leaving with all the bills to pay on one salary, or suddenly became ill with a sickness that wipes out everything you've carefully put away in a very short period of time. Just "paying your bills" isn't enough to help you in a single one of these cases and you know it.

[Minnymouth]

Agreed and well put......

[robivi3]

Don't want to pay your bills? Try and repo a car on the Seminole reservation here. The repo man went to jail and lost his tow truck!!! Can't be done in any way.

[Jman30]

I used to live in MA before I moved to Ohio four years ago. Reading that article brought a shiver down my spine. I used to deal with many of the collection agencies listed in that story, like Commonwealth Receiveables, Lustig and Glaser and Norfolk. I remember all the well exactly what the story was saying.
I even had two "gentleman" come to my house one night, trying to take my car. My pregnant wife was in a panic, we were already strapped with the baby coming. The two guys were NOT nice adn basically said, either I pay now, or they wanted the keys. It was one of the worst events of my life....I was literally begging and pleading with these men, like a POW or something. Telling them I didn't have ALL the money, wasn't there something we could do? One of them went outside to call his "boss" while the other one continued to tell me it was just better off if I gave them my keys. Meanwhile, my wife in hysterics on the phone in our bedroom, calling the police.
Eventually, after going back and forth a few times, they said if I could give them $300 cash immediately, I could keep the car but I had to promise to call a number the next day and settle this once and for all. They didn't believe I would go get the money, so they made me drive in their car to get it. In hindsight, this was a VERY stupid thing to do. I didn't know these guys, you know? But I just wanted them out of my house and away from my wife. So they drove me to an ATM, and I took out the last $300 in our account. If I remember right, I even tapped into like $50 of the overdraft to get it.

This was old debt from college, that I thought had long dropped off the radar, since it had been over 7 years and was discharged debt. But there I was, debased to a pathetic shell of myself, pleading with two men not to take my car over a $1,000 debt.

I don't care what you say Fedler about paying bills. I always tried to pay my bills. But when time got tight, I had to keep the lights on and the rent paid. Do you think sending two guys to take my car in the dead of night, a car that was worth ALOT more then $1,000 was fair????????????

[GoingDown]

I used to live in MA before I moved to Ohio four years ago. Reading that article brought a shiver down my spine. I used to deal with many of the collection agencies listed in that story, like Commonwealth Receiveables, Lustig and Glaser and Norfolk. I remember all the well exactly what the story was saying.
I even had two "gentleman" come to my house one night, trying to take my car. My pregnant wife was in a panic, we were already strapped with the baby coming. The two guys were NOT nice adn basically said, either I pay now, or they wanted the keys. It was one of the worst events of my life....I was literally begging and pleading with these men, like a POW or something. Telling them I didn't have ALL the money, wasn't there something we could do? One of them went outside to call his "boss" while the other one continued to tell me it was just better off if I gave them my keys. Meanwhile, my wife in hysterics on the phone in our bedroom, calling the police.
Eventually, after going back and forth a few times, they said if I could give them $300 cash immediately, I could keep the car but I had to promise to call a number the next day and settle this once and for all. They didn't believe I would go get the money, so they made me drive in their car to get it. In hindsight, this was a VERY stupid thing to do. I didn't know these guys, you know? But I just wanted them out of my house and away from my wife. So they drove me to an ATM, and I took out the last $300 in our account. If I remember right, I even tapped into like $50 of the overdraft to get it.

This was old debt from college, that I thought had long dropped off the radar, since it had been over 7 years and was discharged debt. But there I was, debased to a pathetic shell of myself, pleading with two men not to take my car over a $1,000 debt.

I don't care what you say Fedler about paying bills. I always tried to pay my bills. But when time got tight, I had to keep the lights on and the rent paid. Do you think sending two guys to take my car in the dead of night, a car that was worth ALOT more then $1,000 was fair????????????

They wanted you to voluntarily give them the keys which indicates that they really had no legal authority to take the car and they were relying on you not knowing that and being afraid of them. If they had legal authority to take your car, they would have had a sheriff right there on the scene to make sure that the car would be seized and towed away. They wouldn't bother with this matter about handing over the keys, or handing over cash. They would just tow it away and be done with it. I'll bet if you had just refused, they would have got back into their car and drove away without trying to take your car.

[FoolAndHisMoney]

I used to live in MA before I moved to Ohio four years ago. Reading that article brought a shiver down my spine. I used to deal with many of the collection agencies listed in that story, like Commonwealth Receiveables, Lustig and Glaser and Norfolk. I remember all the well exactly what the story was saying.
I even had two "gentleman" come to my house one night, trying to take my car. My pregnant wife was in a panic, we were already strapped with the baby coming. The two guys were NOT nice adn basically said, either I pay now, or they wanted the keys. It was one of the worst events of my life....I was literally begging and pleading with these men, like a POW or something. Telling them I didn't have ALL the money, wasn't there something we could do? One of them went outside to call his "boss" while the other one continued to tell me it was just better off if I gave them my keys. Meanwhile, my wife in hysterics on the phone in our bedroom, calling the police.
Eventually, after going back and forth a few times, they said if I could give them $300 cash immediately, I could keep the car but I had to promise to call a number the next day and settle this once and for all. They didn't believe I would go get the money, so they made me drive in their car to get it. In hindsight, this was a VERY stupid thing to do. I didn't know these guys, you know? But I just wanted them out of my house and away from my wife. So they drove me to an ATM, and I took out the last $300 in our account. If I remember right, I even tapped into like $50 of the overdraft to get it.

This was old debt from college, that I thought had long dropped off the radar, since it had been over 7 years and was discharged debt. But there I was, debased to a pathetic shell of myself, pleading with two men not to take my car over a $1,000 debt.

I don't care what you say Fedler about paying bills. I always tried to pay my bills. But when time got tight, I had to keep the lights on and the rent paid. Do you think sending two guys to take my car in the dead of night, a car that was worth ALOT more then $1,000 was fair????????????

It's one thing if it was the lien holder and another if these 2 snakes scare you into submission over an old debt. I wouldn't surrender any property to anyone except the sheriff. The sheriff's court order, gun and badge are the only signs that this is legit.
Sorry about your family's rough time jman.