Repo man never came...

[batjr]

My husband and I filed a Chapter 13 two years ago. We decided at our meeting to "let go" of some of our recreational vehicles. Two years after our meeting, we have not heard one word from the finance companies and to our knowledge, no one has been here to reclaim anything. The issue for me is that we would like them to NEVER show up so I don't want to call them and remind them...but am wondering if there is some kind of time limit that they can come and get them before they are considered abandoned property? We are in California.

[bk442]

My husband and I filed a Chapter 13 two years ago. We decided at our meeting to "let go" of some of our recreational vehicles. Two years after our meeting, we have not heard one word from the finance companies and to our knowledge, no one has been here to reclaim anything. The issue for me is that we would like them to NEVER show up so I don't want to call them and remind them...but am wondering if there is some kind of time limit that they can come and get them before they are considered abandoned property? We are in California.

Interesting. Who is the bank that is carrying these loans? Are the RV's old and possibly not worth it?

I'd love it if they did that with my boat haha

[batjr]

HSBC and GE Money Bank. They are not very old...all were purchased between 05-06 and includes 3 quads, 1 pit bike, a trailer and a street bike. Crazy thing is that they (HSBC) DID send a repo man when we missed 2 payments. But they weren't able to give us very accurate information about where the vehicles were going to be taken, and they were not willing to leave any paperwork behind as a sort of "receipt" for our sake...so they agreed to leave, send us some paperwork in the mail, then return for them. Well, we filed BK the next day and never heard from them again.

[bk442]

HSBC and GE Money Bank. They are not very old...all were purchased between 05-06 and includes 3 quads, 1 pit bike, a trailer and a street bike. Crazy thing is that they (HSBC) DID send a repo man when we missed 2 payments. But they weren't able to give us very accurate information about where the vehicles were going to be taken, and they were not willing to leave any paperwork behind as a sort of "receipt" for our sake...so they agreed to leave, send us some paperwork in the mail, then return for them. Well, we filed BK the next day and never heard from them again.

Interesting. Do they have liens on the titles or are they in your name only? Sounds like they slipped through the cracks

[batjr]

Yes, they all have lienholders on the Registratiion. If they come, they come, but if there is some way I can legally own them because they abandoned them, I would love to sell them and pay down my 13 so I can finally get a little bit ahead. Crazy that 3 seperate accounts (2 with HSBC and 1 with GE Money) can just slip through...not complaining though!

[BCA2009]

Motorcycles, boat and Rv's are sometimes considered not worth the effort. The have to pay someone to come get it, then pay auction or sales commisions. It could easily cost the bank $500 or more to repo each item. So they just walk away from them.

I'm in a battle right now to get the lien released on a boat that the bank decided not repo. It has been very complicated in my case due to some unusal circumstances.

first call the bank and ask for a lien release. If they won't do it, then look into your state's abandoned property laws. It will get tricky though. The problem is the bank hasn't technically abandoned the property (they don't own it), they have just declined to exercise the right to enforce the lien.

It is going to depend on state law, but if someone other than you claims the property as abandoned, then they can file a claim with the sheriff and have the property advertised for a few weeks in the legal section of the paper and then they get a clear title. Again the process all depends on you state's laws.

The tricky part is you can't claim your own property as abandoned. It's already yours.

So go drop everything off at your brother-in-laws, or best friends house and let them claim the property and jump thru the legal process. Then they can "sell" the stuff back to you once it's legally theirs.

The bank will find out about it even if you go this route, becuase the claim process will probably require any registered lien holders to be notified in addition to the legal advertisement. so they will have an option to challenge the claim. You will have to pay some court costs, although it should be minimal.

If you are in a chapter 13 plan, you may not be able to sell it without the trustee getting it anyway. So you may just be better off keeping it.

The chapter 13 issue aside, you could also sell just sell the stuff without a title for offroad use only, but that could raise a liablity issue if someone got hurt later and you were still the "registered" owner.

Best method is to try the bank first. If they haven't came after them by now, they don't want them. Offer them $100 buck to release the lien.

[batjr]

Thanks for the information! It at least gives me a place to start... I realize the longer I wait, the less they will be worth and the easier it will be for them to release their interest in them. I do have the space to keep them, and I do have more time to wait. It's great that they can still even be registered and used until the dreaded day comes. Guess I wouldn't mind if they took them so much if I hadn't already paid for them, plus some, with the high interest and fees they continually slid in. Maybe I'll wait another year before I call them...not going to be so greedy...yet :P

[Rachel]

In order to remove them in CA there is a process you have to follow through the DMV.

Go to www.DMV.CA.GOV and print the Lien Release form Reg 166, Duplicate title form Reg 226, and Statement of Facts Reg 256.

Send the Lien Release (Reg 166) certified mail to the lienholders as shown on the registration documents.

Keep the mail receipts. Any undeliverable returned mail keep and do not open...

Complete section 1 and 3 on the Application for duplicate title (Reg 226)

Complete Sections G and H on the Statement of facts explaining what effort was made to obtain the release of lien..

Take all the forms and all mailing receipts to dmv. DMV will charge you a transfer fee and a duplicate title fee and send the paperwork to a special office who will deal with removing the liens.

[bigtim6656]

When I was a kid my mom and dad filed chapter 7. They had a van, old pop up camper, a camero, and a boat all with leans from the local credit union under the company my dad worked for. When he filed he was behind and the bank said to give up the camero, van and keep the boat and camper. If they wanted to pay they could, if not it was ok. He had 10 years of good history with them and they did not want to loose him. After discharge the bank sold the camaro and the van sat for 4 more months. My dad went in and the bank manager asked if he wanted it back. They offered to sale it to him for what he owed on the principle at a lower rate then before.

6 months later he had it paid off and we drove it for 4 more years. If I remember right they wrote off the lien on the boat and camper. The credit union was fairly good with folks. A friend of mine got a home loan through them 4 months post bk and for a good rate. Though this was back when a guys word meant something. Now no one can trust anybody.