June 13, 2011
At first, this woman thought her used car, financed through Wells Fargo, had been jacked from the front of her house. She reported the car as stolen and filed a claim. It was a bummer because she had been only two years away from paying off the five year loan. Then she got a call from Chase Auto Finance who said they had repo'd the car because the previous owner didn't finish his payments. Whoops! Chase had taken the car without securing a lien on the title!
When the woman tallied up the difference between what she owed on the old car and what she now has to pay now with three more years of payments, it came to over $13,000. On top of that she had to go get a new car with $2,000 down and also lost personal items, incurred rental expenses, missed work, and had quite an ordeal trying to unravel the mess.
She thought that was worth about a $20,000 settlement. Chase offered her $6,500.
Unhappy with that solution, she contacted The Fixer consumer columnist over at the Chicago Sun-Times who, after shaking the ol' apple tree at Chase, got them to agree to the woman's proposed $20,000 settlement.
The takeaway: keep your receipts and call a reporter!
At first, this woman thought her used car, financed through Wells Fargo, had been jacked from the front of her house. She reported the car as stolen and filed a claim. It was a bummer because she had been only two years away from paying off the five year loan. Then she got a call from Chase Auto Finance who said they had repo'd the car because the previous owner didn't finish his payments. Whoops! Chase had taken the car without securing a lien on the title!
When the woman tallied up the difference between what she owed on the old car and what she now has to pay now with three more years of payments, it came to over $13,000. On top of that she had to go get a new car with $2,000 down and also lost personal items, incurred rental expenses, missed work, and had quite an ordeal trying to unravel the mess.
She thought that was worth about a $20,000 settlement. Chase offered her $6,500.
Unhappy with that solution, she contacted The Fixer consumer columnist over at the Chicago Sun-Times who, after shaking the ol' apple tree at Chase, got them to agree to the woman's proposed $20,000 settlement.
The takeaway: keep your receipts and call a reporter!
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