Repo man came for wifes car so i drove off in it.please help

[duggie1]

Hi All,

 

I had a run in with the repo man today and would be very gratefull for any advice.

 

Here is our problem.

 

My wife took out an £11,000 fianance on an 05 Zafira in 2005 with GMAC.

Just before Christmas she lost her job and money was tight. She phoned up GMAC and told them that she would struggle to meet the payments and was there anything they could do to help.

 

At the time of phoning them there were 10 more payments remaining on the contract totalling £2300.

They were helpfull and said she could pay half for an unstated time. She paid two payments at half the monthly rate. On the 3rd month the lady on the phone would not take the half payment and insisted on full payment for the month. Despite my wifes pleas they would not accept half payment.

As we could not afford the full payment we had to default that month.

The next month my wife called GMAC to make a full months payment. They told her that aswell as the full months payment for that month they also wanted the previous months full payment, my wife told the lady she didnt have cash to pay the extra months payment, the lady then told her that as she would be defaulting twice they would apply to the court for a reposession.

My wife explained that she was trying to pay but could not afford to pay the arrears too, to which GMACS response was to say that they will repo the car and sell it at auction to get there money back.

 

They also said that they had sent letters regarding the default.

We hadnt received these letters as we had moved house and had forgot to inform gmac. We retrieved the letters from our old house and informed gmac of the new address and new phone number.

GMAC then sent a letter to our new address regarding the defaults.

The letter advised to get in touch and sort out the arrears or reposession orders would be applied for. My wife called them asking again if there was anyway she could resolve this without going through court, they told her abrubtly that unless she paid the full amount owing a repo order would be made, the gmac lady even said that as it was an 05 car they would get their money back at auction as so little was left outstanding on the car. My wife then told them that she looked forward to seeing them in court as she had tried to make payments and had made paments (albeit half for two months) and had tried and tried to come to some reasonable agreement for a short time. Prior to this she had never missed a single payment. My wife asked if there was anyone higher up she could speak to regarding the matter but was told there wasnt.

 

My wife then wrote gmac a letter explaining that the recession had cost her, her job and with 3 kids she was finding it hard to make the agreed payments and could they please arrange something with her to sort out what had become a mess, she got no reply.

 

I told my wife to stop calling them and wait for the court order so that we could go to court and put our side across as we felt they had been rude and very unreasonable considering half the country was struggling to keep their jobs during the recession.

 

It has been 3 months since we last heard from them.

 

Today my wife calls me frantic saying that two men were at the house to repo the car. I came home and the men showed me a court order for reposession!

We'd had no letter regarding court, if we had we wouldnt of ignored it, as we wanted to turn up to put our side across.

The repo man then shows me his clipboard which had our old address as the address where GMAC had been sending letters regarding the defaults and impending court appearance.

 

He also had the telephone number for our new house which my wife gave them when she informed them of our move and new address.

 

The repo man told us that they or GMAC didnt have our new address yet GMAC had sent a letter to our new address and the repo guy had our new number on his clipboard.

 

I was furious so i told the repo man were to stick his court order, got in the car and drove off in it despite them trying to block me in.

My wife told the repo guy that he had no chance of getting the car back off me in one piece.

The repo man then explained to my wife that he would put everything on hold until 1pm tomorrow but she would have to make a full payment for the £2300 plus court costs and any other costs incured.

 

Were do we stand in this, had we received the letter regarding court no way would we of ignored it.

Also were does the law stand with this with regard to them getting the car back as the repo guy told my wife that he would call the police if i didnt come back with the car.

Can the police stop me if im driving and say there is a repo order on the car or is it a civil matter that the police will not get involved in.

Right now i have the car parked at a friends house but i dont want the police knocking telling me to go get the car and give it to the repo man.

 

I feel like dismantling the car and selling it piece by piece on ebay!

 

Sorry for such a long winded message its 5.40 am and i cant sleep through worrying about this.

 

Any wise words especially from postggj would be well appreciated.

 

Thank You.

Kind Regards

James

Edited March 26, 2010 by duggie1

[duggie1]

Hi All,

 

Sorry if this is in the wrong area ive posted in another area too please help if im in the wrong area.

 

I had a run in with the repo man today and would be very gratefull for any advice.

 

Here is our problem.

 

My wife took out an £11,000 fianance on an 05 Zafira in 2005 with GMAC.

Just before Christmas she lost her job and money was tight. She phoned up GMAC and told them that she would struggle to meet the payments and was there anything they could do to help.

 

At the time of phoning them there were 10 more payments remaining on the contract totalling £2300.

They were helpfull and said she could pay half for an unstated time. She paid two payments at half the monthly rate. On the 3rd month the lady on the phone would not take the half payment and insisted on full payment for the month. Despite my wifes pleas they would not accept half payment.

As we could not afford the full payment we had to default that month.

The next month my wife called GMAC to make a full months payment. They told her that aswell as the full months payment for that month they also wanted the previous months full payment, my wife told the lady she didnt have cash to pay the extra months payment, the lady then told her that as she would be defaulting twice they would apply to the court for a reposession.

My wife explained that she was trying to pay but could not afford to pay the arrears too, to which GMACS response was to say that they will repo the car and sell it at auction to get there money back.

 

They also said that they had sent letters regarding the default.

We hadnt received these letters as we had moved house and had forgot to inform gmac. We retrieved the letters from our old house and informed gmac of the new address and new phone number.

GMAC then sent a letter to our new address regarding the defaults.

The letter advised to get in touch and sort out the arrears or reposession orders would be applied for. My wife called them asking again if there was anyway she could resolve this without going through court, they told her abrubtly that unless she paid the full amount owing a repo order would be made, the gmac lady even said that as it was an 05 car they would get their money back at auction as so little was left outstanding on the car. My wife then told them that she looked forward to seeing them in court as she had tried to make payments and had made paments (albeit half for two months) and had tried and tried to come to some reasonable agreement for a short time. Prior to this she had never missed a single payment. My wife asked if there was anyone higher up she could speak to regarding the matter but was told there wasnt.

 

My wife then wrote gmac a letter explaining that the recession had cost her, her job and with 3 kids she was finding it hard to make the agreed payments and could they please arrange something with her to sort out what had become a mess, she got no reply.

 

I told my wife to stop calling them and wait for the court order so that we could go to court and put our side across as we felt they had been rude and very unreasonable considering half the country was struggling to keep their jobs during the recession.

 

It has been 3 months since we last heard from them.

 

Today my wife calls me frantic saying that two men were at the house to repo the car. I came home and the men showed me what they said was a court order for reposession. To be honest i dont know if it was a court order or not as i didnt focus on a single word !

We'd had no letter regarding court, if we had we wouldnt of ignored it, as we wanted to turn up to put our side across.

The repo man then shows me his clipboard which had our old address as the address where GMAC had been sending letters regarding the defaults and impending court appearance.

 

He also had the telephone number for our new house which my wife gave GMAC when she informed them of our move and new address.

 

The repo man told us that they or GMAC didnt have our new address yet GMAC had sent a letter to our new address and the repo guy had our new number on his clipboard.

 

I was furious so i told the repo man were to stick his court order, got in the car and drove off in it despite them trying to block me in.

My wife told the repo guy that he had no chance of getting the car back off me in one piece.

The repo man then explained to my wife that he would put everything on hold until 1pm tomorrow but she would have to make a full payment for the £2300 plus court costs and any other costs incured.

 

Were do we stand in this, had we received the letter regarding court no way would we of ignored it.

Also were does the law stand with this with regard to them getting the car back as the repo guy told my wife that he would call the police if i didnt come back with the car.

Can the police stop me if im driving and say there is a repo order on the car or is it a civil matter that the police will not get involved in.

Right now i have the car parked at a friends house but i dont want the police knocking telling me to go get the car and give it to the repo man.

 

I feel like dismantling the car and selling it piece by piece on ebay!

 

Sorry for such a long winded message its 5.40 am and i cant sleep through worrying about this.

 

Any wise words especially from postggj would be well appreciated.

 

Thank You.

Kind Regards

James

Edited March 27, 2010 by duggie1

[sillygirl1]

As you have paid more than 2/3rds of the price of the car they are bang out of order. I would now report this as attempted theft by GMAC and cite their managing directors name as the person behind the theft and fraud.

 

It is NOT a civil matter, and probably the 'court papers' were printed off the internet. I would also get onto GMAC and send them a 'hands off letter' reminding them that they have very little claim on you.

 

As you probably have had PPI with the loan it is almost certainly unenforceable via a court.

 

They really are 'blowing in the wind' on this one.

 

postggj will probably be along shortly.

[PGH7447]

Agree with SG1 - I would now phonme GMAC and demand to speak to their legal department and get them to expalin why they had gone to court and why they had sent the papers to the old address when they clearly had the new address, I would also demand the courts address of where this took place and also the case number so you can check what went on with the court

 

When or if you phone stay calm dont let them wind you up

 

in the meantime hide the car

[jetli]

Not sure I can help you on this but will bump your thread to see if we can get some advise for you

[mcjordi]

have gmac obtained a court order for the car??

if not they cant legally take it

if they have gained a court order then the can legally take the car.

[pompeyfaith]

But they obtained the court order though the back door so im sure he can contest this.

 

Going by what you have said id say that is good defence.

 

Can I suggest you copy the first post into the legal forum as there are plenty of knowledgeable people on the court process that go in there.

 

Regards

 

PF

[duggie1]

Thank you for your replies.

My wife phone GMAC today and asked them what address they had on file, they confirmed they had our current address. She then asked why is it if they have our current address did they pass on our old address to the collection agency they employed to collect the debt.

 

GMAC said to take the matter up with the collection agency.

 

We phoned the collection agency and told them that GMAC had gave them our old address and all their correspondence has been sent to the wrong address.

 

The collection agency said they would phone GMAC to see what was going on. They then asked would we be able to make the full payment of £2695 (its gone up another £395 for court costs).

We said we couldnt pay that much. He then asked what could we offer to pay, we said we could pay £1000 and a futher £200 each month.

He said he would phone GMAC and put the offer to them, then call us back with the response.

 

He hadnt phoned after 2 hours so we called back, to be told GMAC hadnt called them with an answer but to wait until 5pm by 5.30 we called back and was told to call back after 8pm if they hadnt called us by then.

When we phoned back after 8pm suprise suprise it was closed!

 

I have the car well hidden , they will not get so much as a nut from it.

 

Now that they have almost admited giving the collection agency the incorrect address is the court order still enforcable.

 

I didnt actually see the court order as i was to busy telling the repo man what i thought of him and his kind. The red rage didnt allow my eyes to focus on the writing on the paper, even if i did try to read the paper he was holing i dont think i could of as he was shaking like a leaf and couldnt hold the clipboard still!!

 

All your help and words of support are much appreciated . Thank you

[duggie1]

Thank you for your replies.

My wife phone GMAC today and asked them what address they had on file, they confirmed they had our current address. She then asked why is it if they have our current address did they pass on our old address to the collection agency they employed to collect the debt.

 

GMAC said to take the matter up with the collection agency.

 

We phoned the collection agency and told them that GMAC had gave them our old address and all their correspondence has been sent to the wrong address.

 

The collection agency said they would phone GMAC to see what was going on. They then asked would we be able to make the full payment of £2695 (its gone up another £395 for court costs).

We said we couldnt pay that much. He then asked what could we offer to pay, we said we could pay £1000 and a futher £200 each month.

He said he would phone GMAC and put the offer to them, then call us back with the response.

 

He hadnt phoned after 2 hours so we called back, to be told GMAC hadnt called them with an answer but to wait until 5pm by 5.30 we called back and was told to call back after 8pm if they hadnt called us by then.

When we phoned back after 8pm suprise suprise it was closed!

 

I have the car well hidden , they will not get so much as a nut from it.

 

Now that they have almost admited giving the collection agency the incorrect address is the court order still enforcable.

 

I didnt actually see the court order as i was to busy telling the repo man what i thought of him and his kind. The red rage didnt allow my eyes to focus on the writing on the paper, even if i did try to read the paper he was holing i dont think i could of as he was shaking like a leaf and couldnt hold the clipboard still!!

 

All your help and words of support are much appreciated . Thank you

[dx100uk]

urm

 

i have my doubts this has been to court....

find out the court and give them a ring as advised.

 

me thinks someone is trying it on.

 

dx

[PGH7447]

agree with DX, get the court details and claim number and contact the court for info

[welshmishy]

Hi

 

I always was under the impression that if you have paid over 3/4 or about that they could not take the car off you , without your agreement to do so but i could be wrong as i think they all change the rules to suit themselfs these days. Hope all goes well with it

[crem]

ditto

[Bookworm]

Yep.

 

1st, you need to find out which court. If any, I'm going to guess it will be from Northampton bulk centre.

 

Once you know, and IF there is a judgment in default, you need to WRITE (STOP phoning!!!) to GMAC to let them know you are as of now in the process of getting the court order set aside, and that you intend to claim the costs you will incur to do so from them since it was their incompetence which caused these costs. If they had written to you at the correct address in the first place (of which there can be no doubt they were aware), then this could all have been avoided. Furthermore, once you have the case set aside, you will ask the judge to remove all the additional costs added to the total, since again it was their incompetence which led to these fees and they should therefore bear those costs themselves.

 

There is of course the strong possibility that GMAC has effectively flogged your debt to a DCA who are now acting off their own bat to make some easy cash off you, but there is no point in going on about that until we know more.

 

Do you know the names of the "repo" men company? It would be useful. Or post their tel no, it should be easy enough to trace. ;-)

[duggie1]

They are called Close Credit management.

 

The repo guy phoned me on my mobile (which my wife gave him after i left in the car) to see if i was prepared to give him the car. He had told my wife he would call at 1pm, he called at 12.50.

I asked what could be done to stop the repo as it was not our fault that GMAC had gave them the incorrect address. He told me paying the £2695 in full was the only way to stop it.

He told us to call GMAC and said he would call me back in an hour, he hasnt.

 

We then phoned GMAC and after that the offices of Close Credit. whoever it was who we spoke to it wasnt the bag of wind that turned up to try and take the car. When told we couldnt pay the full amount they asked us to make an offer.

We offered £1000 and £200 per month and they said they would put the offer to GMAC and call us back.

They havent called back, im guessing thats because GMAC has told them that they were given the wrong address.

 

Nor has the spineless repo guy been back in touch after being so eager to call me earlier.

 

The only reason i can think of why GMAC, Close Credits office or the repo guy himself havent been back in touch is because they now know they made a balls up and theyre no longer in a position to make demands.

 

But if this is the case why didnt they accept the offer?

 

I googled Close Credit and from what i read about them they buy debts and almost all they recover is profit, so why not accept the offer and why would they have to contact GMAC for an answer?

 

Or are they likely to turn up again.

 

My brother thinks they will take the £1000 and still come after the car. Can they do this?

He also thinks that as we took it out in 2005 we may be fortunate enough to have signed an agreement that was not valid due to certain errors that have now been found in agreements signed years ago.

 

What should my next move should be.

 

Someone mentioned writing letters.

Im not very good at writing letters but ill give it a shot.

 

Anyone have any ideas on what i should write and to whom i should write to?

 

Have GMAC or Close Credit broken any of the credit industry rules by acting in this way.

 

Its weird how we havent heard anything from them since theyu realised they had been given the wrong address.

 

thanks for all your help

[duggie1]

They are called Close Credit management.

 

The repo guy phoned me on my mobile (which my wife gave him after i left in the car) to see if i was prepared to give him the car. He had told my wife he would call at 1pm, he called at 12.50.

I asked what could be done to stop the repo as it was not our fault that GMAC had gave them the incorrect address. He told me paying the £2695 in full was the only way to stop it.

He told us to call GMAC and said he would call me back in an hour, he hasnt.

 

We then phoned GMAC and after that the offices of Close Credit. whoever it was who we spoke to it wasnt the bag of wind that turned up to try and take the car. When told we couldnt pay the full amount they asked us to make an offer.

We offered £1000 and £200 per month and they said they would put the offer to GMAC and call us back.

They havent called back, im guessing thats because GMAC has told them that they were given the wrong address.

 

Nor has the spineless repo guy been back in touch after being so eager to call me earlier.

 

The only reason i can think of why GMAC, Close Credits office or the repo guy himself havent been back in touch is because they now know they made a balls up and theyre no longer in a position to make demands.

 

But if this is the case why didnt they accept the offer?

 

I googled Close Credit and from what i read about them they buy debts and almost all they recover is profit, so why not accept the offer and why would they have to contact GMAC for an answer?

 

Or are they likely to turn up again.

 

My brother thinks they will take the £1000 and still come after the car. Can they do this?

He also thinks that as we took it out in 2005 we may be fortunate enough to have signed an agreement that was not valid due to certain errors that have now been found in agreements signed years ago.

 

What should my next move should be.

 

Someone mentioned writing letters.

Im not very good at writing letters but ill give it a shot.

 

Anyone have any ideas on what i should write and to whom i should write to?

 

Have GMAC or Close Credit broken any of the credit industry rules by acting in this way.

 

Its weird how we havent heard anything from them since theyu realised they had been given the wrong address.

 

thanks for all your help

[duggie1]

Ive just found their website and they say:

 

 

"Our legal department issues all proceedings within 24 hours using the county court bulk processing centre."

 

Is this the Northampton court that a previous member mentioned or are they all over the country.

 

The address website is: CCM - Home

[duggie1]

Ive just found their website and they say:

 

 

"Our legal department issues all proceedings within 24 hours using the county court bulk processing centre."

 

Is this the Northampton court that a previous member mentioned or are they all over the country.

 

The address website is: CCM - Home

[Bookworm]

Ain't that interesting?

 

I did a wee search:

 

site:consumeractiongroup.co.uk close credit management problem - Google Search

 

I suggest you do a lot of reading to find out more about these people and how they operate.

 

Now more than ever, you need to see what is the legal document they purport to have.

 

Letter to them:

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

One of your representatives came to my home on [date] waving documents which he claimed were a court order which gave him the right to repossess my car. However, not having had a chance to peruse the document in question and not having been given a copy, I haven't been able to ascertain whether this person was in fact who he said he was and whether he had in fact the legal right to collect the car.

 

Since he claimed to be an employee of yours, I turn to you in the first instance and would ask you to check your files and see if you have in fact a file to my name. If you do, then please send me urgently a copy of the court order, as I have no knowledge whatsoever of having been summoned to court at any point, and if a judgment was given to you in default, it is my intention to have it set aside and the proceeds restarted so I can then defend adequately, something I must say I would relish, looking forward to put my version of the events to the judge.

 

Please refrain from sending any more of your staff to my home in the meantime, until this is sorted and you have convinced me of your right to the car, any further attempt to "repossess" it will be treated as attempted theft and dealt with as such.

 

Yours etc...

 

Send recorded delivery to them, CC to GMAC so they can't pretend they know nothing about it.

[Bookworm]

Posts crossed, yes Northampton is MCOL, Money Claim on Line.

[Bookworm]

Duggie, why have you got more than one thread on this? It makes things really difficult to follow and duplicates the advice you get!

 

I'll ask team to merge your threads together, this forum is more for houses issues really. ;-)

[Bookworm]

But they obtained the court order though the back door so im sure he can contest this.

 

Going by what you have said id say that is good defence.

 

Can I suggest you copy the first post into the legal forum as there are plenty of knowledgeable people on the court process that go in there.

 

Regards

 

PF

Apologies Duggie, I just saw why.

 

PF darling, may I respectfully suggest that instead of asking pple to copy elesewhere, if you think it's in the wrong place, hit the report triangle and ask team to move it to the correct forum, it saves the hell of a lot of trouble for both the team and us mere users? Thank uuuuuu!

[saintly_1]

Threads merged please krrp to just one hread to avoid confusion

[duggie1]

Sorry for any confusion i caused by making two threads in different catogories.

 

I'm still finding my way around this gold mine of great information, so im unsure if im still in the correct area for this type of problem.

 

From reading posts on others issues am i best to not telephone and send letters?

 

If i dont hear from them by tomorrow with a favourable outcome then the car is getting mothballed and im going the auctions to buy a runaround until i can get this sorted.

 

If i pay them the £1000 tomorrow can they still take the car after agreeing to and taking my offer?

 

Its just if i pay them the £1000 and then they turn up trying to take it again i will end up arrested.

[Bookworm]

Not wanting to be rude, but do you actually read the answers posted?

 

I have told you not to phone them. There's a reason for that. You said you're rubbish at writing letters, so I wrote you one, all you have to do is put the correct date, address etc... What's the point of asking for our advice and help if you're just going to go off and do whatever?

 

Look, I've told you what to do and how to do it. If you don't want to follow it, that's your choice of course, but my understanding was that you were hoping to keep your car and keep the debt collectors off your back? :-?