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My last car payment was in 2006. My coupon book had run out long ago. I got a letter from Chase Bank that my final payment would be the following month (which I knew) and that I owed them $3500 (which was a shock). I paid it. 2 months later, with no title, they started to call saying I owed them $4500. The could explain why and did not care to. I asked for docs and all they sent was the 60 month pay schedule. Nothing on payments received, etc. After 4 months of harassment and repo threats, I sold the car to Carmax. But Chase refused if the money was not in their hands by 5pm. This is when I knew for sure I never owed any of the money. I just kept the car, but have now learned there is a lien. I want to remove the lien, but not stir the pot and have the harassment begin again.
Optional Information: State/Country relating to question: Georgia Already Tried: Being reasonable
The terms of the loan are stated in your loan agreement with Chase. If you believe that Chase made a mistake in calculating the amount owed under the terms of the loan, you can file a complaint with the Comptroller of the Currency - Administrator of National Banks at their website, here:http://www.helpwithmybank.gov/complaints/index-file-a-bank-complaint.htmlThese complaints are done online and at no charge. The Comptroller will instruct Chase to resolve the issue with you or justify their position. Either way would be an improvement from the position you're in now as you would either have the issue resolved or have an explanation and/or records as to why you supposedly owe the money.You could also bring the matter to court for a "declaratory judgment," where you would ask a judge to determine the rights of the parties under the loan agreement considering the evidence shown by the parties. You would probably need to hire an attorney to effectively do this. For this reason, I would start with the Comptroller complaint, and once you have a response you will have more information which would help you decide what to do from there. If you found my answer helpful, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button to accept my answer (even if you have a subscription). This is necessary for me to be paid for my work and so that I can get credit for assisting you. Your question will not close, and you will still have the opportunity to follow-up if needed. Leaving positive feedback is not required, but doing so is certainly appreciated! Please consider that I am answering the question or question that is posed in your posting based upon my reading of your post and sometimes misunderstandings can occur. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. Also, remember that sometimes the law does not support what we want it to support, but that is not the fault of the person answering the question, so please be courteous.If you would ever like me to address another question in the future, you can request me on this site by beginning your question with “For CounselorJim…” Good luck and thank you, Jim.
I'm sure by now chase has sold this debt to someone else does that matter?
If that's the case, you could file a complaint against the lien holder with the Georgia Governor's Office of Consumer Protection. This office handles consumer complaints much the same way as the US Comptroller's Office handles complaints for National Banks. You can find information about filing a complaint at this site, and a link the office's online complaint form is available at the bottom of the webpage:http://consumer.georgia.gov/consumer-topics/filing-a-complaintThis would put you back in contact with the debt collector, if the debt collector has unwanted contact with you concerning seeking payment of the debt, you can send the debt collector notice that you wish the collector to cease communication with you under Section 805 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the FDCPA, located here:http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdfIf you don't believe that you owe the money on the car under the terms of your agreement with Chase, then you could also challenge the lien in court.
Of the possibities you suggested, challenging the lien in court seems to be the fastest and most certain avenue for getting my title. How do I do that? Would I want to hire a consumer attorney, or is it a basic filing without needing to know specific consumer law? How do I find out who holds the lien?
Let's face it. It seems beyond my comprehension how they could possibly produce any documentation that I owe them money. The loan did not have a balloon payment. I was expecting the final payment to be the amount of a normal monthly payment, or less. No late fees or deferred payments, etc. could possibly amount to $8,000. Plus, they sent a letter stating I owed $3,500 as a final payment, which they confirmed they received. How can they then try to shake me down for another $4,500? Plus, they turned down that amount when it was going to be sent to them directly from CarMax.
I do not have the letter stating the amount of my final payment was $3,500. But I do have the cancelled check.
Thank you so much for your help.
P.S. Just for more background: When they started calling saying I owed them another $4,500 (again for reasons they could not and would not explain) I was scared. I didn't want my car repossessed. So, I asked them to send me documentation of why I owed more money (which they didn't). And I offered that in the meantime, I would resume my monthly car payments of $750, until the money was paid, or otherwise resolved. They agreed to that arrangement. After 2 months, some new guy started calling & said the monthly arrangement was not going to fly. He wanted the full amount now. That's when I sold the car to CarMAx, which the lender rejected payment. By the way, the amount owed was still around $4,500. If anything, it went up a few hundred dollars, not down the $1,500 I had sent over two months.
At this point, I feel I have gotten my monies-worth out of the car. I could just continue to hang on to it until it completely falls apart. But I don't know that you can even dispose of a car if you don't have the title. It is still worth about $4,000 on a trade. Why should I give that up? I really don't have the extra parking space. Nor do I really want to pay insurance and maintenance on a car that's just in the way.
It does sound like the $3,500 payment was never applied to your account if you were billed $4,500 shortly afterwards.I'm going to opt-out and let another expert answer your question. It has been 6 years since you made your last payment on the loan, and that may complicate the issue. I'm not sure, and don't want to give you an answer that I don't feel solid about. I saw you just added some more information, and may be that will help. I sent a message to another expert, and hopefully this expert is available and can get back to you soon.Thank you, Jim.
They did apply the approximately $3,500 payment. The first person to deal with me on the additional $4,500 (approx.) confirmed it was received. I will never forget. Because I could not tell her off the top of my head (during our phone conversation) that the amount was exactly $3,672.46 (or whatever the exact amount) she said: "Well, since you don't know the amount, you obviously didn't pay it. So I suggest we find out who sent the check and return their money to them."
These are the people with whom I was dealing. So hardcore collection, I didn't think they could really be with Chase Bank. But I asked, and she said she was with Chase. I'm still not sure.
The $3,500 never made sense. The additional $4,500 made even less sense. Refusing the installments after I made the first two. Turning down a full pay-off when on the phone with CarMax. They turned down CarMax because they said they were going to escalate the case if the money was not received by 5pm that day (2 hours later). The CarMax rep said he had worked there for 10 years and never dealt with anyone so ridiculous. That was June 2007, and I just stopped trying to deal with them after that day at CarMax. It sounds unbelievable, but it's all true.
I am sorry, it appears your previous expert has opted out. To answer your question, it is going to be more expedient to hire a local consumer protection attorney to file a petition to remove an invalid lien and you can seek any actual damages you have incurred based on them having this invalid lien on the vehicle. The bank would have to produce a payment record showing payments you made on the car and you would have to present your payment records, which means you have to do some digging to pull up your records of your payments. If you prove their lien was invalid, you could collect any damages from the bank that you suffered as a result of their invalid lien. Upon proving that you have made the payments required by the loan contract, the court will remove the lien from the title.
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