Wow. I am making progress in an unexpected way. Remember when I mentioned my neighbor asking about buying my old car (even though it is a piece of junk) and how I was not sure where I stood with it financially. Well one of the wise members here suggested I get a report to find out if the lien holder is even still listed. I did that (and it cost me $3 *eye roll*) and it turns out the lien holder is still on there. I had no interest in trying to deal with them so I decided to get some legal advice on what my options were. I really just want to be done with the matter and am happy to make payment arrangements if that is necessary.
I am not exactly in the know when it comes to lawyers so I used the Employee Assistance Program at work to ask for a referral. That turned out to be a wonderful idea because they connected me to a firm that specializes in debts and collections and told me I can have as many consultations as I need on any number of matters for free. Yep FREE! Can you believe that?! If I ended up needing an attorney to represent me they could provide that for a fee, but I was hoping not to get to that point.
The experience was actually quite pleasant despite how embarrassing it was to explain why I wound up with an unpaid and now non operational vehicle. After all of that I was given surprising news. Apparently it is past the statute of limitations to collect on this debt, which is why it is no longer showing up on my credit reports (I just thought they made a mistake lol) and why I was sent cancelled debt forms to file with my taxes a few years ago. Basically the cancelled debt forms were the lien holder’s way of settling their books since they cannot pursue me any further. This also means that the vehicle is the lien holder’s property because they possess the title and they will take possession of it if I call them and tell them where it is. Apparently this will happen fairly quickly because they will not want the city to tow it and have to deal with impound fees or whatever.
I will admit I was stunned by this information and did not do anything for a week or so. A part of me was relieved that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but another part of me feels bad about not paying like I intended to. I did not want to be in this situation and I certainly was not looking for an easy way out. I have more than learned from this experience however, and am doing everything I can to never be in this situation again. Continuing to stall does not change anything so today I placed the call to the lien holder. I did not identify myself or provide my contact information, but gave them the vehicle’s identifying information and location. I even told them that it will require towing, how nice of me right? That was also a pleasant call despite the circumstances. Now I just have to wait and see how long this all takes. The firm told me to contact them immediately if I have any hassles from them, but hopefully it will not come to that.
Cheerio Crappy Car?
May 22nd, 2015 at 11:42 pm
May 23rd, 2015 at 12:29 am 1432340953
May 23rd, 2015 at 06:01 am 1432360899
What will you tackle next? What techniques are you finding effective to reduce expenses?
May 23rd, 2015 at 01:31 pm 1432387917
May 23rd, 2015 at 01:32 pm 1432387951
May 23rd, 2015 at 01:59 pm 1432389540
I also did not know there was a statute of limitations for vehicle loans. Had I known that I would have done this when the car became non operational 2 years ago! I will officially cross it off my sidebar when the vehicle is gone just in case some weird issue comes up, but yes it does feel good to be able to move on from this even if it was not the way I planned.
As for reducing expenses and what else I am working on, I will do a separate post about that.