Advice on Motorcycle Repossession - The Bills.com Blog

I bought a motorcycle in June 08 and financed it. I made payments until September and stopped making payments because I could no longer afford it. I am 22 years old with very little credit and a college senior graduating this May 09. This was the first purchase I made on credit. Before this I didn't even have a credit card. With a busy and hefty schedule during my fall semester I couldnt work anymore and that was the reason why I couldn't make the payments. Bill collectors called me everyday and the last payment I made was a $100 dollar payment in December 08 which I payed through the bill collector. That wasnt enough to cover my minumum payment which is around $1,500 today (2/10/09) but I figured it would be better than nothing. 3 days ago I got a letter in the mail stating that my bike is out for repossesion. I have a job now and I'm in a better position to make payments. Can I keep my motorcycle and start making payments? What is this going to do to my credit? What is the best thing for me to do?

You want to try and avoid having the motorcycle repossessed as a repossession will hurt your credit for a long time (up to 10 years). You will need to speak with the lender and assure them that you will get up to date with the payments, only then will they not repossess it. Keep in mind that once you default on the loan, they have full rights to repossess it, even if you get back on track with your payments. If it is possible for you to borrow from other sources, you should even look at paying the loan off so that you may avoid a repossession.

I Co-signed with my son for a 4 wheeler. About 2 years later he went back and bought a motorcycle. What I didn't know was that it went on what they called a revolving credit card with HSBC from the original purchase. They repossessed the bike, I paid the 4 wheeler off. Since I didn't know about the bike or agree to it am I responsible?

Your liability for any debt remaining after the foreclosure sale of the motorcycle will primarily depend on terms of the account you opened with your son when he made the initial purchase of the 4-wheeler. If the loan was a standard secured purchase loan, then your liability should end with the purchase for which you cosigned (the 4-wheeler). However, if the agreement you signed created an open-ended credit account with your and your son's names listed as account-holders, then you may be liable for any charged incurred by your son, including the motorcycle--ike any joint credit card account, one account holder can incur new debt without the express permission of the other. The key here is to obtain a copy of the original credit agreement (the lender should be able to provide you with one if you do not have one) and consult with an attorney to help determine the best way to proceed.

My daughter bought a motorcycle last year (a 2005 model) and did not want to keep it. She placed an ad on Craigslist and received an offer from a young man out of state who said he couldn't get a loan in his name, asked her if he could take over payments and they agreed. He paid the payments sporadically from November 2008-March 2009 but since then has been late a few times and now owes for May and June 2009. The Credit Union who has the loan in my daughter's name has now deducted a payment from her account. She wants to repossess the motorcycle. Her name is still on the title along with the debtor. What are her rights?

The details of repossession vary by state, and the fact that your daughter is dealing with an out-of-state debtor may complicate the steps she needs to take for repossession further. As a long-time motorcycle owner, I know bikes can deteriorate rapidly if not cared for, and if the debtor does not have enough money to make the payments he may not be paying for routine maintenance either. First, you daughter needs to have a heart-to-heart with the debtor and let him know his missing payments is hurting her financially, and if he keeps missing payments she'll have to take the bike back. If the payments don't become regular, your daughter needs to talk to an attorney in your state who deals with contracts issues (it would be even better if you could find one who deals with a branch of the law called "remedies") to learn what steps she needs to take to get the bike repossessed in the debtor's state.

I am in Georgia and purchased an ATV in February. I put down a cash down payment of $920 and financed the rest. I received a receipt for my down payment, a bill of sale, and have the financing documents that I signed. I left with the ATV that day. The bank called me to verify my signature on the documents, so I confirmed it. The dealership called me a couple of days later and said that they left something off of the document that the bank needed the original for, so I went back in and resigned the document less than a week later. The bank called again to verify my signature, which I thought was weird since it was the same signature as the first. I couldn't get in touch with the person at the bank, and thought it was taken care of when they didn't call me back. A month later the dealership calls me and tells me that I have to come back in and redo everything because it had been so long and the bank wouldn't take the original documents anymore. I had already been by there twice and returned many calls, I didn't think it was my responsibility to go by the dealership again when I had done more than my part. After a few attempts of theirs to get me to come in, they stopped calling. In my opinion, someone at the dealership messed up and they realized that the bank wasn't going to pay them. A month or so ago, I received a "Thank you for your purchase" letter from the dealership, so I thought everything was okay. Today I received a letter from a lawyer working for the dealership who attained a repossession letter from my county's court. The letter states that I didn't pay "any sums whatsoever" for the ATV and that I must return it with 10 days of the letter (which has already passed) or they will request a warrant for my arrest. My question is, Can they do that if I have a bill of sale, receipt for my down payment, and the financing documents that were signed before the dealership allowed me to leave with the ATV? Also, if I didn't legally purchase the ATV, why did they send me a thank you letter? Is this something I can fight and win? Should I ignore it until I receive something from the court or actually get served with a warrant? Or should I contact the courthouse that issued the repossession notice? I wasn't served with this letter, it was just mailed to my PO Box by standard mail.

You really, really need to retain an attorney experienced in consumer law regarding this matter as soon as possible. Do it now, today, pronto. Bring all of your documentation regarding the sale to your meeting, and make sure you underline the repossession threat. A repossession is a bad mark on your credit report that does not seem justified here, and is easily avoided by clearing up the confusion regarding the lost or incomplete financing paperwork. Be sure that your attorney makes extra copies of your original financing agreement. It seems odd to me that the dealership would lose such vital documents. I'm suspicious they may have been trying to change the terms in the later documents, and were hoping to slip them by you, and somehow screwed up their attempts at a fast one. Please return here and let us know how you resolve this situation.

please help, ibought a yamaha r6 from a guy who says he paid off the bike. when he went to try and get the title the bank(hsbc)told him they would not release the title because he owed like 4000 on a hsbc issued credit card and if he didnt pay the credit card that they could repo the bike.

Get your money back. Unless the seller discloses this in advance to the contrary, it is generally expected that a vehicle is sold with a clean title. Here, seller is trying to sell a vehicle with a lien attached to the title. If the seller can't provide a clean title, then you can rescind the sale without penalty.