Can a credit collector get a judgment on my car?

[southjoyz]

Jurisdiction

Connecticut

I was wondering if a credit card collection agency can get a judgment and have my automobile taken from me?

I'm assuming there are things that just cannot be taken away, and they are totally separate banks.

Long story short, ex girlfriend opened up a credit card from Apple made purchases in my name and I'm expected to pay for it. .... Which I'm not going to, a collection agency doesn't care about what happened.

Thank you in advance.

 

[zddoodah]

In the abstract it's possible, but enforcing a civil money judgment by levying on a motor vehicle or other tangible personal property is rarely practical. Of greater concern should be the impact that a judgment will have on your credit.

Obviously, if you get sued, you can raise what happened in defense. You reported your ex-girlfriend's crime to the police and have a copy of the police report, right?

 

[southjoyz]

In the abstract it's possible, but enforcing a civil money judgment by levying on a motor vehicle or other tangible personal property is rarely practical. Of greater concern should be the impact that a judgment will have on your credit.

Obviously, if you get sued, you can raise what happened in defense. You reported your ex-girlfriend's crime to the police and have a copy of the police report, right?

I have not reported to the police, I was not trying to get anybody arrested. ... I'm not sure but I don't think in Connecticut anyway, that a automobile can be taken and sold to pay for a judgment on a credit card. That was my main question.

 

[zddoodah]

I have not reported to the police, I was not trying to get anybody arrested.

If you get sued and defend on the ground that this was a debt incurred by an ex-girlfriend who made purchases in your name, it will seriously hurt your credibility if you haven't reported the matter to the police.

I'm not sure but I don't think in Connecticut anyway, that a automobile can be taken and sold to pay for a judgment on a credit card. That was my main question.

Up to $1,500 in equity in a motor vehicle is exempt from enforcement of an ordinary civil money judgment. If you have a vehicle with equity in excess of that amount, then it is fair game (but not the caveat mentioned in my prior response).

 

[southjoyz]

If you get sued and defend on the ground that this was a debt incurred by an ex-girlfriend who made purchases in your name, it will seriously hurt your credibility if you haven't reported the matter to the police.



Up to $1,500 in equity in a motor vehicle is exempt from enforcement of an ordinary civil money judgment. If you have a vehicle with equity in excess of that amount, then it is fair game (but not the caveat mentioned in my prior response).

I'm not sure I completely understand your answer, sorry about that..... I have an auto loan with Ford, it's a separate bank, but they can get a judgment on that ?

 

[army judge]

I'm not sure I completely understand your answer, sorry about that..... I have an auto loan with Ford, it's a separate bank, but they can get a judgment on that ?

If the vehicle has a lien on it, Ford Motor Credit, the credit collection vultures can't levy against it to sell it at auction.

You're not talking to a lawyer, just some person trying to get you to pay to supplement his $12/hour income with bonuses by scaring debtors into coughing up cash.

Even if the credit vultures want to levy against Ford's car, they'd have to sue you in court.

You'd have to served, a hearing held before only Ford Credit could take the car without going through the court process.

But, as discussed above, the credit vultures can drive your FICO down, destroying your ability to procure credit in the future, and even hurt your chances to get certain jobs.

 

[southjoyz]

If the vehicle has a lien on it, Ford Motor Credit, the credit collection vultures can't levy against it to sell it at auction.

You're not talking to a lawyer, just some person trying to get you to pay to supplement his $12/hour income with bonuses by scaring debtors into coughing up cash.

Even if the credit vultures want to levy against Ford's car, they'd have to sue you in court.

You'd have to served, a hearing held before only Ford Credit could take the car without going through the court process.

But, as discussed above, the credit vultures can drive your FICO down, destroying your ability to procure credit in the future, and even hurt your chances to get certain jobs.

Thank you for explaining it to me in plain English. LOL ... I really do appreciate it.
My score is around 720-ish, I don't think one Apple credit card will destroy my life, I just don't want to lose my automobile for basically no wrongdoing.

I just don't want to come out from work and find my car missing because of some credit card suing me. ... In this case Apple, it sounds like they're going to come after me and my name for a ex-girlfriend's doing.

The only other bit of information I was able to find was they can't come after you in Connecticut if you have one automobile, and I only have one automobile currently being financed.

It sounds like I should not need to worry about a car disappearing.

Thank you again for the help with this.

 

[army judge]

Thank you for explaining it to me in plain English. LOL ... I really do appreciate it.
My score is around 720-ish, I don't think one Apple credit card will destroy my life, I just don't want to lose my automobile for basically no wrongdoing.

I just don't want to come out from work and find my car missing because of some credit card suing me. ... In this case Apple, it sounds like they're going to come after me and my name for a ex-girlfriend's doing.

The only other bit of information I was able to find was they can't come after you in Connecticut if you have one automobile, and I only have one automobile currently being financed.

It sounds like I should not need to worry about a car disappearing.

Thank you again for the help with this.

It has taken decades of paying your debts on time to build your FICO to 720.

It takes but a few days to have some unscrupulous, petty debt collection vulture to drive that solid FICO down to 520.

You need to take some affirmative steps to protect your lifetime of hard work, mate.

 

[southjoyz]

It has taken decades of paying your debts on time to build your FICO to 720.

It takes but a few days to have some unscrupulous, petty debt collection vulture to drive that solid FICO down to 520.

You need to take some affirmative steps to protect your lifetime of hard work, mate.

My first step was breaking up with my ex-girlfriend. LOL

 

[army judge]

My first step was breaking up with my ex-girlfriend. LOL

Throwing out the garbage only reduces the foul odor.

If I were you, you need to address the vermin infestation, too.

 

[southjoyz]

Throwing out the garbage only reduces the foul odor.

If I were you, you need to address the vermin infestation, too.

I completely understand... I don't want to get her arrested though, it sure would be nice if you would pay me for the bill but I don't see that happening. .... If I have to go to court I will tell my story though.

Thank you again.

 

[zddoodah]

Up to $1,500 in equity in a motor vehicle is exempt from enforcement of an ordinary civil money judgment. If you have a vehicle with equity in excess of that amount, then it is fair game (but not the caveat mentioned in my prior response).

I'm not sure I completely understand your answer, sorry about that..... I have an auto loan with Ford, it's a separate bank, but they can get a judgment on that ?

You understand what equity is, right? It's the difference between an asset's value and the balance of any indebtedness secured by the asset. In the case of a car, it's the difference between the car's value and the unpaid balance of the loan. If you have a car that's fully paid off, then it's entire value is equity. If the car is worth $5,000, then you have $5,000 in equity, and your creditor could (in theory) levy on the car and have it sold at auction. I don't know the specifics of CT law on this subject, but generally, the starting bid would have to be at least $1,500 (the exemption amount) plus all costs of the levy and sale. If the same car is worth only $1,500, then it's fully exempt and can't be touched by an ordinary judgment creditor.

Now let's assume that the $5,000 car has a $3,500 loan balance. That leaves $1,500 in equity, which is the same as the exemption amount, so the car is untouchable. On the other hand, if the car is worth $20,000 and the loan balance is only $5,000, then there's $15,000 in equity, which is 10x the exemption amount. The existence of a loan does not, by itself, prevent a levy.

However, as I mentioned in my first response, levying on a car is a pain in the butt and requires payment of fairly significant expenses up front. Those expenses can be recovered, but vehicle levies are uncommon or rare unless it's known that the car has significant equity.

Make sense now?

 

[southjoyz]

You understand what equity is, right? It's the difference between an asset's value and the balance of any indebtedness secured by the asset. In the case of a car, it's the difference between the car's value and the unpaid balance of the loan. If you have a car that's fully paid off, then it's entire value is equity. If the car is worth $5,000, then you have $5,000 in equity, and your creditor could (in theory) levy on the car and have it sold at auction. I don't know the specifics of CT law on this subject, but generally, the starting bid would have to be at least $1,500 (the exemption amount) plus all costs of the levy and sale. If the same car is worth only $1,500, then it's fully exempt and can't be touched by an ordinary judgment creditor.

Now let's assume that the $5,000 car has a $3,500 loan balance. That leaves $1,500 in equity, which is the same as the exemption amount, so the car is untouchable. On the other hand, if the car is worth $20,000 and the loan balance is only $5,000, then there's $15,000 in equity, which is 10x the exemption amount. The existence of a loan does not, by itself, prevent a levy.

However, as I mentioned in my first response, levying on a car is a pain in the butt and requires payment of fairly significant expenses up front. Those expenses can be recovered, but vehicle levies are uncommon or rare unless it's known that the car has significant equity.

Make sense now?

I had to read it twice but it helps... LOL car is only six months old worth about $30,000 now that I drove it off of the lot, I owe a little less than that, it doesn't sound like they're going to come after my car

 

[southjoyz]

You understand what equity is, right? It's the difference between an asset's value and the balance of any indebtedness secured by the asset. In the case of a car, it's the difference between the car's value and the unpaid balance of the loan. If you have a car that's fully paid off, then it's entire value is equity. If the car is worth $5,000, then you have $5,000 in equity, and your creditor could (in theory) levy on the car and have it sold at auction. I don't know the specifics of CT law on this subject, but generally, the starting bid would have to be at least $1,500 (the exemption amount) plus all costs of the levy and sale. If the same car is worth only $1,500, then it's fully exempt and can't be touched by an ordinary judgment creditor.

Now let's assume that the $5,000 car has a $3,500 loan balance. That leaves $1,500 in equity, which is the same as the exemption amount, so the car is untouchable. On the other hand, if the car is worth $20,000 and the loan balance is only $5,000, then there's $15,000 in equity, which is 10x the exemption amount. The existence of a loan does not, by itself, prevent a levy.

However, as I mentioned in my first response, levying on a car is a pain in the butt and requires payment of fairly significant expenses up front. Those expenses can be recovered, but vehicle levies are uncommon or rare unless it's known that the car has significant equity.

Make sense now?

...ALSO, It sounds like they would have to notify me first I would think

 

[army judge]

...ALSO, It sounds like they would have to notify me first I would think

You and the lien holder, would need to be notified.
The matter would eventually end up in court.
Legally they couldn't snatch the car from a Kroger parking lot, which the lien holder could do if you were behind in your monthly payments.

As I speculated earlier, you were called by a $12/hour debt collector, whose job requires him to get debtors to send in cash to pay off old debts.

If the debt collector gets enough people to send in money each week, he or she gets a "spif" or bonus for their efforts.

You may have been bamboozled by your girlfriend, but not by a voice on the phone.

You began to question the process of levying against a motor vehicle.

As a previous poster said, levying against any asset to satisfy a debt is an arduous task at best.

To make the endeavor worthwhile, the THING you're trying to levy against must be of sufficient value to get the money owed.

If your car were a $600,000 Bentley, no court would force you to sell a vehicle for about $300,000 to satisfy a lousy $2,000 debt.

However, if you owned a Bentley, to avoid the ensuing difficulty, you might be motivated to settle with the collector to avoid a protracted court battle

You're right, the state laws across this land do offer protection of some assets from levy in the interest of not driving people into poverty and onto the streets.

If I were in your position, I'd pay off the debt.
If it hasn't dinged your 720, it soon will begin to tarnish it.

The rat is out of your life, you don't want to pursue her misdeeds with the police, but it is in your best interest LONG term to make this go away.

 

[southjoyz]

You and the lien holder, would need to be notified.
The matter would eventually end up in court.
Legally they couldn't snatch the car from a Kroger parking lot, which the lien holder could do if you were behind in your monthly payments.

As I speculated earlier, you were called by a $12/hour debt collector, whose job requires him to get debtors to send in cash to pay off old debts.

If the debt collector gets enough people to send in money each week, he or she gets a "spif" or bonus for their efforts.

You may have been bamboozled by your girlfriend, but not by a voice on the phone.

You began to question the process of levying against a motor vehicle.

As a previous poster said, levying against any asset to satisfy a debt is an arduous task at best.

To make the endeavor worthwhile, the THING you're trying to levy against must be of sufficient value to get the money owed.

If your car were a $600,000 Bentley, no court would force you to sell a vehicle for about $300,000 to satisfy a lousy $2,000 debt.

However, if you owned a Bentley, to avoid the ensuing difficulty, you might be motivated to settle with the collector to avoid a protracted court battle

You're right, the state laws across this land do offer protection of some assets from levy in the interest of not driving people into poverty and onto the streets.

If I were in your position, I'd pay off the debt.
If it hasn't dinged your 720, it soon will begin to tarnish it.

The rat is out of your life, you don't want to pursue her misdeeds with the police, but it is in your best interest LONG term to make this go away.

 

[southjoyz]

Thank you again for the help, I do have a hard time paying off this bill as I'm not made of money and it's legitimately not my bill. But that goes to deaf ears with a collection agency, like you said they just want somebody to send money.

But you're correct I can either ignore this or I can pay this and I'm not happy with either one at all.

One thing that really annoys the hell out of me is the fact that it goes to deaf years, this is legitimately not my bill and no one cares.

I'm just glad that they can't up and take a car from me.

And the only way I'll own a Bentley is with a Powerball LOL

Thanks again

 

[army judge]

One thing that really annoys the hell out of me is the fact that it goes to deaf years, this is legitimately not my bill and no one cares.

There is a way to open their ears to allow them to hear your story.
You were wronged by a thieving rat.
If you report the actions of the thieving rat to the police, obtain a police report, and allow the police to address the rat's misdeeds, things could change.

After filing the report with the police, contact the debt vulture, report your victimization and offer to send them PROOF (the police report).

USUALLY, the debt will be forgiven cleansing the erroneous information from your credit report.
The debt vulture will no longer hound you for a debt incurred by the paws of a rat thief.

You'll be listened to to and helped if you tell a truthful compelling story and provide proof.

After all, debt vultures hear all manner of sad, sob stories, most of them lies.

You, however, seem averse to causing trouble for the thieving rat, although it continues to wreak havoc upon your life and being.

There is a way out, mate, but you must choose whether you tread upon it.
Otherwise, the rat will continue to stomp all over you.