I took out a loan approx. 2 years ago for a 2000 Jetta. I did it for my oldest son's girlfriend Laurel. She co-signed for it and my ex-husband was a third signer. She has made most of the payments on the car. We filled in a few times when money was tight for them. She decided she wanted to sell the car to her dad (Steve Baca) for his friend (Susan Martin). On the 4th of Sept. Laurel got in a small car accident. Her dad came to the scene, took her to the hospital to make sure she was o.K. And such. They still wanted to purchase the car from her. The car was under my insurance. We filed a claim, got an estimate and got the check from my agent which was made out to myself and the auto repair shop.
We had a 500.00 deductable that at first Laurel's dad wanted her to take care of. Then he said that he would pay half, and finally verbally agreed to cover it all. Now, knowing his background and how his promises weren't always followed through on, I decided to hang on to the check until the purchase was made by them. The agreement was to meet them then at the auto repair place, me with the insurance check and them with a money order for the 500.00. Sounds simple, but I wanted to make sure that Laurel's interest along with mine was covered and that he wasn't going to stick us with the deductable. Laurel met them at the CU on the 27th of Sept. 05'.
She witnessed Susan taking out the loan. Signed papers, they told her what her monthly payment would be, set it up to be electronically deducted, told Laurel not to make her Sept. Payment because of the sale. Everyone shook hands. A done deal. The loan officer (Bill Meyers) tore a dmv bill of sale document out of a book he had, filled in the car info. And Susan Martins name and had Laurel and my son bring it to me to sign.
They met me at my place of work. I signed it, and Laurel signed it had took it right back to Bill. 2 days later on the 29th, the debt was zero'd out on my loan account (I can view it on the internet). I called my insurance agent on the 28th and had him cancel the insurance on the car which was in effect at 12:01am on the 29th. A week later, Laurel calls me and tells me that Bill called her and told her that the loan hadn't gone through and that the debt. Was going to "fall back in my lap" if I didn't produce the insurance check. I called Bill the next day and asked him about it.
Now mind you this is the first time I've talked to anyone besides Laurel about the sale at all. He tells me that there was never a signed loan. I disagreed with him and told him there had to be, or why else would my loan account be closed, and why would he have had Laurel bring me a bill of sale with Susan Martin's name on it? He then stated that Susan Martin didn't have a loan. That Steve Baca did, and that he hadn't signed it yet. After questioning him more, he admitted that he'd made a mistake. He didn't go into what that mistake was. I didn't understand that at all. I called his supervisor immediately (Sally). She wasn't up on what was happening. She did tell me that she was looking at the file, and at the hard copy of the bill of sale and it was made out to a Steve Baca with my and Laurel's signatures below. I was so upset. They altered the document. Sally told me that she needed to do some checking and would call me back before the end of the day. She called me back and told me that Susan Martins loan had been "retracted", not non-existent like Bill eluded to, and that the loan was in Steve Baca's name, but that he had not signed it.
She also said that the debt was going to go back on me and I told her that they could not do that. That the car was sold. And that they had changed the bill of sale. She then told me that her superior (Eldon) had told her to tell me that he wanted the car brought in by 5pm that night with the insurance check. I asked if my loan account was still going to be at zero, and she said no. I asked to talk to Eldon. He picked up the phone and told me that he was going to repossess the car because he felt like it was going to go into default. I told him it wasn't my car. He could repossess it if he wanted, but not from me. He asked me why the buyers didn't have it in their possession. I told him, I haven't talked to anyone. Call them. Ask them. He said they were going to send someone out for the car, that they would have my insurance co. Reissue them a check, that they would repair the car and sell it to Steve Baca. We hung up.
I'm not sure how, but they got ahold of my exhusband (Richard) and told him that all of our credit ratings were at risk if they didn't get that car right into them. They told him that if they brought the car in, that there would be no repossession papers sent either. He panicked at those threats and made Laurel take the car to the CU. When they got there, Richard asked the collector person (Carolyn) why he or I hadn't been notified that the loan hadn't gone through in the first place. She told them that she had called both Susan Martin and I 30 minutes after the loan was signed for to let us know that it hadn't been approved. She said that she told me numerous times and wasn't going to tell me again. She also told Richard that both Steve Baca and I had been at the CU that morning. Not true. I have never talked to this woman.
They then made Laurel make her Sept. Payment telling her that she still owned the car. The payment was made and it was deposited into my savings account, because there was no loan account to pay into. Laurel asked for documentation proving that she still owned the car, and they gave her a copy of the original loan advance voucher. It has a paid stamp on it with the date of 9/27 in the middle of it. Below that is written title to account # 9107. Then off to the side it's scribbled stamped in error, the same date with 1 person's signature. Even though she supposedly "owned" the car they still kept it there, but they didn't lock it up where the repossessed vehicles are. They kept it right out front where the customer's park. I called my insurance co. The next day and was told that they had received a repossession certificate with a cover letter from Carolyn. With everything that was going on, I consulted with my father about the situation. I knew that I was being strong armed by these people. It is so obvious.
I borrowed the money from him and went ahead and cashed the car out. To not put all three of our credit at risk. Then to go back and address the wrongs that they have committed. That's where I'm at now. I did not pay my loan off. I paid someone else's loan off. They gave me a handwritten blank stub with my loan account written on it for a receipt for the payoff. Sally did not date the title. I'm sure because she didn't know what date to write on it! If an audit is done, all of this will show up. They have tried very hard to cover up what they've done and I intend to bring everything out into the open.
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