Re-possession

[QUOTE=comfortablynumb]Just once I'l like to see someone actually do it. there is a long list of people in th world you cannot threaten with a gun, and a repo man is one of them. They are not criminals or intent on harming you or your property. point a gun at them, and you are the aggressor, trespassing issue or no. Besides if you now its a repos man, and you point a gun at them, this sorta kinda makes you an aggressive moron.




Several years ago in Houston, Tx., a repo man was shot and killed while repoing a car. Homeowner came out of the house as the repo man was driving off. The homeowner shot through the repo man's truck and killed him. The D.A. didn't press charges. Here in Tx., you can use deadly force to protect your property "at night."


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[QUOTE=comfortablynumb]Just once I'l like to see someone actually do it. there is a long list of people in th world you cannot threaten with a gun, and a repo man is one of them.
You act as though the repo man is special. He is not special and can not be compared to the police or feds. You cant point a gun at them but YOU CAN point one at a repo man. You cant shoot him but you can point a gun and say leave my property now. Repo man sees a gun or a big dog. They leave. Thats probably why those people put their dogs in the car, so the repo man wouldnt take it. I have heard both of those stories about the dogs. At the company we worked for there were thieves that worked there too. They would steal personal property out of cars. I didnt see them but I know they did it. I cleaned out a car once. (you have to list every item in the car and bag it) I found a back pack in the trunk with over $3000 in it. I put it on the list and gave it to the girl in the front office and said dont let this leave your sight until they come for their things. They said it was their tax money. who knows... I would have never put my tax money in the trunk of my car.

BUT THE REAL ISSUE HERE IS... the repo man did trespass. Remember they didnt get the truck from the son's property. They got it from mom's. Mom told them to leave. In Ky if a land owner tells you to leave you better leave. It is trespassing.
Oh and one more thing.... we were told once to repo a car that the man only owed $42 on. We told the man what the bank was doing and we did not take it. Come on... $42 thats just stupid.
spam4einstein... I hope your comment was a in general most repo people are trash and that not all are. Thats how I want to see it. My husband and I are well dressed, clean cut, dont even smoke cigs. My husband wanted to do this because he saw a show on tv called repo men. So he did. It was a while before I joined him and I only did it for 4 months. I have worked for finance companies as the collection mgr. And had to visit people then to collect money. I am one of those who if I feel like someone is really telling the truth about their situtation I will give them time or let them slide a little. but most of my bosses were horrible. So no, not all of repo people are yucky. But I will agree most are.

That's right, because what they're doing is completely legal. If you they're bad, you should tangle with a bounty hunter some time.

I did not miss payments, it was my son. He had just come over for help figuring out what to do. Neither myself nor my son had any intention of not turning over the truck to the bank. I did not know of his trouble as he was at the moment of the repo guys showing up talking to mom about his screw up. Had the bank called me about the situation I would have tried to work out a plan, but If they had said it was too late and the were taking the truck back, I would have driven to them. My son had the same take on it. He in no way was trying to hide and keep the truck them from finding it. He had just screwed up.

All I wanted was for the repo guys to identify themselves and show me the paperwork so I knew they were on my property legally. I would have never resisted the repo of the truck as I fully understand the bank had all rights to come get the truck.

Oh, wow, all these bad people didn't make nice and let you control them???

If all you were concerned about is whether or not they were there legally, go call 911 and let the cops sort it out.

I am constantly amazed by human beings. When we make contracts and the other guy welshes on it, we want all the rights in the world. When the shoe is on the other foot, we cry foul.

Truth be told, you know your son broke a contract, you know the truck should go back, and you know repo men don't give a fig about anybody's feelings. You are angry, but it isn't going to accomplish anything except run up YOUR bloodpressure. Let it go.

Legally I believe this comes under "self help" - like you can step into someone's yard to retrieve your frisbee - there is a technical tresspass, but the "self help" trumps the tresspass unless the landowner objects. If the landowner objects you may get into a breach of the peace which then trumps the "self help".
Under "self help" the owner of the vehicle (the bank) has the right to repossess their property without a court order (some states may not allow this, but I believe Alaska does) provided they do not cause a breach of the peace. In order for your objection to his trespass to become his breach of the peace he would have to have threatened you over your refusal to let him take the vehicle. It seems things did not reach that level and so there is nothing the police can do.
I still think there is the question of how you were supposed to know these were repo men and not car thieves, but maybe someone else has the answer to that.

[QUOTE=dragonfly1113]




Yes, Most...not all.

Never had to worry about a repo man... Back when I was younger, I ran out of money, and knew I wouldn't be able to make payments.... I went to the loan officer, and they simply let me skip the payments, add them on to the end of the loan, with the added interest... No real penalty, just 15 or 20 extra bucks in interest.

don't know if they still do this or not... but I'd dang sure talk to my banker before risking a repo....

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On above, bear in mind your local bank may not be able to help you. Common today, at least for mortgages, for it to be sold, sometimes several times, to others.

Do not call 911 for such situations. TRUE EMERGENCIES ONLY. Folks to call would have been whoever has responsibility for your area. In this case, perhaps county sheriff's office.

Also on comments above, the courts have given folks like this, especially bounty hunters, far more leeway in what they are allowed to get away with.

The Trooper was wrong and I'm not surprised. The repo guys were wrong to not show proof of a repo order and I'm not surprised. You and I are probably a lot alike in that we don't like to bother the cops over little things and it sure sucks but maybe now you'll know that this is a good time to dial the local cops and get them out there ASAP. MOST cops would make them show a legal order for removal and then let them do what they were doin' (which is what you said you would have done if they had just shown you proof). For all you knew they were stealing the truck, not repossessing it! You had every right to demand proof of a repo order and their identification. Of course we all know that reality and what "should be" rarely coincide, especially out here in the Alaskan "back woods". *sigh*

Sorry you had to go through that. Always seems the people actually TRYING to live an honest life, even if they have a difficulty here and there, get walked all over while the scum of the earth do the walking.

Let me see... person gets a loan for vehicle. The person fails to make the payments. They do not contact the bank about not paying for the vehicle. It appears they hide the vehicle thus causing it to be repoed at location other than their own home. So the bank is forced to hire someone to take their property back so they can resell it at auction and try to recoop some of their losses. And the villians, the scum of the earth, the bad guys in this story are the repo men? What a warped vision. If it makes you feel better to blame a couple guys who have nothing to do with the fact that payments were not being made as agreed, then go ahead. Oh my, they came on your property to take back something that you not paying for. Yup, trespassers are so much worse that people who take things and don't pay for them. It's a tough job, it takes tough people. Maybe if people did not feel the need to violently defend stuff that they have chosen not to pay for anymore, they would be a lot nicer.

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One time when my husband and I were repoing we were in the process of stealing a car. It was in the middle of the night. We had keys, got in and I went to crank the car and it was dead. So very quietly we jumped the car off and I got it into the street as fast as possible and then it died and would not start. The people came outside and said they were going to call the cops. We said go ahead, its in the street and now it is ours. So he called the sheriff and when he got there the sheriff was like "hey jim how ya doing" so we knew this would not go well. The sheriff told my husband he was a common theif and deserved to be shot. But let us take the car because it was in the street. Later the people we worked for had all the employees go to a certification seminar and thats where we learned that if it is not a peaceful repo then you have to walk away. So even the cops are not up to date on the laws. Cops called = not peaceful. By the way, we had just repoed another one of their cars the night before.

You dont know the situation. When a repo man came to my house one day I was in lots of conact with my loan company. It was a strong arm tactic so I would have no recourse in my dispute with them.

The same is true for SC. If someone came into my yard and started to take something, they had better answer my questions to my satisfaction. It is common courtesy to knock on the door and tell the people what you are doing, especially if it is at another address. If someone did that to me,at the very least, the cops would pick him up. I dont suggest any one to try that at my house. You wont win. Property rights dont count anymore? Looks like communism is here to stay.

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"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, act alone, design a building, write a sonnet,fight efficiently and die gallantly."- R. A. Heinlein

"In contact with" does not mean you have paid and you are in default. And that is the bottom line here. When you do not follow thru on your contractual agreements, you have to accept the consequences of these actions. And regardless, the decision was not the repo mans. He works for the loan holder and the loan holder made the decision. Your fight should have been with the bank. He's just a guy doing a job made tougher by you taking out your anger with the bank on him.

Everyone keeps saying the same thing - it's on my private property so you cannot touch it. Why, I'll shoot the sob who trespasses and tries to take my stuff, and so on. Why do you think these guys have to sneak onto your property in the first place. Because people shoot at them people refuse to surrender property, people hide the vehicles. Your argument is that you can keep what is not yours as long as you keep it in your yard or locked in your garage. Nice morals. Keeping what you have not paid for and refusing to give it back when the owner comes looking for it is still called stealing no matter how much you try to smoke screen it with trespassing arguments.

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Ultra Lord is not afraid of chickens!

As I posted elsewhere - if he came onto the property without a warrant or refused to show a proper order and identification, he was trespassing and must leave. I don't care who he is - if he failed to identify himself as a police officer, repo man, whatever, he should first be asked to leave and if he then refuses, he would at least be escorted off by law enforcement.

In my state (same as the OP's), we have the right to use deadly force to protect our family, and in some cases, our possessions (but when people actually invoke this right and shoot someone, they typically have to go to trial and that is NO FUN. Locally we had a church pastor shoot a couple of would-be robbers in his church one late night after apparently having lots of trouble. I think he got a "not guilty" finding but there were lots of questions - timing of 9-1-1 call and people shot in the back, etc.).

The OP said she would have let them take the truck peacefully if they had only proven their identity and order to repo the truck. Sounds reasonable to me. I'd file a complaint against the repo company - you can get that info from the bank. Get his license or bond or something taken away. At least teach him a lesson - for his safety too!

This is a big scam too - people find out you aren't making your payments or that the actual truck owner is not on-site and you look like an easy mark so they come up and start taking the truck. OR, they know their competitor got the job to remove the truck but they want to "steal the job" so they move in before the other guy can carry out the order.

You would be a MORON NOT to question ANY unidentified person on your property. What if they were not really the repo man and you hadn't asked for proof? The truck would be gone, figuring that it's gone so you don't have to pay anymore you'd stop paying, meanwhile the bank has neither the truck nor the payments and they get REALLY ----ed when they can't find the collateral.

Edited to add: VERY glad that I've never had a repo situation. And since when did the first word of PO'ed (spelled out) become profane language? *sigh*

The kind that doesn't know repo is coming (say wife driving husband's truck and husband is not telling her he's 3 months behind in payments...) or the kind that cares less about their pets than about potentially scaring off the repo guy.

If Im bickering with my finance company over $50 they were supposed to credit me and it got to the point where I owed $250 in back payments over this time. (that was my case) Then they try and cost me $800 by atempting to reposess. I dont think that company diserves the respect you claim it does. Yes, company had the legal ability to do this. Dosnt me it was respectible buisness practice! Their principal was already paid and more, I only owed $500 total, so I just paid the car off rather than be extorted and ended up being robbed $50 by the bank.
The same kind of thing happens in the legal system all the time! Attempt to cost someone more than its worth defending so they settle. Is it right.........NO! But it is how sleazy folks get things done!
In my case we arent taking about some debtor who is trying to steal someone elses property like some people who finance and dont pay. Principal balance had long ago been paid and we were aguing about a few dollars...when they pulled their trump card that was way out of line!

Ive read this for the umpteenth time and if you are behind on your car/truck payments you know very well what that tow truck is doing in your driveway. Blow all the Bs smoke you like, you KNOW why they are there.

I'll grant you a few cases are weird and they repo for questionable reasons BUT OVERALL you know very well why the towtruck is there.
and you know, they are not after your daughter or wife.

If they wont talk to you, yes, of course then you call the po po, or protect your property... most sane repo men will show you the paperwork rather than get shot.

So if you pop them in your driveway, I hope I am in the jury to vote to grease the rope for you [you in general, who agree with this position].

I had some idiot wink wink nudge nudge >expose his sidearm< and kinda sorta imply he would shoot me IF....

listen well... if you miss more than one car payment, expect the repo man to come get the car. chaining dogs to it or hiding it or playing tag with the banks means one of 2 things... your stupid, or you are "trash". Missing payments means the collateral [the vehicle] is going to be repossessed. it isnt a shock or you wouldnt be so creative in playing tag with the repo man.

the OP's son did the right thing and peacefully handed over the keys. and YES! the repo men should have been a little more.... professional.

for the most part, you dont have to wonder why there is a guy trying to tow your car. You missed payments it isnt a mystery. Wave to the nice man and deal with it.

dure they have to show you the paperwork... yes they have to be professional. No excuse for them being butt heads.
it's not really an excuse for you to go apepoop when you know in the back of your skull... you are behind in the payments.

So you can shoot them in texas... goodie for you. Shoot them in full knowledge who they are and why they are there, with the excuse "I cans cuz the texas law sez I cans (spit)" and you are just a common thug murderer. Daance and fuss all you like, when you know who they are, why they are there and that they are not there to shoot you to take the truck... and you kill them... cuz texazz sex ya can....

I'm real impressed..... whooo eee.

try putting all that energy into picking up pop cans and pay for your friggin car.