is this theft

[oldgoat]

a friend of mine has 2 bikes. one paid for a 1988 goldwing. the other a 92 venture. now the loan company sent a repo man to the house. and his daughter of 21 was the only one home as hes in florida trying to get a job. the repo man said they where there to pick up one motorcycle. being as he took the venture with him about a month ago to florida. the only bike in there was the honda the repo man pushed the honda out of the garage. up on a flat bed truck tied it down and off he went with the honda. i told shelly his daughter to call the cops but she afraid that her dad will yell at her. i cant reach him . who knows where this bike went? the so called repo man gave a yellow paper for her to call the bank and they will inform her how to get the bike back?

[Jerry W]

Found this on the internent in about 10 seconds.

 

The auto repossession process usually goes like this . . .

1. You receive a late payment warning by mail; (but not always as there is no law that requires this. Only if the credit contract says so, is the lender required to notify you in writing)
   
2. You receive a follow up call to the above warning;
   
3. You pass some predetermined grace period (look in your credit disclosure statement for the appropriate number of days)
   
4. You may receive one more warning (usually by mail)
   
5. You discover your car missing from your home, work, or even at the mall. (Repo experts usually cruise by your home and work and even look for your daily habits to determine when and where would be the best place to repossess your car )
   
6. You receive a notice that your car has been repossessed and what your rights are including how to get it back.
   
7. If you can figure out a way to pay, you'll have to pay the repossession fees, towing charges, impound charges, storage fees and various other fees incurred by the company that repossessed the car. This can easily run several hundred dollars.
   
8. If you cannot pay the repo fees, you'll lose the car completely! It's sold at auction and the proceeds are applied to the balance of your auto loan and the fees mentioned above. If the balance is not paid off you'll be informed of the balance and that you are still responsible for paying it off. If there is money left over after the car loan balance and all repossession fees are paid, don't expect to get any of the profit; the company can legally keep it.
   
9. Your credit report is updated to reflect the account as a "repossession"
   

Keep in mind that repo experts cannot violate any laws during a repossession procedure. In other words they cannot enter a closed garage to repossess your vehicle. They can take a car sitting in your driveway.

[KarlS]

Just called a friend of mine who does repos. Here in Michigan anyway (he believes all states) they are only allowed to take the vehicle or vehicles that has a lean against them for that loan only. They could only take the Wing if it was used as collateral for that loan. And he said they always know what make, type and serial number of the vehicle they are picking up.

[Shamue]

It's a theft if the bike taken was not used as collateral for the loan on the Venture.

She needs to call the Police and report what happened. The Police will not persue criminal charges if the bike is returned but need too have this documented. There maybe an opportunity for the friend to pressure the the loan company to back off awhile since their agent the repo man stole his property. These things can be quite up setting and stressful. An attorney might be able to do wonders with this in a civil suit.$$ It wouldn't bring alot of $ but could help in srinking his loan.

[Yammer Dan]

Call a Cop. Find some damage on the bike and charge them!!! It could always use a paint job!!!

[BoomerCPO]

If the paperwork the Repo guy gave to the daughter matches up with the bike taken then the Repo guy has broken no law.

 

Having said that I will also add that IF the daughter OPENED the Garage door to allow the Repo guy to access the motorcycle then she truly did make a mistake. Can't put a lot of blame on her tho because how many 18 year old girls know anything about the laws pertaining to the Repo business??

 

Boomer.....who would have gotten the Repo guy drunk enuff to lose all de paperwork,stolen and sold HIS rig, and the scoot would still be in de stable.

[oldgoat]

well just got a hold of him. he states that he has no lean on the wing. its out right paid for. he took the venture down to florida with permission? he is 2 months behind on the venture. no notice of a repo was sent. his intentions was to sell a 1986 ford f150 4x4 truck he took to florida. which he did. he sent off a bank transfer for 2 grand to the bank that owns the title to the venture. it should now be paid off? he called the local cop shop here. and they are going to the repo shop. as his yellow paper he gave shows that he was to pick up one.1992 venture. now dont get me wrong. his daughter opened the garage. let them take the bike. she said the guy said only bike here it must be the one? she did not know her dad had the venture. so she assumed the man was right to take the only bike there. if its a honest mistake no charges will come against the man. but he must return the bike back to where it came from. in same shape and condition as when it left. and they should look at vin numbers. not just pull up scare some poor girl into opening that door. and just grab and run. looks like they will be reported to some state agency abou illegal repoing. there paper work is over a month and a half ago. they should have done a check up to see if it was still inefect. for that venture. looks like some crap is going to hit the fan?

[eusa1]

the repo agent is a fool, the state comerce commision requires the agent to carry a hefty insurance policy that would cover such foolish mistakes, the owner should demand the local police to file a report of stolen property asap, before it gets returned, and only accept the return with neutral witnesses present....police or attorney.

if they drop the bike and the owner puts it in the garage without doing as i stated above... that would be the second foolish mistake.

 

by the way, i am the the owner and operator of USA1 RECOVERY it's what i do,

and no i dont go to florida.

[Chaharly]

Its dark out right now, keep those scary thoughts out of my head!!!!

[oldgoat]

eusa1 thanks for the info and yikes your not far from me. with the loss of my job and a loan thats hard to pay i just hope its a nice person like you that comes for mybike. if i cant find away to get it payed for. times are tough im fighting a workers comp case. and im now on ssi. and you cant miss a big old 84 venture LOL

[autopilot]

Was it in fact a real repo guy. Just because the guy said he was a repo guy and handed over a yellow piece of paper don't make it real. I've not heard of any loan company or bank going into repo mode at 2 payments down. The friend (owner of the bikes) said that he had received no advance notice or warning..not necessarily required, BUT one could reasonably assume that he had been in contact with the company prior to the bike being picked up. And yes, ANY repo co. should know better than to take a vehicle without first checking to make sure it's the right vehicle. Even if they didn't look at vin number, they have to be total morons to not be able to read "HONDA" as opposed to "YAMAHA" or "GOLDWING as opposed to "VENTURE". So, I'm not convinced somebody with a little inside info didn't take advantage of the situation to steal a bike (and under those circumstances, I'm not so sure they would care which bike it was)

 

Of course, I'm something of a cynic when it comes to these things, so I suppose it could be perfectly plausable for the company to be total jerks and go after the bike over 2 payments, even in this economy; and send a couple of incompetent, illiterate morons that got their repo license from a cracker-jack box to pick up a vehicle they know nothing whatsoever about, that they couldn't identify on a bet................Am I the only one that sees a problem with that?

 

 

Now if the loan was with No-neck and Rocco's "Money R Us", they would pick up anything sitting there and hold it hostage for the money and then take the money and a kidney (without using surgical instruments) when he gets back; 'course they would've come after the bike when the payment was one day past due.....so, who knows?

[oldgoat]

yes auto i to wonder if this was a theft in the makeing? here is what i know was on the paper. oder to repo one 1992 yamaha venture . address his place it was right.. bank name was correct. amount owed was right. due to being in arears this company out of bloomington illinois. hereby has the right to take poession of such property. and deliver upon request to lean holder. under no circumstances is this contractor aloowed to enter any locked or closed storage unit or secured garage to take poesession. with out owner or family member giving proper authorization. for owner to get poession of motorcycle arears towing and repo charges must be brough up to date. signed so and so at his bank. look legit to a 21 year old. cops are on the lookout for the bike and the truck. and will make contact with him. the owner my friend. they did advise him to contac his insurance company. report is on file. of possible theft. poor daughter is scared to death that they will come back. she left and went to stay with her grandma. cops said they never heard of this happening before. sounds like they where going to take what ever was in that garage be it a gold wing or a venture. damn that sucks.

[eusa1]

banks and loan companys will do most anything to keep from repoin your vehicle, it is possible that he is only 2 months past due in payments, however the only reason they would send an agent out for the bike in that short of time, is from lack of contact or no responding customer.

the banks dont want the bike, all they want is their money, and any effort to send any type of payment is better than playing hide and seek, even if you send them 5 bucks!

it shows an effort on your part, and if they accept the funds, they are willing to work with you.

most vehicles of that age have a loan value that is smaller that the fees that can come from the cost of the repo service and storage, and the repo service has to hold the bike for 28 days before it can be re-sold and that loan company can never write a loan against that same vin# ever again, so that means that it must be a paid in full purchase and makes it just that much harder to sell// thus bringing the value of the machine even lower, then paying the storage fees and the repo fees ect.....

the bull/sht that you see on tv with operation repo... is all an act, and all is very very wrong and breaks most every repo law known to man.

any repo agent in the country that does not take a copy of the title and a

" HOLD HARMLESS" letter from the loan company with the same vin # on it is a fool and should be jailed, mistake or no mistake, it's still theft!

it's the fly by night jerks like him that make my insurance rates so damn high that i too am looking for another line of work to pay the bills.

that bike would come home to my garage along with enough money to cover a few loan payments to keep me from jailing the thief.

ok ok sorry to rant... but on the bright side, all my bikes and cars are paid for, so i guess i will have a place to sleep if they ever come to repo my house:doh:

please let us know how this unfolds......mike

[Godlover]

I agree - it is much better to keep the creditor informed of your intentions and to show good faith on your part that you want to keep the bike or whatever. The worse thing a person can do is ignore the situation. Been there - done that when my first wife took off and left me with all the bills! I found it easy to work with the creditors - except for Sears! It was a great feeling to pay of $30,000 in bad debt without taking bankruptcy. The key to most problems in live is communication!

[flb_78]

Im really surprised that someone would loan money on an 18 year old bike without some sort of collateral.

[Sideoftheroad]

I am not suprised. GE money bank does (or did) older vehicles w/out collateral.

[bdyohecomcast.net]

I had this happpen once on a triaxle I had 2 thaat where gmc generals one was a 82 the other 88 . the 82 was in alegal dispute due to false info 88 was bought new. i let them repo the 82 and was working with the finance co. to prosucute the seller . a tow truck showed up one day and took the wrong one . they where charged with grand theft auto . which is the same as happened to you this is a federal offence call the police local state ect. then call your federal rep. and tell them what finacial inst. did this ect. and call a good attourney Bill

[oldgoat]

bike has been found. 2 men and a auto salvage yard have been charged with grand theft. seems like they pull this type of scam they claim they buy out repossion orders and act as a contractor for the person who sold them they repo contracts. they then go and locate the item . give this phony order. and hope they get a naieve person to fall for it. inside that salvage yards garage are over 12 bikes and torn down cars. sounds like a chop shop. but why take a old bike? my friend said he has to come home and fill out paper work. then it goes to the DA. hes just glad they found it. its a old honda but has sentimental value more then money value to him.

[Yammer Dan]

Lucky to get it back. Sombody doing their job!!

[oldgoat]

just to let you know the finance companys name if its ok to post it as i too have a loan with them and there% rate is sky high they will give a loan thats way over what the bike is worth. its american general finance.

[BoomerCPO]

End result of this turned out good.....and a hats off to the LEO's who made it turn out that way too!!

 

Boomer......who knows that a piece of paper does not mean something is right and legal.....its just glorified toilet paper.

[N3FOL]

I just knew something was not right. To my understanding a repo person will not reposses an item as long as it is inside 'your' property...they know the law. Once outside of your property, the said item can be repossesed. I may be wrong...but the bottom line is I'm glad to hear that the bike was found and the bad guys identified.

 

Always lock your bike even if parked inside a garage.

 

Ride Safe.

[oldgoat]

yep them leos where on the ball my hats off to them. that bike would have more then likely been torn down by the end of today had not they found these pepole. now it looks like a lot of work to id the rest of that yard. who knows what has been scraped and sold. its a old farm home billy bob and his son type operation . . this is going to be some serious class x and 4 felonies. looks like big time in the house for them. maybe they can take up auto shop while there LOL

[Yammer Dan]

Good place for them!!

 

They get guys like me to tell them goodnite every night!!

[eusa1]

old goat,

 

do you know the location or the repo company name??

or salvage co. name?