4 ms·

True story: my neighbor's lease payment was under, by a dollar or two, no more. An error in his banking practices, I guess. They came and repossessed it in the

True story: my neighbor's lease payment was under, by a dollar or two, no more. An error in his banking practices, I guess. They came and repossessed it in the middle of the night. He offered to pay, and they wouldn't take a credit card, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, wire transfer, or any other modern form of payment. No, he had to go to Western Union. Someone who's more up on this sort of stuff can explain that. A week later I drove him to the parking lot where they take repossessed cars. I waited until he signaled that all was OK.

gs17 4y ago
Who was he offering to pay to? The repo guys? Western Union just makes it sound like a scam.
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  I guess the company that held his car loan. It was not a scam, I know that.
jpk2f2 4y ago
Neighbor got scammed.
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  I don't think so. Aside from the shadiness of it: he called the car loan company and they owned up to repo'ing it. He did in fact pay too little on his monthly payment. So how would a scam work? (I don't know if he called the police or not, or what they would do in a case like this. Probably say, "Yep, sounds legit" and that would be the end of it.) see above comment. Not a scam.
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    How much was the underpayment (I know you said a dollar or two, but I presume this had gone on for a while?). It's odd to me that they repo'ed rather than contacting him to say 'hey, there's a problem with your account.' I find the story wholly believable, a lot of people who work in payments seem to be stupid and/or stubborn, and it might be the industry selects for those traits.
    - AlbertCory 4y ago
      Unfortunately, I'm not the person who was repo'ed and I already texted him once today. "Stay away from GM Finance" is the lesson here.
      - SoftTalker 4y ago
        That’s generally good advice. Buy cars you can afford, and pay cash. If you must, finance with a local credit union.
        deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
    - CommitSyn 4y ago
      > It's odd to me that they repo'ed rather than contacting him to say 'hey, there's a problem with your account.' I imagine there's a lot more money to be made making someone pay for the fees and costs of a repo, than a phone call asking them to pay a few dollars. Although his friend could also be lying about the few dollars part.
      - tkahnoski 4y ago
        That would be an insane practice. The internal overhead is a pain. Repo is a last effort to protect the asset rather than a way to cure an account. Even with repo fees there's no guarantees you're getting that money back and the asset won't be worth as much if the customer doesn't true up. General industry practice people are put in delinquency buckets, and generally not by amount but in the 'are they past due or not?' I'm speculating but there could be other behavioral scoring as well and if they just automated the process of dispatching well... that's on them and good luck with that overhead.
        treeman79 4y ago
        I’m fairly convinced a lot of places give loans with horrific interest rates hoping person defaults. They repo the car. Resell it. The person usually has only mostly paid interest and still owes most of the original price of the car plus fees.
Merad 4y ago
> He offered to pay, and they wouldn't take a credit card, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, wire transfer, or any other modern form of payment. No, he had to go to Western Union. I'm guessing they told him to get a Western Union money order, as those can't be reversed after they're cashed (AFAIK). Most modern forms of payment offer some level of consumer protection, as in they can be canceled or reversed. TBH a repo business might not even be able to get a merchant account for CC processing due to being a high risk business. Merchants that have high chargeback rates have to pay higher processing fees and can even lose their merchant account if their chargeback rate is too high for too long.
- chadlavi 4y ago
  Isn't a cashier's check from your bank also not cancelable?
  - zie 4y ago
    If the named payee has physical possession of the check, they can cash it and it can't be undone(without a valid court order, i.e. fraud, etc). All other situations, it can be undone, with work.
  - AlbertCory 4y ago
    Look up craigslist scams. "My agent will come and pick up your goods, and give you a cashier's check." After 5 days, the check is discovered to be fake, and you have to pay the money. They're taking advantage of the payment lag.
    - dreamcompiler 4y ago
      This happened to me. A guy mailed me a cashier's check and said his "friend" would pick up the item. I called the bank the check was drawn on; they confirmed it was fake. I pretended I never got the money and the "friend" never showed up. Lesson learned. Now I only exchange Craigslist items in person, in the parking lot of a police station, for cash. And I test the cash with a counterfeit detector pen.
AlbertCory 4y ago
Update, after hearing back from him: "Yes, Western Union was legit and used by GM Finance to collect." So, not a scam. Just ultra-conservative business practices.
spiritplumber 4y ago
I saw someone's RV getting repossessed over $50 in 2019. They were clearly living in it. I walked over and handed the repo guy $60. He wouldn't take it. This was in a cul de sac. I parked my truck across the way so that it would not be possible to enter or leave the cul de sac. Someone called the cops. The cops showed up after a few minutes, good response time. The lady living in the RV was told that she could not park there anymore. The repo guy said he was taking the RV. I repeated my offer to pay in front of the cop. The repo guy took the $60. I was told to move my truck afterwards. The lady living in the RV never paid me back. I am overall OK with that. These things happen. This was in northern California. Random acts of angry kindness should not be relied upon.
- chrisco255 4y ago
  Aren't repo guys usually just contracted out to do the job and pull the vehicle by the lender? They don't usually have the authority or facilities to take a payment on site.
  - rascul 4y ago
    Possibly pocketed the money and reported that the RV wasn't found or something.
  - davchana 4y ago
    Some do have some methods approved from banks. Like either pick the car, or get this much money in these payments forms only (& give a receipt).
    - spiritplumber 4y ago
      There was a piece of paper involved that the woman living in the RV had to sign. Much to my annoyance at the time, it took a police officer showing up for that to happen.
  - spiritplumber 4y ago
    I don't know. This one in particular was demanding money. Very loudly. That's why I got involved at all.
kitsunesoba 4y ago
Do you know how he was paying? By check perhaps? I've been late on payments of various types a few times over the years but I don't think I've underpaid even once, because with how most things are set up that's not easily possible.
AlbertCory 4y ago
Follow-up: I saw him today. He had paid the dollars but left off the cents on his monthly payment, which was $0.42. When that reached $10, GMAC turned it over to Western Union, who went after him.

gs17 4y ago

Who was he offering to pay to? The repo guys? Western Union just makes it sound like a scam.

AlbertCory 4y ago
I guess the company that held his car loan. It was not a scam, I know that.

jpk2f2 4y ago

Neighbor got scammed.

AlbertCory 4y ago
I don't think so. Aside from the shadiness of it: he called the car loan company and they owned up to repo'ing it. He did in fact pay too little on his monthly payment. So how would a scam work? (I don't know if he called the police or not, or what they would do in a case like this. Probably say, "Yep, sounds legit" and that would be the end of it.) see above comment. Not a scam.
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  How much was the underpayment (I know you said a dollar or two, but I presume this had gone on for a while?). It's odd to me that they repo'ed rather than contacting him to say 'hey, there's a problem with your account.' I find the story wholly believable, a lot of people who work in payments seem to be stupid and/or stubborn, and it might be the industry selects for those traits.
  - AlbertCory 4y ago
    Unfortunately, I'm not the person who was repo'ed and I already texted him once today. "Stay away from GM Finance" is the lesson here.
    - SoftTalker 4y ago
      That’s generally good advice. Buy cars you can afford, and pay cash. If you must, finance with a local credit union.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
  - CommitSyn 4y ago
    > It's odd to me that they repo'ed rather than contacting him to say 'hey, there's a problem with your account.' I imagine there's a lot more money to be made making someone pay for the fees and costs of a repo, than a phone call asking them to pay a few dollars. Although his friend could also be lying about the few dollars part.
    - tkahnoski 4y ago
      That would be an insane practice. The internal overhead is a pain. Repo is a last effort to protect the asset rather than a way to cure an account. Even with repo fees there's no guarantees you're getting that money back and the asset won't be worth as much if the customer doesn't true up. General industry practice people are put in delinquency buckets, and generally not by amount but in the 'are they past due or not?' I'm speculating but there could be other behavioral scoring as well and if they just automated the process of dispatching well... that's on them and good luck with that overhead.
      - treeman79 4y ago
        I’m fairly convinced a lot of places give loans with horrific interest rates hoping person defaults. They repo the car. Resell it. The person usually has only mostly paid interest and still owes most of the original price of the car plus fees.

Merad 4y ago

> He offered to pay, and they wouldn't take a credit card, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, wire transfer, or any other modern form of payment. No, he had to go to Western Union. I'm guessing they told him to get a Western Union money order, as those can't be reversed after they're cashed (AFAIK). Most modern forms of payment offer some level of consumer protection, as in they can be canceled or reversed. TBH a repo business might not even be able to get a merchant account for CC processing due to being a high risk business. Merchants that have high chargeback rates have to pay higher processing fees and can even lose their merchant account if their chargeback rate is too high for too long.

chadlavi 4y ago
Isn't a cashier's check from your bank also not cancelable?
- zie 4y ago
  If the named payee has physical possession of the check, they can cash it and it can't be undone(without a valid court order, i.e. fraud, etc). All other situations, it can be undone, with work.
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  Look up craigslist scams. "My agent will come and pick up your goods, and give you a cashier's check." After 5 days, the check is discovered to be fake, and you have to pay the money. They're taking advantage of the payment lag.
  - dreamcompiler 4y ago
    This happened to me. A guy mailed me a cashier's check and said his "friend" would pick up the item. I called the bank the check was drawn on; they confirmed it was fake. I pretended I never got the money and the "friend" never showed up. Lesson learned. Now I only exchange Craigslist items in person, in the parking lot of a police station, for cash. And I test the cash with a counterfeit detector pen.

AlbertCory 4y ago

Update, after hearing back from him: "Yes, Western Union was legit and used by GM Finance to collect." So, not a scam. Just ultra-conservative business practices.

spiritplumber 4y ago

I saw someone's RV getting repossessed over $50 in 2019. They were clearly living in it. I walked over and handed the repo guy $60. He wouldn't take it. This was in a cul de sac. I parked my truck across the way so that it would not be possible to enter or leave the cul de sac. Someone called the cops. The cops showed up after a few minutes, good response time. The lady living in the RV was told that she could not park there anymore. The repo guy said he was taking the RV. I repeated my offer to pay in front of the cop. The repo guy took the $60. I was told to move my truck afterwards. The lady living in the RV never paid me back. I am overall OK with that. These things happen. This was in northern California. Random acts of angry kindness should not be relied upon.

chrisco255 4y ago
Aren't repo guys usually just contracted out to do the job and pull the vehicle by the lender? They don't usually have the authority or facilities to take a payment on site.
- rascul 4y ago
  Possibly pocketed the money and reported that the RV wasn't found or something.
- davchana 4y ago
  Some do have some methods approved from banks. Like either pick the car, or get this much money in these payments forms only (& give a receipt).
  - spiritplumber 4y ago
    There was a piece of paper involved that the woman living in the RV had to sign. Much to my annoyance at the time, it took a police officer showing up for that to happen.
- spiritplumber 4y ago
  I don't know. This one in particular was demanding money. Very loudly. That's why I got involved at all.

kitsunesoba 4y ago

Do you know how he was paying? By check perhaps? I've been late on payments of various types a few times over the years but I don't think I've underpaid even once, because with how most things are set up that's not easily possible.

AlbertCory 4y ago

Follow-up: I saw him today. He had paid the dollars but left off the cents on his monthly payment, which was $0.42. When that reached $10, GMAC turned it over to Western Union, who went after him.