Car Repo Getting Increasingly Violent

What would you do if you hear noises outside at 2:30 in the morning and see three men trying to take your car away? 

I don’t know what I would do, but what Jim Tanks of Halsell, Alabama did ended up costing him his life:  He grabbed a gun, walked out the back door, and confronted the men.  The men were not thieves, but rather, repo men trying to take Mr. Tanks’ car away.  Shots were fired and Mr. Tanks died with a gunshot wound to the chest. 

The repo man, Kenneth Alvin Smith, now faces murder charges.  He says he fired in self defense.  Mr. Smith works for Ascencion Recovery in Birmingham, AL, where a repo man was shot dead and yet another was wounded in two separate repossession incidents just this year.

Most financially-strapped people start getting behind on their car payment.  I am no different.  In fact, a tow truck near my car is one of the top ten things a broke person like me is afraid of.  In nightmarish imaginings I have always thought repo men take your car in the middle of the day, when you are at work, for full embarrassing effect.  Never in my life did I imagine repo men skulking around at 2:30 in the morning to take away someone’s car!

Read more about this tragedy here.

Photo credit:  Associated Content in their article Starting an Automobile Repossession (Repo) Service by Steve Thompson.

I Have 3 Months Mortgage Payment Due NOW

Car Loan Rep Stunned I Answered The Phone

And so it starts … answering the telephone and facing up to these debt collectors.  It was actually pretty hilarious, considering the situation.

As I had mentioned before, there was an order to garnish my wages, and my employer complied with the order and decided to garnish an entire paycheck.  Since we are living paycheck to paycheck as it is, that really put us in a bind.  I couldn’t pay any bills and had to be super creative in feeding my family of four for two weeks.  The family didn’t starve, but the bills still need to be paid.

Since that garnishment I have been a month behind on my car loan payment.  Since this wasn’t the first time in my history with them that I had been late in paying, my account is probably on their Watch List.  Their rep would call every day  at random times.  After I decided to grow a backbone, I answered their call yesterday.  After I said “Hello” there was stunned silence for a few seconds, then a tentative “Lily?  Is this Lily?”  I actually grinned.

She questioned me about when I was going to be able to pay, and I calmly told her that I might be a month behind in payment for a couple of months more due to unforeseen circumstances.  She explained that if I were ever two months late, a motion to repossess the car will be filed.  Great.  Another one of those Top Ten Things A Broke Person is Afraid Of coming to haunt me — a tow truck near my car.  I assured her that I will do my best not to get things to that point.

After we hung up, I actually laughed out loud — from the relief that the call was over, from my amusement of the rep’s stunned silence when I answered the phone, and from the adrenaline rush of just being brave and facing something I had totally dreaded.  This would be totally incomprehensible to someone who has never been hounded by debt collectors, but for those that have, I’m sure they can identify with the feeling of empowerment that I felt.

I will continue to keep answering the phone and keep trying to make my circumstances better to reach the goal of being debt-free.  The next backbone I need to grow is finding the courage to read collecition mail.

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.Net.

Wage Garnishment

I have been doing great at this job I have had for about a year.  Projects keep me busy and I get to work with wonderful people.  I am considered an asset to the team.  I have been looking forward to a promotion not just for the challenge but mostly for the extra pay.

Now everything is up in the air.  My employer has received communication from the Department of Labor:  my wages are being garnished.  I don’t know the details yet, but it sure has been embarassing.  I wouldn’t blame the management if they start thinking “How can we trust this woman to lead if she can’t even straighten out her own finances?”