Bank harrassment!

[Bird]

by now they should realize I had nothing to do with that van

You have to remember that car repossessors are accustomed to being lied to, and to having cars hidden from them. So if no one at the bank knows you personally, they don't know whether you're telling the truth or not.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

I don't know about your state, but here in Pa you can order a repo man off your property and they must comply, even if they can see the vehicle. They have no more rights than anyone else. They also must notify you of an intent to repossess. Like I say, this is Pa. Ah yes, it is wonderful to have a lawyer as a friend.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Lawyers have friends?

 

[NuBota]

What strikes me as odd is they won't tell you whose car it is. I would tell them I have five such vans I'm "keeping" - exactly whose van are you looking for? Nothing like right to privacy for an anoymous accuser

Have they asked you to provide any information to them - SSN, etc?

 

[Soundguy]

Ditto that.. He may be in a partial id theft issue... I'd get that credit report FAST.. and then see if there are any leans or laons out there.. etc.

soundguy

Get a credit report and make sure the car loan isn't under your SSN - if it is you've got bigger issues to deal with.

As far as harassment goes this isn't bad. Look at it from the bank's point of view. Someone borrowed a lot of money from them, then didn't pay them back and now they want their collateral. The guys who (fraudulently?) took out the loan fingered you as having it and even knew your unlisted number, if I were the bank that certainly warrants a phone call and a followup visit to make sure you're not lying. Now that those two are over they should have no reason to continue to pursue this so you should be OK - but documentation is your friend here. But remember, you should be mad at whoever fingered you since the bank is just looking for their money.

 

[asylum575]

ID theft is a huge problem in this country and a real hassle to clear up.
Since you got your credit report and it's good, you now need to protect it. You can either sign up for one of those credit protection services that alert you when someone runs your report. You can also request from the credit agencies to freeze you credit. There's a form letter you fax them and they will block you from any credit. You can unfreeze it for yourself if you need to buy something.
If you're not on the title or original loan, you should have no legal or financial risk. I'd be afraid of ID theft, this could be a clever scam.

 

[jdbower]

I don't know about your state, but here in Pa you can order a repo man off your property and they must comply, even if they can see the vehicle. They have no more rights than anyone else. They also must notify you of an intent to repossess. Like I say, this is Pa. Ah yes, it is wonderful to have a lawyer as a friend.

Also remember that because it's legal doesn't mean that it's the best idea. Being escorted off the property at the end of a shotgun may just send them to the local authorities to get a warrant for a complete property search (probably at the expense of the tax payers, any anyone in need of those cops for the duration of the search). On the other hand saying "Sorry you guys made the trip out here for nothing, can I get you a cup of coffee and we can talk about what you need to verify that the van isn't here" often makes the problem go away much faster.

 

[jelc]

My wife was home when the collection agent came. She was quite pleasant to him, and showed him the vehicles we have on the property, saying "that's all the vehicles we have here".

Bird wrote that collection agents don't believe people because they are lied to so often, and people hide cars... that leaves me with the powerless feeling that whatever I say or do, the bank and its collection agency may never believe me, and continue their actions. How do you prove you don't have something if the people enquiring don't believe you, even after sending someone to your property who can see for themselves the vehicle is not there?

It seems that, even though I am not at fault - I have never been a customer of that bank, and I never bought, owned, or possessed the vehicle in question - I may have to hire a lawyer to clear this mess!

JLC

 

[jdbower]

I think you're jumping the gun a bit. So far you've gotten a phone call and a visit where you showed them the van wasn't there. These two things are reasonable to expect a bank and collection agency to do and I doubt you'll hear from them again except maybe for a phone call to verify some information for a case against the borrowers. It would be nice to get a letter indicating it's over from the bank, but they may not be authorized to do so. After all, in today's sue-happy society getting such a letter may mean that you'd sue them if you got a mailer letting you know about the latest CD rates. Additionally I'd think you'd want to make sure the people using your name (and private information) are caught and punished, this may mean that even though the bank is satisfied that you don't have the van they may want to contact you to help build a case against the criminals.

In essence I don't see the actions of the bank as being overly aggressive with what you've described so far so I'd just wait and see what happens next (while getting your credit report, but be careful it's easy to accidentally sign up for paid services when you get them - heck, the bank may get a credit report for you since you've been cooperating with them). If they keep calling and visiting then you need to do something to stop it, but if I were the bank I'd now be satisfied that you're a dead end in searching for the van.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Also remember that because it's legal doesn't mean that it's the best idea. Being escorted off the property at the end of a shotgun may just send them to the local authorities to get a warrant for a complete property search (probably at the expense of the tax payers, any anyone in need of those cops for the duration of the search). On the other hand saying "Sorry you guys made the trip out here for nothing, can I get you a cup of coffee and we can talk about what you need to verify that the van isn't here" often makes the problem go away much faster.

Ummm, who said anything about a shotgun? And offer a repo man a cup of coffee and some friendly chit chat? I knew repo guys, that will get you absolutely nowhere. As soon as these guys see weakness, they pounce on it. Offering a cup of coffee is weakness, they are more apt to become even more suspicious than if you just told them to leave. They get paid by the job, they don't want a coffee, they want the vehicle. If they can't see it and you tell them to leave, they go on to the next one.