I was receiving a barrage of letters from Police & Fire, however my loan has always been on autopay…read moreand there was never a situation with late or missed payments, so these letters ended up in the garbage bin alongside the other piles of letters I got.
Roughly four(4) weeks ago, a rep at Police & Fire named Brian Baker called my work number and immediately threatened me with repossession of my vehicle due to insurance surcharges they placed on my account. Upon asking for more clarification, I was notified that it was around a $100 fee. Bewildered, I insisted he must be out of his mind to threaten repossession over a mere $100 that I wasn't valid to begin with. I ended the conversation with asking him for the contact information to send over proof of insurance, and insisted that Brian does not call my place of business ever again.
I compiled my insurance information and faxed it as well as mailed it to the address provided by Brian.
Brian ignores my demands and proceeds to call me at work multiple times per day.
I ultimately asked one of my employees (Mitch McDavid) to tell Brian to stop calling, at which point Brian asserted that he had a right to do so because I'm the business owner.
On February 17th, I received a collection letter in the mail. I assumed Police & Fire didn't process my insurance information yet, and when they do everything will be fine.
On February 22nd, I received another letter, attached, where it issued me credit for the time I provided insurance proof for. Upon noticing a gap remaining, I compiled additional information on my insurance and mailed it to Police & Fire.
Also the letter said that my monthly payment will go up by $200 because of the insurance gap. I figured I can just resolve it with insurance and sense they are acknowledging receiving my insurance paperwork. I am in the clear with any kind of collection, especially because I have never been late on payment.
On March 8th around 11:00pm, my car was repossessed out of my driveway.
I called Brian and left him an emotionally-charged message around 9:00 am, admittedly with some foul language and threats to sue. He did not call back.
I waited about two(2) hours and then called him again around 11 and was told he is in a meeting until noon.
I waited for a few more hours, and then called again at 2:30pm. At this point, I was told he is not taking calls, and the associate on the phone said he remembers me from calling earlier, and that he will go into his office to see if Brian can take the call. I was told that Brian is finishing up lunch and will be free in forty(40) minutes. Associates name (Art Grial)
It became obvious that I was being purposefully ignored, so I immediately went to my attorney's office to get him involved.
While meeting with my attorney, Brian called me back and I put him on speaker. He claimed my payment bounced and was currently in default. I informed him that there were two payments for that month from two different accounts, one did bounce but the other was successful. He also told me that in order for me to get my car back, I'd have to send him multiple pay stubs to provide my employment. I asked why, considering I'm the business owner (which he himself confirmed). His response was a deflection and he again asserted that I cannot get my car back unless I prove my employment.
I left the attorney office trying to figure out how I can provide my company's bank statements showing I am getting paid.
Only about 5-10 minutes later a woman called claiming to be a manager. Her name was Sharol Brady. She informed me that this matter was escalated to her, and that at this time she will be calling the police and filing charges against me for threatening to come to their office and shoot everyone there. I was immediately in shock and told her I would never say anything like that. I said I was going to "sue the fuck out of you", which is a common phrase with the word sue, and not "shoot the fuck out of you", which I've never heard once in my life before. It became clear that this woman was trying to threaten me into submission.
She quickly shifted to the topic of me being in default and having missed payments. After some arguing back-and-forth, I asked her to just tell me how I can get my car back. Her answer was that the only way I can get my vehicle back is by paying the loan balance in full, within five(5) days time; otherwise the vehicle is lost.
I told her fine, I'd buy it out right now. She seemed taken back; unprepared to receive that answer. I firmly believe they were convinced I would not be able to pay and they could just steal my vehicle from me. With the car prices sky-rocketing I can easily make over $20k right now by selling it.
I asked her how much I owe, and after quite a bit of fumbling she finally said $31,496 with all the fees. I asked her how I can pay now and she said I can't and I will have to go to the branch to do it.
I asked her for my loan number so I can create an online acc
