cherylc522 Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Good morning, thank you in advance for any advice given. I have a joint account with an ex-spouse with a company called Santander Consumer USA which was for a auto loan that was opened in Jan 2010. The account was in good standing until Jan 2011 when my ex who took possession of that car in the divorce quit making payments. On my credit report the account is showing CO as of March 2011. I was able to log into the account on the creditors site and can see that my ex requested repossession in March and they sold the car at auction and the remaining balance is just over $3000. The account is not showing that it was sent to a collections agency, which after this long I am surprised that it has not been. I am looking for advice on the best way to get this "charged-off" status off of my credit report or the best way to somehow build my credit back up. Is it worth trying to negotiate payment arrangements or should i just let it ride for the next 6 years and start over at that time. Also if I end up not getting this removed is there any way to build my credit at all when it is so low already? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomnTex Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Santander is a bad one to deal with, and any arangements you make with them won't hold p for long until they start changing them on you. You may have to rid it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellieh98 Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Is it in your divorce decree that he gets the car? You may be able to deny the debt, if you have documentation that it is his in the divorce. You can try to dispute it though the Credit agencies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherylc522 Posted July 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Santander is a bad one to deal with, and any arangements you make with them won't hold p for long until they start changing them on you. You may have to rid it out. well that sucks lol if i get any agreement in writing from them are they still allowed to change it? or is it just really not worth it at this point? my score is sitting at like 161 and i don't think there is any way to bring it up from that with that sitting on there. good thing im not looking to buy a house or anything lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherylc522 Posted July 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Is it in your divorce decree that he gets the car? You may be able to deny the debt, if you have documentation that it is his in the divorce. You can try to dispute it though the Credit agencies.It is in the divorce decree that he gets that car, I do not think that divorce escuses any debt though from what I have heard. Anyone have any information on whether this can actually be removed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellieh98 Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 If there was a loan on the car, and it is documented he gets the car, the loan should follow him unless there is something stipulated about the finances. I would dispute the debt with the CRA's, send them a copy of the judges decree on the division of assets with a letter explaining. It may get it romoved., That is just my opinion, admin knows alot about the CRA's, she may have better advice, I am sure she will be along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherylc522 Posted July 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 If there was a loan on the car, and it is documented he gets the car, the loan should follow him unless there is something stipulated about the finances. I would dispute the debt with the CRA's, send them a copy of the judges decree on the division of assets with a letter explaining. It may get it romoved., That is just my opinion, admin knows alot about the CRA's, she may have better advice, I am sure she will be along.ya, from what research I have done I think everything said that any kind of debt or loans you are still both responsible for, I think there is some kind of work around where I can take him to court for not refinancing the car in his own name since its in the divorce decree and then the debt would be his but that seems like more work than its worth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 First, divorce court decrees are not binding on other court decesions so, if you were a co-signer, they might still come affter you for the "defficiency"....but... If you were not notified of the defficiency, under the UCC, you may have grounds for disputing it as "not mine" with the CRAs. Read: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/community/topic/253033-ucc-and-repossession/ ....particularly, LadyNRed's comments. (NOTE: Your state may have modified the UCC recommendations). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherylc522 Posted July 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 First, divorce court decrees are not binding on other court decesions so, if you were a co-signer, they might still come affter you for the "defficiency"....but... If you were not notified of the defficiency, under the UCC, you may have grounds for disputing it as "not mine" with the CRAs. Read: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/community/topic/253033-ucc-and-repossession/ ....particularly, LadyNRed's comments. (NOTE: Your state may have modified the UCC recommendations).If I am understanding that correctly, the fact that I was never contacted by anyone from Santander about the debt, or even about payments being past due since he was the one on file and I didn't get a letter or phone call or anything from them, then the time that they have to collect is 4 years and if they do not then they have to remove it from my CR? I might be reading that all with very "wishful thinking" eyes so correct me if I'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Actually, I think you could argue that they had 2 yrs to tell you of the deficiency. If you weren't contacted within 2 yrs, you're legally off the hook. So, I'd suggest you dispute the debt with the CRAs as "not mine". Write each CRA a letter, short and sweet, saying something to effect that "this debt was assummed solely by my ex according to the divorce decree, and I was never informed of the defficiency". Send it CMRRR, including the CMRRR in the RE: of the letter. If it comes back "verified", you may have to get a lawyer involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherylc522 Posted July 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Actually, I think you could argue that they had 2 yrs to tell you of the deficiency. If you weren't contacted within 2 yrs, you're legally off the hook. So, I'd suggest you dispute the debt with the CRAs as "not mine". Write each CRA a letter, short and sweet, saying something to effect that "this debt was assummed solely by my ex according to the divorce decree, and I was never informed of the defficiency". Send it CMRRR, including the CMRRR in the RE: of the letter. If it comes back "verified", you may have to get a lawyer involved.It hasn't been 2 years yet so this would be something I should do once I get passed 2 years right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomnTex Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Willing is correct, a divorce does not clear you of it. The JDB's dont care what the court says, they follow the money or whoever they think will pay. I don't think your going to get anywhere with this and will have to wait out the 7 years for it to fall off you TL. Santander did not care what I had in my decree, they just tried to collect before handing it over to Main Street who still can't collect because it's past the SOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 @cherylc522 - best thing to do is to dispute with the credit bureaus . Have you tried this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTO429 Posted July 21, 2013 Report Share Posted July 21, 2013 Seeing that you were cosigner Santander, by law, should have informed you that payments were not being made. They should have also sent you a copy of the the right to redemption period, sent you a notice as to when to car would be sold at auction, sent you a copy of the deficiency letter. You have some options...pay what is owed and sue your ex because of violating the divorce decree. Wait and see if they file suit and include you in the suit. If they do you can ask the court to legally excuse you as a party to the suit because of the divorce decree. You have the doctrine of estoppel on your side also. The doctrine of laches is a legal estoppel doctrine. Since they waited two plus years, they have no right of action against you under laches. Laches is based on the legal maxim "Equity aids the vigilant, not those who slumber on their rights." Or in other words you cannot ask for something now that you should have asked for at an earlier time. Other Phrases used to describe laches include "delay that works to the disadvantage of another," "inexcusable delay coupled with prejudice to the party raising the defense," "failure to assert rights," "lack of diligence," and "neglect or omission to assert a right." You also have as a defense, equitable estoppel; where a court will not grant a judgment or other legal relief to a party who has not acted fairly. It relies on the legal maxim that: "he who seeks equity, must do equity." It is a defensive doctrine preventing one party from taking unfair advantage of another when, through false language or conduct(in your case), It is also known asestoppel by conduct or estoppel in pais. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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