vehicle purchased in 1999. husband national guard member, activated 03/03. all creditors notified through NG base. lender repossessed a vehicle over weekend of 08/18/03 @ 1:15 a.m. when contacted the first business day, they informed me that SSCRA only applied to contracts entered into while on active duty. i was also told that they had not received any notification of activation. i requested that they confirm contract and military status with their legal dept. they contacted me stating that i was correct. at the time of repossession only current month's payment was due but not yet late, plus previous late fees assessed. as of 08/31/03 no payment is past due, have agreed to pay late fees in small payments. lender stated that until all late fees are paid the current interest rate of 14% will not be lowered to 6%. vehicle has not yet been returned. the lender requested that i send them the following: original enlistment paperwork (from 1986), current activation orders, all orders received since activation, bank statements for last 90 days. also, lender stated my husband's civilian employer would have to fax confirmation of his employment, and i would have to update relative/friend contact list on credit application with 3 new contacts and then sign the same credit application which would be blank. i sent them the following: activation orders, 2002 w-2s from civilian and NG employers, 2003 military pay scale, and updated the contact list they currently have. they then required that i pay the current payment due. i did. they then stated that i would have to pay the late fees before releasing the vehicle. i did not. i did agree to a payment plan for late fees. they accepted. i was told to wait 5 business days after making the current payment and then contact them regarding return of vehicle. i did this (08/29/03). was then asked if bank could fax them "something" to verify funds had been transferred. i stated i did not know of anything. was told, "okay, i will have to get my supervisor to sign off on the cost of transporting the vehicle back to you. i will call you back after 1:00 p.m. today and give you the details." no further reference to "something" from bank. i called back at 4:30 p.m., and was told 1) supervisor was not in today, 2)still waiting for bank to confirm transfer of funds. i called the bank, they faxed confirmation immediately. now, it was the beginning of a long weekend and i will receive no more information until 09/02/03. i feel as if the lender is playing a game with me. they know they are in the wrong, i have complied with all requests with what was legal for them to request, yet i they are still in possession of the vehicle. any suggestions as to what i should do at this point? i really just want to say, "okay, i'm finished. i'll have my attorney contact you as soon as possible." these people are wearing me out. thanks.

Click here and scroll down to the section on Installment Contracts and Auto Leases. If they repossesed without a proper court order they may have a lot of explaining to do to your attorney.

SSCRA applies to loans opened before active duty. The rate should have reduced to 6% upon proper notice and doucmentation of active duty.

they repossessed without ANY court order. the whole situation has become very frustrating. i have done my best, without any input from my husband-he is somewhere in Iraq so he has no idea any of this is happening. i have not contacted JAG or a civilian attorney. i am wondering if, at this point, perhaps i should.

Contact JAG. They are there to assist you and without cost. They should know the SSCRA better than anyone and this is a benefit your husband is working for.

Marie, I'm sorry this has happened to you, and it shouldn't have. Unfortunately, JAG or legal affairs depts may not react very fast. Contact your husbands local guard unit they may be equiped to help.

Obviously you are dealing with individuals at an institution that have no understanding of the law and have acted incorrectly. They are now in the process digging the banks legal hole very deep. You are not required to pay late charges or provide all the paper work they asked for in order to reduce the interest rate to 6%. In fact my guess would be if loan was recalculated with the reduced rate from March 03 there may be sufficient funds already collected to pay a couple of late charges.

Stop dealing with uninformed collectors and immediately call the PRESIDENT of the banks office. In a nice way tell the president or his representative what has happened and that you want to speak to the banks attorney or someone familure with SSRA that can get this situation resolved.

I am not an attorney and am not providing legal advice, but if you are forced to seek an attorney find one that has some familarity with the SSRA and will take your situation on a contingency basis.

You have more to gain than just getting your car back.

I spoke with several attorneys by telephone this morning. I was advised by the majority to contact my congressman. There seem to be no attorneys in this area who are interested in this issue. I did call my congressman and the staff member I spoke with assured me that this is something they will happily deal with. Maybe this is what I should have done previously.

vehicle was returned to me today. now, i have some questions i would like to ask the creditor.

1. why did it take 15 days to return vehicle after receipt of documentation verifying validity of my claim?

2. why did recalculation department not receive paperwork needed to reduce interest rate to 6% until 09/03/03? activation orders mailed march of 2003. no record of receipt. not surprising, one cust. serv. rep. read to me from "section 619 of the --- company procedures manual clearly states that purchase is not covered under the SSCRA unless purchase is made while on active duty."

3. why did contractor not receive a release to return vehicle to me until 09/04/03? i was told to call contractor myself to make arrangements for return of vehicle. when i first called, they had had not yet received a release from the creditor.

any other questions i need to ask?

Marie. Here is what the regulation says and the contract must have been entered into prior to the call to active duty not afterwords as you say they quoted from their manual.


"A service member who, prior to entry into active duty, entered an installment contract for the purchase of real or personal property, will be protected under the SACRA if the service member's ability to make the payments is "materially affected" by the military service.

The service member must have paid, prior to entry onto active duty, a deposit or installment under the contract.
The seller is then prohibited from exercising any right or option under the contract to rescind or terminate the contract, to resume possession of the property for nonpayment of any installment due, or to breach the terms of the contract, unless authorized by the court."


You should also understand this:

"It's important to understand that the Act protects you in very limited ways and is not an end-all to your owed debts. You are still liable to pay your debts but are afforded somewhat of an extension and leniency while on active duty.

Your credit suffers however…
Unfortunately while the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act may protect you from collections and lawsuits while on active duty, it does not, however, guarantee that you will not suffer the creditors' wrath via your credit reports. Sure the loan may be deferred or your local bank may put it on hold but it may not stop the delinquency from being reported on your credit reports and ruining your good credit"


Go to this website

http://www.military.com/Resources/ResourcesContent/0,13964,31042,00.html

Don't go this alone The people at the bank you have contact with are in a defense mode and have no idea how to handle this other than try and make you go away. Arguing about how long it took to get your car back with these folks will get you no where. You should contact someone in a higher position in the bank like the presidents office to get this resolved, or contact your husbands Guard unit and see if they can put you in contact with someone at the Judge Advocate office.

Frankly someone in a higher authority level in the bank should be notified what happened to you so they can make sure it doesn't happen again.

And frankly you have an excellent legal case against the bank as much as I would not like that to be.