repossessions

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Auto Loans Are a Warning Sign for US Economy

Delinquency rate on subprime loans has been near a record high all year

(Newser) - More Americans are falling behind on their car payments, a trend that points to growing financial strain among lower-income households. Data from Fitch Ratings shows that in January, nearly 6.5% of subprime auto loans were at least 60 days overdue, and the figure has remained close to that record...

Americans Defaulting on Car Loans at Record Rates

Delinquency rates, repossessions surge as car prices climb

(Newser) - Americans are increasingly struggling to keep up with their car payments, a trend highlighting financial pressure among lower-income buyers, even as the broader economy appears resilient. Since the pandemic, car prices have climbed and automaker incentives have shrunk, pushing more consumers to buy used vehicles and sign up for...

Ford Patent Sees Weird Twist to Self-Driving Cars

Vehicles would lock out owners behind on payments, drive themselves away for repos

(Newser) - The Drive has spotted a doozy of a patent application from Ford, one that takes the concept of self-driving cars down an unexpected road. The new technology would first allow the vehicle to lock out owners if they fall behind on payments. The crazier part is that the vehicle would...

Wells Fargo Takes 'Important Step in Making Things Right'

Company will pay at least $385M to settle class-action suit on auto loans, car insurance

(Newser) - Wells Fargo has agreed to pay at least $385 million to settle a California lawsuit alleging it signed up thousands of auto loan customers for costly car insurance without their consent, resulting in many having their vehicles repossessed. The bank filed the agreement Thursday in a federal court in Santa...

Repo Man Arrested After Incident Turns Deadly

Oscar Lee Harrison was charged in Houston

(Newser) - Houston police have arrested a repo man after a vehicle repossession turned deadly on Thursday, Fox News reports. Police say tow truck driver Oscar Lee Harrison, 33, was repossessing an SUV on South Gessner Road when the owner, 68-year-old Alberto Nduli, tried stopping him. "The owner came out and...

The Repo Man Came. Then He Made Their Day

Illinois' Jim Ford raised money to save elderly couple's car

(Newser) - An elderly Illinois couple has something to be thankful for after a repo man who took their car had a change of heart and helped them get it paid off. Illini Asset Recovery co-owner Jim Ford tells KTRK-TV that after repossessing the Buick from Stan and Pat Kippling, he pulled...

'It Sucks': Service Member on Bank's Illegal Car Seizures

Wells Fargo now has to pay $24m for taking more than 400 cars from members of military

(Newser) - Elizabeth Warren recently called Wells Fargo's CEO "gutless," and members of the US military may soon feel that way about the entire company. CNN reports that the bank will pay out $24 million for illegally repossessing 413 cars from military service members from 2008 to 2015. Each...

Banks Flout Laws Protecting Troops From Foreclosure

NYT: Mandatory arbitration clauses mean repos, foreclosures for service members

(Newser) - Deployed service members are supposed to be protected by federal laws from repossession and foreclosure. But thanks to mandatory arbitration —a clause in a contract's small print that waives one's right to court intervention—lenders are circumventing the rules, placing the homes and cars of US troops...

Cash-Strapped Americans' No. 1 Priority: Car Payment

Yep, ahead of paying off credit card bills and the mortgage

(Newser) - Americans really don't want to lose their rides. A study finds that the cash-strapped among us are paying off their car loans before they pay credit card bills and make mortgage payments. It used to be that Americans would pay their home loans first, then their credit card and...

Banks Claimed a Record 1M Homes Last Year

And this year will be even worse

(Newser) - Banks repossessed a little more than a million homes last year, a record high, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac —and that’s despite a sharp drop off in the fourth quarter thanks to the robo-signing scandal . Next year will likely be even worse, one RealtyTrac exec tells...

Home Repos Hit Recession High

US on track for 1M foreclosures this year

(Newser) - Lenders took back more homes in August than any month since the start of the US mortgage crisis. The increase in home repossessions came even as the number of properties entering the foreclosure process slowed for the seventh month in a row, RealtyTrac said today. In all, banks repossessed 95,...

Repo Man Takes Kids' Limo on Prom Night

Oklahoma promgoers thought car was being stolen

(Newser) - Prom: It’s a night you’ll never forget ... especially if your limo gets repossessed while you’re heading into the big dance. That’s what happened to a group of high school students in Oklahoma on Friday, who thought their ride was being carjacked when it was driven away...

Mom Throws Baby Into SUV to Stop Repo Man

A 15-year-old then shot the guy in the leg, police say

(Newser) - Krystal Gardner must be really attached to her car. When a man tried to repossess the SUV on Monday, police say the 28-year-old Dallas woman threw her 1-year-old child through an open window and into the car’s back seat—a deranged but clever ploy, since state law prevents vehicles...

Don't Hate Me: I'm Just Here to Clean Up
 Don't Hate Me: 
 I'm Just Here 
 to Clean Up 
FORECLOSURE FRONTLINES
Sep 30, 2009 12:07 PM CDT

Don't Hate Me: I'm Just Here to Clean Up

Clearing the detritus of owners' dreams from bank-owned homes

(Newser) - Cindy Reid doesn’t want you to think she and her boss—and boyfriend—are the “bad guys.” But it is difficult when her man is the one “you never want to see pull up to your house. He has eyes that go flat when you offer ...

Death-Defying Adventure Normal for 'Super Repo Man'

(Newser) - No one told Nick Popovich there’d be an army of neo-Nazis guarding the plane he’d been hired to grab. But when they put a gun to his temple, he didn’t flinch. “You better go ahead and shoot,” he said, “cause I’m grabbing that...

Foreclosures Draw Eager Buyers, but Banks Drag Feet

Red tape and bureaucracy hinder efforts to buy repo'd properties

(Newser) - Bargain hunters are turning to foreclosed homes for deals, but many are finding that buying repossessed properties from banks is a bureaucratic nightmare, the Washington Post reports. Though the housing market cannot stabilize until the unprecedented volume of foreclosures is sold off, banks are sluggish to act and fraught with...

Fannie Mae's Task: Sell 65K Homes in Buyer's Market

Unloading homes quickly while maintaining value, Fannie walks tightrope

(Newser) - It’s no secret that for US homeowners, it’s not a seller’s market. But imagine having 65,000 properties to sell. That’s the task ahead of Fannie Mae, NPR reports, as its volume of repossessed homes grows by the day. The guarantor of a third of all...

Think Repo Men Like Recession? Think Again

Victims 'hide' cars, 'fight over them'

(Newser) - Repossession agents must thrive on recession, right? Wrong, reports the Wall Street Journal. “People are doing everything they can now to hold onto what they’ve got,” says the owner of an auto-recovery business, whose revenue plunged 23% in 2008. “Do you think they’re going to...

SUV Credit Crunch Rolls Over Ford
SUV Credit Crunch
Rolls Over Ford
May 30, 2008 10:18 AM CDT

SUV Credit Crunch Rolls Over Ford

Sinking value of big vehicles crashes auto firm's credit wing

(Newser) - Ford's plans to get back in the black are being forced off the road by woes at its lending arm, the Wall Street Journal reports. The auto giant made a lot of cut-rate loans on trucks and SUVs in recent  years and has been unable to recoup losses on bad...

Agents Use 'Cash for Keys' to Stem Owner Vandalism

Foreclosed properties bear marks of parting shots

(Newser) - Banks and mortgage companies are hoping a “cash for keys” policy will stem a growing problem for lenders taking possession of foreclosed homes: dispossessed homeowners trashing their houses on the way out the door. Cheaper and faster than eviction proceedings, the policy is "win-win for both parties,"...

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