“My” Car, “My” Truck, “My” Motocycle, “My” House. Repo Anyone?

The one biggest dilemma people face today, is repossession. Because so many are losing their jobs, around the corner are the repo companies. These days, they seem to be overwhelmed with having to pickup just about anything. On the other hand are those who are defaulting on their mortgages and losing their homes. It’s not hard to understand, that there are some things that become unpredictable. One of them is employment. When you work for someone else, at any time, any “day” they can lay you off or simply fire you. I’ve had this happen to me. It’s not a nice thing to have to face when you have bills to pay. And paying them, becomes the problem when you have no money coming in.

I have had only one repossession in my lifetime. Believe it or not that happened by “choice.” It was a car, and I grew tired of dealing with the bank I financed it with. For years prior to having it repossessed, the bank kept making every excuse for billing me with one penalty or charge that the note on the car wouldn’t go under $2000. From the very start, I didn’t want the car, but I made the mistake of calling up the bank to buy another one when my classic Ford Fairlane broke down. Rather than go through all the expense of overhauling the engine, I decided to trade it in. While at work, I told my wife at the time, to have my parents pick her up, as she couldn’t drive, to look around for a good “used” car. Being the 1970’s, my maximum price I wanted to pay was around $300.

I got off work around 6 pm after a 10 hour shift where I worked. Tired, I looked around to see if I had a ride to go home in. There in the parking lot was my wife, my parents and a “new” car. “Four thousand, five hundred dollars worth !” I blew my top. For “five” years I kept paying on this car, of which for the middle 70’s was quite a bit to pay for a small economy Ford car. After four years of paying on this car and seeing that the note was not going down, I told the bank to come get it. For a year, I waited and waited for them to do so.

December twenty-third, 1982, two people from the bank showed up at my parents home where I had the car parked. Luckily, I happened to be driving up at the time in an almost new car I had at the time. Thinking that my Christmas would be ruined, these officers of the bank got a big frown on their faces as they asked if the “new” car was mine. When I said “yes,” angrily they got the keys and repossessed the car they had gotten close to ten thousand dollars on using one excuse or another.

Nothing become “yours” until it is “paid” for. Over the course of my life, I have paid probably for over “40” vehicles of one form or another. “This” is the only one I let go. I get a kick out of those on these repo shows that will do anything to keep the repo guys from repossessing “their” vehicle. “You can’t have “my” car, you can’t have “my” truck, you can’t have “my, my, my.” Finance Companies, Banks or Credit Unions are in the business of making money. “Most” are descent financial institutions, but you will find those whose only intention is to rip people off.

The one fact I have found useful in my life, is what my mother taught me when I was young. If you owe people money, “communication” is the best remedy when you have problems paying. Many find themselves in the predictaments they get into because they fail to follow the basic rule of “keeping” what they buy. I don’t proclaim to have the best credit, but I keep what I have by “talking” to my creditors when I have trouble paying. Repossessions happen by “choice.” The “decision” to not pay for what they have deluded themselves to “believe” they can “keep” without paying for it. To keep the repo men from knocking at your door, “simply” remember nothing is “yours” until you “pay” for it. Evading the fact that you will get away with not paying or making arrangements, is simply in your “own” mind, cause nothing becomes “my” this or that unless you get rid of the ones holding the noose around your “neck……”


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