If they bought your loan, they also bought the terms you signed the loan under. Yes, they can repossess your car the same as Wachovia could have if you defaulted on your payments.

You could try going to your credit union or bank to see if you can refinance your car and pay off the old loan and perhaps get a better rate or longer term so your payments aren't quite as high every month.

We have tried that but the late payments have wreaked havoc on our credit. We have tried to trade down and no one will work with us because we owe $38K and they say it's now worth $20K

Do you have a house with equity that you can apply for HELOC- home equity line of credit , or considering filing for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy ? Anyway , here`s the link that will explain your legal rights and options to consider at http:://www.carreonandassociate.com/articles/repos session.htm

One of the only ways to save the car and your sanity is to file bankruptcy and make an attempt to re-affirm on the car and your house. A competent bankruptcy attorney can guide you as to whether to file chapter 13 or 7. Go talk to one tomorrow so he can call the loan company and fax a letter to them. Once they have it the repo man is stopped until after your day in court.

Jellybean:
There is a distinct possibility that Santandar would have a very difficult time repossessing legally if they are not named as the lienholder on the car title. Originally, Wachovia would have shown on the title as lienholder. Wachovia, then, would have had to assign their interest in the vehicle by signing off the title and forwarding it to Citifinancial for them to sign on as the new (second) lienholder; then Citifinancial would have had to sign off and forward the title to Santandar in order to formalize an assignment of their interest in the vehicle (to the third lienholder). In addition, the promissory note would have had to go through the same assignment process. Any other form of assignment, other than being named lienholder on the car title, might not hold water, legally.

I have my doubts that all this formal assigning (passing the title around and signing off and on) went off without a hitch. Contact Oregon DMV and ask who is named on the car title as lienholder. If it is still Wachovia, Santandar might have a difficult time convincing the repo man that they have a legal security interest. The repo man can't legally repo unless they have proof that the company ordering the repo has a perfected security interest in the vehicle. If Wachovia, or even Citifinancial, is still shown on the car title as lienholder, how can Santandar pull off a repo? It would seem to me they'd be opening themselves up to a liability, and so would the repo company.

To answer your question as to whether Santandar can legally repossess, in my view, considering the above, and if Oregon DMV confirms that they are not named on the title as lienholder, chances of them being able to repossess legally would be slim to none. My caveat is this: I am not an attorney. After you've checked with Oregon DMV, you should call one.

There are thousands of complaints against Santander on the internet. It seems that when people are having problems making payments, HSBC and Citi don't wait for a defaut, they transfer the loan to Santander to increase late fees, charge additional service fees, and if you miss payments, they will come and repo the car. When I first read the post, I was thinking that how would this company that I have never heard of have the ability to repo a car, however checking on the web, apparently this is their specialty.

From your post, it appears that you are 18K upside down in the car. If the car is repossessed, the car will likely be sold at auction for 15,000 and you will actually still owe 23K and Santander will try to garnish your wages for the difference. I wish there was some way out, but unless you can get a loan to at least catch your payments up, you are probably out of luck. I would recommend calling Santander and voluntarily turn in the car. It will still severely hurt your credit, but a little less so that an involuntary repo.

So what is the real answer? I have heard that it's better to voluntarily surrender the vehicle and I've heard NOT to voluntarily surrender.

The bottom line is that Santander repos cars and they have a lot of complaints. I would bet they have contracts with some hungry tow truck companies in your area.

If you would like to keep the car, it may be possible to roll your past due payments into a higher monthly payment, or a lower payment with a longer term if you file for bankruptcy. A bankrupcy will hurt your credit much worse than a repossession. You will also still be underwater in the car and you will still be making payments, and if you miss a payment, Santander can still come back and repo the car and sue you for the deficiency. I didn't recommend bankruptcy because I didn't see any additional information that you were behind on multiple loans.

I recommend voluntarily turning the car in because it will be a slightly less hit to your credit score than a involuntary repo. You can try to keep driving the car however the more payments you miss, the more Santander will try to garnish from your wages for a deficiency when they finally find the car and repo it. Plus they charge quite a bit for repo fees. On the other hand it you miss a few payments, you may have enough cash for a beater to get to and from work. What is best for you depends on your personal situation, however based on the information that you provided, I would recommend returning the car.

Probably a voluntary surrender would be better. However, it will make little difference on your credit report whether it is voluntary or not. As far as a bankruptcy, it's unlikely the bankruptcy trustee would allow you to reaffirm the debt, so I don't think a bankruptcy would accomplish much as far as keeping the car.

As far as a deficiency balance, Santander would have to get a judgment in court against you in order to be able to garnish you wages or collect a deficiency in any other way. That would take time and they might not even succeed in getting a judgment.

I would still recommend that you check with DMV and find out who is named as lienholder on the car. Then take that information to a good, local attorney and ask him if there is anything you can do to keep the car (other than catching up the payments, if that's not an option), and how best to proceed in dealing with Santander.

It`s your choice ,it does`nt matter anyway , the result will be the same -bad credit report .Because of that reason my adviced above was base on that assumption .Let say that you can`t use HELOC ,but filing Chapter 13 Bankruptcy , if eligible is way much better to used than Chapter 7 ( will lequidate asset to pay creditors ) which you dont want to happen . Here some advantages of Chapter 13 Bankruptcy that everybody could used as a last resort , 1. It acts like debt consolidation loan- which you make a plan payment to the trustee of chapter 13 . Who then distribute payments to creditors ,and while on chapter 13 ,no creditors will bother you . 2. Stop foreclusure /repossession proceding and may cure delinquency payment .3. Allow you to reschedule secured debt ( loan attached to assets ) like house and car loan ,and extend them over the life of chapter 13 plan ( it lower payment ). 4. It will protect co-signers or third party who are liable with your debt . As long as your willing to pay your creditors , the court will be in your side.

Wow ive heard some whoppers here,
i am a Repossession agent working in both Oregon and Washington

A: the Vehicle can Be Repossessed no Matter who's name shows on the Title.... you could have bought the car with Wachovia and now the loan has been sold 8 times and some privet party JOHN DOW has it. if you where late on your payments and your not current now. they have every right to repossess the vehicle .....

2nd if you are so far upside down in the loan you might want to give up on paying for it. MY Guess is your also not paying insurance. and you have a home loan as well.

Face Reality ! if your broke and cant pay the bill work the angels fill for BK and reaffirm your home loan do not reaffirm your car.

Play the game

1 :keep the car in the garage Do not Keep the garage door open cover any windows that would allow the agent to see into the garage and see the vehicle.

2nd do not use the car to go to the store or movies where it will be left outside unattended..

3rd if you have a fenced yard keep the gate shut ! and locked with a lock so it can not be towed. if you have a man gate lock it aswell.

if a agent comes to your door you don't have to talk to them you Don't have to Give them your name you dont even have to answer your door. only words out of your mouth should be GET OFF MY PROPERTY !.....

4th if they do get hooked onto the vehicle and they are still on your property stand infront of the tow truck and DEMAND "I OBJECT TO THIS REPOSSESSION DROP THE CAR OFF THE LIFT AND GET OFF MY PROPERTY" IF THEY WILL NOT COMPLY WITH THIS DEMAND CALL THE COPS DO NOT MOVE UNTELL THE CAR IS OFF THE LIFT. BREACH OF PEACE HAS BEEN MADE IF THEY DONT GET OFF THE PROPERTY WITH THE CAR OFF THE HOOK.....

This will Cause the bank to Get a Warrant for the car. Shortly there after you need to File for BK then the Stay will be in affect this will give you some more time.....

KEY TO ALL THIS
SAVE YOUR MONEY
if you do this Right you can Sketch it out for about 6-8 Months and save money do DOWN SIZE into a car you can own out right...


you can also Lock your wheels hard to the right or left. this will take a little more time for the repoman to drag the car off the property.
if you have a tree in your yard or something the car can be chained to i would advise chain it to it. even if its a dead car that you own... use a lock... if they Break the lock or chain its Theft, not a repossession, take pics that you locked it up....

keep insurance on the vehicle until the Bk is charged off keep up the game until you get served after the bk is charged off. keep no personal property in the car.


once again .... now days you cant afford to drive a 50k car on a 10k income. in this economy use this to save money and buy a Beater car that you can own outright. then save your money and go buy the car you want outright ! or with less then a 5k loan.

By law, the loan can legally be sold as many times as the originator sees' fit. However, if your being harassed for repo. from a new loan holder, you will need too review the company rights in order to determine if they can legally repo on you. Regardless, you have a claim against them if you were never notified in writing of the new loan holder and your rights to the new loan.

At the risk of being redundant, I'll offer another paragraph or two and hope this helps.

Again, a repo agent cannot LEGALLY repossess your car if the party ordering the repo does not have a perfected security interest in the vehicle. That's why it would be a good idea to check and see who has the perfected security interest verses who the repo agent says they represent. If it's not the same party, I don't see how Santander can LEGALLY repossess the vehicle. Yes, anyone can illegally repo it; but then they've opened up a huge legal liability for themselves.

It is a bad idea to try to play games like hiding the vehicle; it's a bad idea to consider filing for bankruptcy without first discussing your overall financial situation with a good attorney. Also, my personal recommendation is to never take the advice of someone who doesn't know how to spell, punctuate a sentence, or write intelligibly.