Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
I am leasing to own a truck with a certain company. I have so far made over 71 months in payments. According to the lease agreement I was supposed to pay the residual value on the truck after 60 months of payments, something I did not do. Now the leasing company says that since I did not act in time, they "reinstated" the payments a term I do'nt understand and now they want me to either pay $26000.00 something more than the contractual residual value (double) or turn in the equipment. Now is there any chances to legally stop the repossession since it is not due to my failure to make payments rather on lack of proper information on their part ? I have tried to communicate with them for about five times ever since they stoped sending my monthly bills, each time getting conflicting or no definitive answers from defferent individuals. At one time, someone told me to pay $10012.43 in order to stop the repossession and I did. After that I made an additional payment of $2224.98 in two months. Now when I called them today 10/08/10 someone just told me that my account has been referred to a special treatment whatever and that either I pay $150300.00 or turn in the equipment.
1 Answer from Attorneys
There is no easy answer to your questio. You need to consult with an attorney as soon as possible. Your rights are going to turn on the terms of the contract and the "default" provisions. Please remeber anything you discuss with the lease company will be "Noted" in their files in a manner that is designed to make them look good and you look bad. i.e. "I need the truck for work" translates into "Debtor refused to retuen vehicle". etc.
Please call an attorney that handles vehicle lease contracts and knows the way to approach this with the lease company before they repossess the truck and it gets even more costly for you.
Good luck,