This is a duplicate post, and I’ll take the consequences for the sake of some assistance. I’m posting in the Debt Collection forum, where I normally post, and in Child Support. I follow the Family Law board. I don’t feel that I have the expertise to meaningfully contribute, but the regular posters seem as informed and committed as any on FA, there are child support issues involved here and I’ll take help from any interested source.
Because this is a long post, I’ll cut to the bottom line, but I’m hoping you’ll read on. I’m looking for a media contact for a “personal interest” story that might assist an OP in Kentucky. Simple as that. I’m also receptive to any other suggestions, and have opened Private Messaging (for newcomers, that’s in the menu at the lower right).
I’m an attorney in So. Calif. Almost since I began posting on FA, I’ve also worked off the board with some OPs who needed more assistance than was available via the Q & A of posting. This concerns “Jane Doe”, who first posted in the Collection forum. I’ll let a portion of a letter from Jane to a collection law firm summarize the problem:
“On June 25, 2001, two weeks after separating from my now ex-husband, I went to a small buy-here-pay-here lot in Nicholasville, Ky. At that time I had a 7 year old, a 3 year old, and a 1 year old and had no transportation to get to work, get them to daycare or school. I found a car and traded in a minivan that I had at the time that had a bad engine.
All went well until about six days later when I had to have the car towed because the engine was smoking horribly. At that point I called the car lot and told them what happened. They told me they would come and get the car from my house, where it had been towed, and take a look at it. After doing that, they told me that it had a cracked head and that their mechanics would rebuild it to correct the problem. I was told to come back a week later, which would have been a Friday, and pick up the car.
When I went back to the lot to pick up the car, I was quite surprised to find it empty. By empty I mean that there was not a car on the lot, the office was empty of all evidence of inhabitance. Two days later a tow truck brought the car to my house and parked it in my driveway. When I went out to talk to the driver and looked inside the car, I can't even begin to explain the shock that I felt because the engine was sitting in the front seat.
It was at that point that I called Credit Acceptance Corporation and told them about the entire situation. Unfortunately, they were not very understanding.”
Jane receives sporadic support payments. Because one of her children is disabled, she also receives disability payments. She works full-time and also goes to school at night to improve her ability to be a single Mom and care for her family. She doesn’t and hadn’t incurred bills that she couldn’t pay; she goes without. But she couldn’t buy two cars in the space of a week. So, because KY has no “lemon law” and Credit Acceptance Corp. didn’t choose to chase the dealer or look the other way, Jane was sued for a deficiency balance, by the firm of Lloyd & McDaniel. A default judgment included $4,300 in finance charges, exclusive of post-judgment interest at 22% APR.
On top of the auto dealer skipping out, Jane had purchased a $900 warranty package and was told that it didn’t cover the engine burning up. When she posted, she owed close to of $10,000 for a car that had sold for a “commercially reasonable” $150 a week after purchase. She had permitted wage garnishments and the creditor had received $3,500. The law firm decided that wasn’t fast enough and levied on a bank account, seizing the support and disability funds. That’s when Jane posted.
We went through the exemption process and funds were eventually released, but not before Jane was without water for a day (the creditor could have done it faster.) I spoke to the law firm, as did Jane, and there was an offer to accept $3,139.82, 50% of the remaining balance, in settlement, if paid within 30 days. For Jane, it might as well have been $1,000,000. She offered to let them keep the support and disability that they had seized (about $1,400), if they would only settle, and it was rejected.
I tried to get assistance. I spoke to 4 KY Legal Aid offices and NACA. They offered advice but they couldn’t help. I made an effort to get public attention for Jane’s inequitable plight. I spoke to two broadcast journalists that I knew and wrote to two print journalists. I was given KY broadcast contacts and spoke to them. I spoke to a KY television station. Several expressed interest but a story hasn’t happened yet. Garnishments resumed, Jane can no longer afford daycare, affecting work and school, and I’m about to start again. The creditor and law firm are perfectly within their rights but, as a commercial collection attorney, I’m ashamed to be telling this story and have said that to media contacts. I’m open to introductions to new contacts and to new suggestions. I’ll take it from there.
Because this is a long post, I’ll cut to the bottom line, but I’m hoping you’ll read on. I’m looking for a media contact for a “personal interest” story that might assist an OP in Kentucky. Simple as that. I’m also receptive to any other suggestions, and have opened Private Messaging (for newcomers, that’s in the menu at the lower right).
I’m an attorney in So. Calif. Almost since I began posting on FA, I’ve also worked off the board with some OPs who needed more assistance than was available via the Q & A of posting. This concerns “Jane Doe”, who first posted in the Collection forum. I’ll let a portion of a letter from Jane to a collection law firm summarize the problem:
“On June 25, 2001, two weeks after separating from my now ex-husband, I went to a small buy-here-pay-here lot in Nicholasville, Ky. At that time I had a 7 year old, a 3 year old, and a 1 year old and had no transportation to get to work, get them to daycare or school. I found a car and traded in a minivan that I had at the time that had a bad engine.
All went well until about six days later when I had to have the car towed because the engine was smoking horribly. At that point I called the car lot and told them what happened. They told me they would come and get the car from my house, where it had been towed, and take a look at it. After doing that, they told me that it had a cracked head and that their mechanics would rebuild it to correct the problem. I was told to come back a week later, which would have been a Friday, and pick up the car.
When I went back to the lot to pick up the car, I was quite surprised to find it empty. By empty I mean that there was not a car on the lot, the office was empty of all evidence of inhabitance. Two days later a tow truck brought the car to my house and parked it in my driveway. When I went out to talk to the driver and looked inside the car, I can't even begin to explain the shock that I felt because the engine was sitting in the front seat.
It was at that point that I called Credit Acceptance Corporation and told them about the entire situation. Unfortunately, they were not very understanding.”
Jane receives sporadic support payments. Because one of her children is disabled, she also receives disability payments. She works full-time and also goes to school at night to improve her ability to be a single Mom and care for her family. She doesn’t and hadn’t incurred bills that she couldn’t pay; she goes without. But she couldn’t buy two cars in the space of a week. So, because KY has no “lemon law” and Credit Acceptance Corp. didn’t choose to chase the dealer or look the other way, Jane was sued for a deficiency balance, by the firm of Lloyd & McDaniel. A default judgment included $4,300 in finance charges, exclusive of post-judgment interest at 22% APR.
On top of the auto dealer skipping out, Jane had purchased a $900 warranty package and was told that it didn’t cover the engine burning up. When she posted, she owed close to of $10,000 for a car that had sold for a “commercially reasonable” $150 a week after purchase. She had permitted wage garnishments and the creditor had received $3,500. The law firm decided that wasn’t fast enough and levied on a bank account, seizing the support and disability funds. That’s when Jane posted.
We went through the exemption process and funds were eventually released, but not before Jane was without water for a day (the creditor could have done it faster.) I spoke to the law firm, as did Jane, and there was an offer to accept $3,139.82, 50% of the remaining balance, in settlement, if paid within 30 days. For Jane, it might as well have been $1,000,000. She offered to let them keep the support and disability that they had seized (about $1,400), if they would only settle, and it was rejected.
I tried to get assistance. I spoke to 4 KY Legal Aid offices and NACA. They offered advice but they couldn’t help. I made an effort to get public attention for Jane’s inequitable plight. I spoke to two broadcast journalists that I knew and wrote to two print journalists. I was given KY broadcast contacts and spoke to them. I spoke to a KY television station. Several expressed interest but a story hasn’t happened yet. Garnishments resumed, Jane can no longer afford daycare, affecting work and school, and I’m about to start again. The creditor and law firm are perfectly within their rights but, as a commercial collection attorney, I’m ashamed to be telling this story and have said that to media contacts. I’m open to introductions to new contacts and to new suggestions. I’ll take it from there.