Posted on 09/24/2014 7:15:32 PM PDT by blam
Michael Corkery and Jessica Silver-Greenberg
September 24, 2014
The thermometer showed a 103.5-degree fever, and her 10-year-old’s asthma was flaring up. Mary Bolender, who lives in Las Vegas, needed to get her daughter to an emergency room, but her 2005 Chrysler van would not start.
The cause was not a mechanical problem — it was her lender.
Ms. Bolender was three days behind on her monthly car payment. Her lender, C.A.G. Acceptance of Mesa, Ariz., remotely activated a device in her car’s dashboard that prevented her car from starting. Before she could get back on the road, she had to pay more than $389, money she did not have that morning in March.
“I felt absolutely helpless,” said Ms. Bolender, a single mother who stopped working to care for her daughter. It was not the only time this happened: Her car was shut down that March, once in April and again in June.
This new technology is bringing auto loans — and Wall Street’s version of Big Brother — into the lives of people with credit scores battered by the financial downturn.
Auto loans to borrowers considered subprime, those with credit scores at or below 640, have spiked in the last five years. The jump has been driven in large part by the demand among investors for securities backed by the loans, which offer high returns at a time of low interest rates. Roughly 25 percent of all new auto loans made last year were subprime, and the volume of subprime auto loans reached more than $145 billion in the first three months of this year.
But before they can drive off the lot, many subprime borrowers like Ms. Bolender must have their car outfitted with a so-called starter interrupt device
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at dealbook.nytimes.com ...
Where are the fathers?
Where are the shade tree mechanics?
If you can’t afford a car, don’t buy one.
This has been going on for a while. In Detroit, former lions player and car dealer Mel Farr started doing this 10 years ago.
CC
Not really, I was a single mother a long time ago and managed to buy a new vehicle and pay for it, without any outside help.
So she missed the payment, and admits that she didn’t have the money to make the payment, and she’s upset that the lender wanted the money or their collateral?
Ok, what’s the story here. Didn’t pay, lender disabled the card. Buyer paid, lender enabled the card.
Consequences — there just shouldn’t be any. [/Liberal]
Good !
I like to hear stories of individual success.
What a concept.
But what good is free health care if you don’t have a new caddy to drive to the doctor office?
Depends on what side you’re on...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb8hTzUoI54
SNL Don’t buy stuff you cannot afford.
Racist Ignition Blocker! in 4..3..2..1..
She may need it to get to work or for an emergency such as quoted. Do you people realize the low end used car market is still recovering from the cash for clunkers fiasco which took so many cars off the road?
She may live in an area where there is no realistic alternative to owning a car.
This is nasty, vicious exploitative stuff and will invite draconian legislation from the Elizabeth Warrens in congress that we will all have to pay for. Lenders, not just borrowers, have a responsibility to be responsible and reasonable as well.
I don't want congress writing more legislation to foul up the credit market and hurt the very people it is supposed to help. But that is exactly what is going to happen if lenders (and their muscle) don't act responsibly.
So, why didn’t she just call 911?
Me too..single dad. Raised a PhD son W/O any help.
At that point. It’s not her car. The owner allows her the privilege to drive it while she pays for it. She can’t pay, she can’t drive.
Pretty simple.
The car is 9 years old. She has a >$350 payment on a nine year old car minivan. I'm just guessing, but I think she was more than 1 month late.
Mel Farr.
Loved that Superman cape!
“Before everybody piles on, I’m fed up with this big brother stuff. THREE DAYS late on a payment?”
Actually, I am with you. This kind of action could come back to bite the lender if the vehicle was not available for an emergency and someone was seriously injured or worse. How far we have fallen as a nation!
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