[Gordon Greene]

I would like for someone to explain to me where I’m missing something here; here’s what I see in this post...

The subject of the story is not the lenders, but the car dealers who did not fulfill their contract obligations and paid off the cars (and have probably not filed the necessary paper work either). The banks have been stuck for the last few years with debt obligations that were not their own because the government strong-armed them into making loans to unqualified recipients. I have been one of those unqualified recipients in the past through bad choices, and I paid back everything because it was my obligation to do so. But I took out the loan so I was responsible.

Seems since the government has gotten on the bandwagon of blaming the banks for the credit crisis, it’s gotten to be the popular thing to do so for the rest of the country, politics completely aside. I do agree the banks should be taking the morons to the cleaners who are causing the issue... the car dealers. But they are probably just looking at paper that tells them who last held the loan. That would lead them to go after the last known owner of the vehicle. If the car dealer was going out of business in the first place chances are paperwork was less important to them than cash in hand.

If the banks have no other recourse, should I suppose they should just go down with the car dealers? I certainly don’t want them coming after me, but like someone pointed out in an earlier post, if the person trading in the car has a contract and have read it then they would know their legal rights in the situation and whether they are signing to be liable in event of the car dealers default. If not, they will show the contract and make an appeal to the bank to cease and desist.

Tell me where I’m misunderstanding...

[familyop]

You’re right. Our generalizing complaints about bankers were off-topic for the post above this thread, and I chimed in. ...shows you what “news” saturation on one issue will do to us, when we’re weak enough to carry it to other discussions.

I don’t even directly work concerning the overall economy (certainly not finance or investments). ...only learning about it for a history hobby and to use the knowledge for a small project plan.

[elkfersupper]

The contracts and the loans are or were - highly traded.

It's like musical chairs when things start to topple.

Whoever is left holding the bag unwinds the deal and eventually, it gets back to the car buyer(s).