Billy Collector
Plano, TX
Male, 22
I worked as a bill collector for car loans for 2 years in a big, growing bank, calling customers residing in USA. Ask me anything!
This is a half-truth. In the transaction history for the bank I used to work, there used to be a transaction code that indicated some money clients paid to us went to dealerships. I wouldn't say they made that much profit thought, since the quantity of money they received from each client was probably around 5% of the regular payment and it wasn't attached to interest generated (that's how the bank makes money!), it was already inside the regular payment for the car note.
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Well deserved! I'll actually list three of my favorites
1. I called a client who was hooked up the dealership's "Smart Pay" program (instead of just setting up an auto draft through us, the bank). The dealership drafted out around $600 per month out of her account and then sent us around $350 monthly (which was probably like $5 more than her regular payment). Also, and you can already guess this since I was calling, the dealership was sending the money to us 20-30 days late! So the poor woman was getting credit bureaus negative impacts+late charges+extra interest and still getting scammed an extra $250 from her dealership. When I asked the lady why would she think the dealership was withdrawing an extra 250 that they didn't send us, she said she thought was around a year ahead on her loan...
2. I got this alot. Dealearships offering things to clients that we would never give them such as: "30 day grace period, 3 month deferment" or telling them that their loan wouldn't start until after 3 months of when they obtained the car.
3. Payoffs! Dealerships will tell you anything when you trade-in cars. I took so, SO many calls from people who had traded-in a car 40-50 days ago and the dealership still hadn't sent any payoff. The client, meanwhile was getting some good credit bureau reportings and some annoying collection calls (hehe). Oh, and if you do this, please be aware it's not the bank's fault the dealership hasn't sent the payoff. So call your dealership and deal with it, don't tell the bank to call them.
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A few people I called had the bad habit that as soon as I identified the bank's name would start yelling profanity at me. I didn't even know what was going on with their account, and I certainly wasn't going to help them. Nothing really specific, just straight up profanity.
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Ahh people, and their concern for "privacy".
A repo agent calls the person and offers some kind of Hardship program or to pay the whole past due amount at once. If the person refuses, then the bank proceeded to call a repo agency. They take care of that, and yes they do send a tow-truck to your house.
Basically, repoing a car is the same as a cop taking a stolen car away from the thief's "private" driveway. They have a legal order to do so. In this case, the legal order would be the contract you signed at the beggining of the loan, which in most banks, reads that your car can be taken away at any point when the debt has not been paid. Even though the contract allows it, most banks still give customers around 3 months before starting the repo process, per company policy, but they can still take it away at anytime depending if they judge you as a high-risk costumer.
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Meter Maid
What's the meanest thing anyone's ever said to you?
Zookeeper and Animal Trainer
Which cuddly-seeming animals are actually dangerous to be around?
Stand-Up Comedian
How do you fend off hecklers?
The dealership does get the whole thing as soon as they finance the vehicle through a bank, but remember the bank doesn't do charity, so it'll charge you interest over an extended period of time to make profit of what they loaned you. Of course, the dealership keeps on getting money throughout the whole loan (as I explained in another question), so when you finance it, they'll inflate the price to get more money from you in the long run ;)
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Well, you see, I did first party collections. That means, I directly represented the bank. And also, I serviced loans who were only 0-60 DPD (Days Past Due). Because of this two things, if I ever even jokingly was instructed that by a supervisor, and I followed through, we'd both catch fire. Quick.
First party collections when you are only past due for 1 or 2 months is soft. I believe 60+ and Repo did get a bit more leeway, but reading account notes on some customers who had been in and out of Repo made me think they treated the customer most of the time better than me...
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In the case of my bank, an auto financing institution, we never sold a debt. The thing is, if you owe 10k on your car, the bank will simply repossess it (when they sign their contracts, clients are informed their cars can be repossessed at any time any payments are past due. We only did let go of debts when they were insignificant amounts, such as someone owing $50 and refusning to pay.
"Hard-to-collect debts" would mostly occur with a bank's credit card business, as there is no collateral, or on hospital bills. In that case, the original financial institution doesn't just "sell" the debt, it just gives it it to a 3rd party collection agency, who will get a percentage of what the debt is, probably 10-50%. Like I said, this only happens on the credit card LOB or other bills like hospital bills.
Call your bank and tell them you're not paying your mortgage or car loan and see what happens :)
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