02/12/2021
Car Lease Problems? A friend of mine who is a real estate lawyer was doing a mortgage for a client who was buying a house. The client was approved for the mortgage EXCEPT they found an R9 on her credit report. An R9 is basically an unpaid or "bad debt", so the bank would not go ahead with the mortgage until the R9 was fixed. The client was very shocked as she had excellent credit (or thought she did) as she paid all her bills.
When she looked into it, the R9 was from the dealership she had leased a car with. She had returned the car at the end of the lease and they said thank you and she thought that was the end of things. This was about 3 years ago.
She called the dealership as she thought this was a mistake. They said no, there were supposedly chipped paint damage and had reported $500.00 to the credit bureau as an unpaid debt. When she asked why she was just now finding out about this, they said, "oh, we called, we wrote letters and you ignored it". She said she had not moved and she had not changed phone numbers. The dealer replied that you either pay this or it stays there.
The client had sold her home and needed to buy a home and needed a mortgage within one month. If she took legal action against the dealer, or tried to correct the credit bureau, it would take more than one one month and it would cost more than $500.00 in legal fees. The dealer can't even go to court because more than 2 years have passed and it would be uncollectable in court. So, she paid the $500.00. She felt like the victim in a shakedown and will try to seek justice after the real estate deal closes.
If this has happened to you or anyone you know, there may be strength in numbers and if this is discovered to be a standard business practice instead of an isolated exception, the victims might be part of a class action.
For a free consultation, please have them call me at 416-258-7590. Or, if they have their own lawyer, their lawyer can call me so we can co-ordinate a response and legal fees might become affordable in a group setting.
