Is there a statute of limits on reposessions?

Aaron asked the status of this account on my credit report. I have two answers for that question. When the payment was made & for months after that it showed as current and an open balance of $273.

The balance stayed the same for a few months then changed to $753, over 120 days late, but the last date of payment on the account changed to show it was years ago (not true) and the status is a charge off.

Cinnamngrl asked what state I live in and the answer is California.

She also asked who the lender was and originally it was Arcadia which became Transouth who was purchased by Citi-Financial Auto. I have no beef with Arcadia. They were my first lender for a couple months. Then Transouth Financial took over & remained until the last 4 months when it becan Citi-Financial Auto.

Transouth never sent me a late notice or complained about any payment problems. My statements didnt show the account past due either. A couple years into the loan I became concerned about how litte was applied to principal, so I requested a history report & found out that I had several payments missing (5 total @ $253 each). I gathered records & called, mailed, faxed and sent demands certified & was not able to resolve the matter. The only response I could get from them was verbally & it was all inaccurate & ever changing depending on the person I ended up with over the phone. They gave me every excuse you can think of to delay resolution, from wrong history reports, missunderstandings, promises to credit which never happened & even lied many times to get me off the phone by saying they located payments & were sending a notice in the mail. The notice would say that the payment I was missing was credited the following month. I.E. each payment was the same amount - $253. If I said the payment for April was not credited they would say - yes it was. It was just applied late to the account & you can see it on your May statement. Then I would tell them there was only one payment made in May, if thats my April payment where is my May payment? They would say it was applied in June. See where I am going with this? I could continue that game with them for months & never get anywhere. I have documentation of all correspondance & it sounds unbelievable but its all true. They changed personnel, departments & locations all the time. They said I was unable to ask to speak with a certain person & they had no out going lines to leave messages & ask for return calls.

The payments which were never applied were sent via bill pay services through my checking account & show on my bank statement as paid. Transouth said that they would not give me credit for the payments unless they were located within their company - meaning if they were missapplied to the wrong account & it was located they would remove the payment & apply it to mine. I sent copies of bank statements showing the payments I made. They were unable to locate the account that they were applied to in their system. They claim that if a payment is missapplied the computer kicks it back within 30 days & it stays in suspense until corrected. None of my payments made were kicked back or in suspense so they can only assume they were applied to the appropriate place. End of story.

I contacted the Attorney general about the problem with missapplied payments & then again (2 more times) for the payment that was refunded to an unknown source. The 1st complaint opened a file with the AG & they gave them 30 days to respond & they didn't. They closed the file with no response & sent me a letter stating they suggest legal assistance. The refund problem brought the same story - no response. About 90 days after the file was closed as no response, they sent a letter claiming they had no knowledge of any payment applied & refunded. I had them fax me statements when my payment was received & credited because I was disputing the balance due of less then $300.00. The statements show the payment applied. I got another statement after they told me verbally that the payment was refunded. It shows over 20 payments of $253 backed off one by one but all on the same date (almost 6 months after it was received & applied). After backing off the payment, they added a $12.50 late fee for each one removed, and then a finance charge for each one. The payment posted paid off the account 11 months early (including those not credited) & over paid it by more then $1,500. Removing it payment by payment put the account one month behind for each one regardless of whether it was already due on the contract or not. The payment was $5,300.00. After the last one was removed they added reposession fees, Attorney fees and then closed the account & charged it off in the computer. This was all done in the same day, transaction by transaction. It went from paid in advance to being many months deliquent all in one shot. There was no legal work done on the account but their computer system auto added $2,000 as "legal fees" due to the payments removed which made it more then a year behind. It auto added repo fee's even though no reposessor was dispatched to pick up the collateral. Once an account is that many months behind the computer automatically closes the account & charges it off the books. Once its charged off, it is removed & they can no longer work with you on it period. Because it is removed they cannot correct the payments missing or provide anymore account info to me (so they claim). They told me on the phone about the refund. I spoke to an inexperienced Girl who was new with the company and she was the actual person involved in the conversation with the party who called requesting information about the payment. She kept putting me on hold to talk to her supervisor to ask what she should say to me everytime i asked a question. I called to ask why my pink slip was delayed & had no idea there was a problem with the payment. We were battling over the balance due of less then $300 and receiving no credit for over $1,500 in payments made. They were in the middle of merging with Citi Financial Auto & my account records were scattered. They owed me a refund. I had to explain about the history of problems to the new account representative. She said that a party that she cannot disclose called to inquire about the payment that was applied to my account. I asked who and she said due to privacy laws she cannot discuss it. I told her I am the only customer in this situation and your privacy laws apply to me and my account only. She put me on hold & came back with sorry they are inexperienced in a problem like this & uncomfortable with disclosing further info at the moment. I asked her when the payment was removed & she told me it was almost 6 months after the date credited. I asked her how it was refunded as in what method she said she cant say. I asked her who it was sent to and she said cant say. I asked her why it was refunded and she said because there was confusion on whether it was applied correctly or not & the name on the account did not match the callers information or the information on the apyment source. All 3 were different. I asked if the caller reported fraud and she said no. I asked if they had a police report and she said no. I asked if another bank was involved and asking for the payment retracted and she said no. I kept her on the phone & wore her down until she told me that she was sorry and wished that she had called me and talked to me before she decided to refund the money. She said the caller sounded so truthful when they said they didn't know what account the money was sent to pay so she figured it had to be a mistake. I told her the account the money came from was my X employers and I am listed on that account with full permissions to transact. I can send whatever I want from it and he would have no recourse. I also called him and he was not the one requesting or receiving any refund of my payment. She said it was not a male caller. There are no other persons on that account. If the bank was not involved or the police department, how can they remove a cash wire that has been credited & final for almost six months? The bank said that because of the type of account it was & the electronic wire agreement on file - all out going wires by an authorized person are considered final after 3 business days. If we called the bank within 30 days of a transaction and disputed it or claimed fraud they would freeze the account & investigate but it is doubtful that they would credit any money because of the type of account we have & the transfer agreement we have on file. If it was my x boss or myself who made the transfer it was final. On occasion they will give a courtesy credit if its a big account & they cannot resolve it and its reported within 30 days of the transaction in question. If its over 30 days they will not get involved. A wire that is almost 6 months old is out of their hands. Even if law enforcement is involved they will not retrieve the payment. They will only verify the transactions for the police to use as evidence in an arrest case. The money would be lost and remain as it was transacted.

I am listed on the account and it still reports on my credit report with all 3 bureaus. I am authorized to receive info on that account & on my account with the lender.

As it stands now, Citi Financial Auto claims there was never a payment made on the account that was removed and refunded.
It is a collections account that is out of their hands and was charged off long ago. They cannot accept any payments on the account even if I wanted to pay the loan in full. They cannot reseraach any disputed payments to give me credit for those made and not received. They have nothing to say to me because it is no longer their account. I asked who has this account now? They had a collection agency call and say that they were handling the account & I told them what happened. They were actually helpful and said if I could prove I had sent a payment that was refunded like that, they would not bother me again and consider it closed. They said they would sue the lender and deal with them about it because they should not have received something like that. I faxed him a copy of the statement which showed the payment made. I showed him the statement the month prior to that payment that showed less then $4,700 due to pay off the account and the payment made was $5,300 and yet it showed a balance due of less then $300 after the application. I never heard from him again. I called back many times and they said I did not have an account with them any longer.

I took my x employer to the labor commissioners office over that payment. It is considered wages because he paid my car off with bonus money that was due to me & gave me the difference in cash. Unpaid wages are against the law. We went to court and I have no proof that he received a refund. He never got the money back. I cannot get any records from Citi Financial auto because they claim it never happened.

I tried taking it to small claims and they didnt show up. The judge pro tem said that I have received no damages so I am not due anything until they occur.

Why? Because I still have the car and the lender is no pursuing it although they claim verbally that the account is deliquent and technically could be reposessed at any time.

I made the payment & have the proof that it was more then what was owed.

He said I should demand the pink slip & if not released go over their head with the DMV & have the title restrained until I am able to get the issue solved.

So I sit here wondering and worrying that someone will show up to take my car any day now and leave me stranded. I tried interviewing Attorneys & no one was interested in taking my case. If they took my car I could get someone to defend me and collect damages. If I want to pay someone to pursue collecting the title I can do that too but they wont guarantee recovery of it. I will just pay legal fee's for each contact made with the lender & get reports of progress until the money deposited is depleted.

What can I do?