Repossession is the seizure of property by a creditor, ordinarily because of nonpayment of a debt. It can happen quickly and without much, if any, warning. A creditor may technically be able to repossess collateral immediately after a missed payment, but usually repossessions take place on accounts that are past due ten days ago. Since most creditors would rather have your money than your stuff, a lot of times you can work something out with the creditor if you are behind on payments If you ignore them, however, the creditor may decide to get your attention by repossessing the collateral. Or the creditor may just lose patience with you.
Repossessions are usually for what lawyers call personal property (most anything that isn’t real estate), such as cars, boats, ATVs, snowmobiles, etc.
Although sometimes people return the item to the lender (“voluntary repossession”) usually what happens is the lender sends someone to get the collateral. Cars, for instance, often disappear at 2 a.m., when everyone is asleep except the repo man. The last you see of your car is the tail lights heading down the driveway.
After getting its hands on the collateral, the lender will ordinarily send to auction where it will bring pathetically little, and apply the proceeds to the debt, and then chase you for the shortage.
There are all sorts of wrinkles and exceptions to what I just said; if you are behind on your payments feel free to call me at 320-252-4473.
