GM Recalls 1.4 Million 1997-2004 Cars for Fire Risk

Today General Motors announced that it was recalling 1.4 million cars due to the risk of a catastrophic fire.  According to ttac.com, the recalled calls are in the following years, makes and models which span most of GM's divisions.

According to Reuters, the affected cars come from the following makes and models:

• 1997-2004 Pontiac Grand Prix
• 2000-2004 Chevrolet Impala
• 1998-1999 Chevrolet Lumina
• 1998-2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
• 1998-1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue
• 1997-2004 Buick Regal

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/27/us-gm-recall-idUSKCN0SL1PO20151027

These cars are the bread and butter of the buy-here/pay-here lots, and BHPH customers are probably the least likely to take the cars in for recalls. That's unfortunate, because other than their lives, they have the most to lose.  The owners rarely have true full coverage insurance, and a fire loss to their cars will usually be the straw that breaks the financial camel's back.

About a year ago, I saw a Chevrolet Impala that I guessed to be about a 2004 model catch fire while stopped at a busy intersection near my home in Indianapolis.  That car burned to a smoldering heap in the two minutes between the time it started smoking stopped at the light and the time the fire department arrived.  The driver got out safely but if there had been two kids in child seats, there may not have been time to get them out.  I was too far a way to help or even take pictures, but the video below of a Monte Carlo on fire looks very similar to what I saw but the fire I saw spread faster. 

Here's a video of a Chevrolet Impala catching fire during a routine oil change.

For most of these cars, the new recall is not the first recall due to fire risk.  In 2009 there was a recall that was deemed to be so urgent that GM advised owners not to park the vehicles in their garages until the recall work was done.    

If you see dark smoke, or any smoke coming from the hood of your car, immediately stop, get everybody out of the car then call 911. DON'T RAISE THE HOOD.  That will bring more oxygen to the fire and may cause it to flare up.  

If you have a car that caught on fire.  Make sure you report it to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/.  If your car is destroyed in a car fire that wasn't caused by an accident, talk to a NACA lawyer near you.  Find one at www.naca.net.

Apartment Owners of America (AOA) / Landlordsofamerica.com Consumer Credit and Background Report - Are They reporting non-evictions as evictions?

More and more landlords are checking credit reports before they grant leases.  Often they don't pull standard credit reports, they pull special "trimerge" reports combining data from various sources.

A consumer contacted me because she she was refused an apartment lease based on a "consumer credit and background report" issued by Apartment Owners of America through the website landlordsofamerica.com.  Trans Union Landlord Tenant Report.  The report contained the following heading

#2 National Eviction Search/Landlord Tenant Records: Exact Name Matches (check

carefully)

After that it had information about a state court judgment but that judgment was NOT a landlord tenant case, and it wasn't an eviction.  The report listed this as coming from Trans Union.

This type of judgment reporting seems designed to be overly inclusive of unrelated judgment reported as eviction records.  NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES if this happened to you, please contact me through my website www.hoferlawindy.com.

 I will try to network with a NACA member attorney near you to stop this practice.  (Note, for our purposes, it doesn't matter if it was more than two years ago.)

Bad Company of the day: Westlake Financial Services/Wilshire Consumer Credit

"Bad" really doesn't cover the things Westlake Financial Services and its affilliate, Wilshire Consumer Credit, were doing to their customers.

Westlake/Wilshire is in the business of high risk auto loans. Being in the high risk loan business doesn't give a company the right to lie and cheat when collecting its bills.  According to the results of a CFPB investigation written about in this time.com article, Westlake/Wilshire collectors used a program called "Skip Tracy" to falsify caller ID information.  They used the fake caller ID data to pose as pizza and flower delivery services, and in those calls asked for extra information such as where the customer's car was located.  Presumably this helped them repo the car.  On the other hand, they used "REPO" on the caller ID to harass customers when they actually weren't trying to repo the car.

Once again, the CFPB proves that it is much more on the ball than the Federal Trade Commission ever was when it comes to policing a wide variety of marketplace misconduct.

If you think you are the victim of a collection company falsifying caller ID information, file a complaint with the cfpb at consumerfinance.gov/complaint.  If they get your car, get your money or engage in especially outrageous conduct, contact a consumer attorney through NACA at www.naca.net.

More on Pension Factoring - Pension Assignments

We just did our third case in support of pensioners who got involved in pension assignment contracts.  In my opinion, these contracts are illegal not just from the point of view of the seller, but also from the point of view of the buyer as well.  From the seller's point of view, they are disguised loans without required disclosure. From the buyers' point of view, they are illegal securities.  The basic rule of securities law is that, unless an exemption applies, the security must be registered and the seller must be licensed to sell the security.  In most of these cases, the security is not registered and the seller is not licensed to sell the security.

Many times these pension securities are sold to unsuspecting buyers by their trusted life insurance agents.  These life insurance agents may have a bond and professional liability insurance. This is important because the companies putting these securities together may be practically insolvent or their assets may be out of reach of a reasonable-cost lawsuit.  The sellers' only recourse may be to bring a claim against the life insurance agent or other person who sold them the security.

Note this applies not just to pension securities but other investments that might be sold by brokers and agents.  I have seen cases involving illegal church bonds, for example.

If you bought a pension investment that is not performing, or were sold some other type of worthless security from a life insurance agent, including church bonds or unregistered corporate bonds, please call my office at 317-662-4529.

Of course, we still represent consumers who have sold part of their pensions. Here are some of the companies that are involved in the industry

Voyager Financial Group, LLC (also doing business as Pension4Case, Cash out my Pension, Buy Your Pension)
Veterans Benefit League
Cash Flow Investment Partners
LumpSum Pension Advance
Pension Funding, LLC
Pensions Annuities & Settlements LLC
Pension Income LLC
DFR Pension Funding
Veterans Benefit Leverage
First American Finance Corporation
Investing Forward (Termbrokers LLC)

The Strange Case of The College Network and Oak Rock Financial

I do not actually have any cases right now involving the College Network, but after hearing and reading news stories alleging hundreds of complaints against the Indianapolis-based company, I decided I better learn a little more about them. There are eight pages of complaints at the website lettertobarackobama.com. The Better Business Bureau, at the time I checked, reported 426 complaints about the College Network.  It appears that they may not promise the same things to all the applicants. One thing appears clear, and that is the College Network asserts that they are not a school. This means the loans people take out are not student loans given special treatment by federal law, including being exempt from discharge in bankruptcy without substantial hardship.

If you have a loan originated by the College Network with ANY finance company, you should be aware that any claim or defense that you could raise against the College Network you can raise as a defense against your lender.  In other words, you might have a defense to paying your student loans.

One finance company that has been reported to be used by the College Network, Inc. is Oak Rock Financial, LLC.  Oak Rock's CEO, John Murphy was found guilty of defrauding the bank's investors to the tune of almost $100 million.  He could have received 30 years in prison, but he actually got sentenced to 8 years one month.  Note that when a scam artist defrauds wealthy investors and venture capitalists, that scamster gets prosecutor, but when big banks defraud millions of ordinary Americans, those banksters get off scott free.

Please contact my office by phone or email if you want to talk about it. Or you can find a NACA consumer lawyer in your area at www.naca.net.  I would like to collect a list of all the finance companies used by the College Network and all the debt collection agencies used by those lenders.

Some names that have come up in the scope of my investigation  are:

American Credit Exchange
Westcom Credit Union
Southeast Financial Credit Union
Lifeway Credit Union
Lockhart Morris and Montgomery

On the Difficulty of finding a Consumer Attorney in a Small Town

Since going back into private practice in early 2014, after being at UAW Legal Services Plans for 16 years, I have frequently received calls regarding consumer problems from people who live in small towns in Indiana and elsewhere.  Even in Indiana, some of these consumers are four hours by car from Indiana's consumer attorneys who are almost all located in central Indiana.

To be candid and frank, it can be challenging to represent a consumer who lives far from my office. Even a five minute routine court hearing can mean a full day out of the office.  Needless to say, this makes it difficult to price one's services.   I have worked out some strategies to make it feasible to represent Indiana consumers who live well outside of Marion County.  This works best in cases that are not yet the subject of a court case.  In court cases thought it still may be practical.  In debt defense cases, for example, the defense lawyer is often not only from out of town, but may be from out of state as well.  In those cases, we can usually avoid unnecessary court appearances.

I have had a few cases where I coached a local lawyer to represent a consumer that I couldn't get to.  The bottom line is, even if you are from the far corners of Indiana, or if you are far from an interstate or state highway, please don't hesitate to call my office. I can probably still help you.

We are Investigating Elite Imports - Fresh from news from an FBI raid

We are investigating Elite Imports on 52nd and Keystone in Indianapolis.  The news report that Elite had been on probation with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles for title delivery issues.

For more information, check out the WRTV story.

If you are having a problem with this or any other dealership, please contact us. Don't believe the BIG LIE the finance company tells you.  If the dealer arranged the financing, any claim you can raise against the dealer, you can raise against the finance company. This means that if the dealer lies to you, steals your money, steals your trade in, makes you come back in and sign a new contract, you may have recourse against the finance company too and not just an undercapitalized dealer.  If you are out of Indiana, go to NACA.net and find a good consumer attorney.