I bought out my leased vehicle last fall, and financed it through a credit union. A few months later DMV sends me the title and I don’t think much about it. Recently the bank sent me a letter saying they sent multiple letters trying to contact me and apparently my title does not have them listed as the lienholder. Turns out I am listed as the sole owner and no lienholders. Looks like the bank or the dealership screwed up and is putting blame on me. They’re threatening me with freezing all bank accounts, calling the loan due/payable, repossessing the vehicle, etc… if I don’t add them as a lienholder.
How do I add them as a lienholder? And am I even legally obligated to do it since they screwed up? And can they actually do those things they’re threatening me with? It sounds to me the bank messed up and basically gave me an unsecured loan on their end. I have of course made all payments on time and plan to pay it off early anyway.
Happend to me on my first E Class lease (thanks @michael ), I got a title in the mail with only me along with a POA from mercedes. I just called the dealer and said hey guys you made a mistake its a lease, I don’t own it free/clear. They were like “Oh $hit” can you send that to us, so yeah no problem, fedex it back to the dealer.
I dont know if this is right. The made a mistake and then waited month to resolve it. Legally, if OP protested the bank may well need to go to court to get title changed/argue to judge why they should be allowed to correct their mistake versus just moving forward with the loan as is, unsecured by the vehicle.
Of course, that is the wrong question. OP should just let the bank add themselves as lien holders. You owe the money regardless, its not worth your time or money (in legal fees) to protest this.
It certainly is not his car. No question the loan remains in effect and he must pay it off - which he says he is doing. But if he continues to pay loan timely they can’t tank his credit. They can probably take the car back but they would need a court action to do so since they aren’t listed on the title.
This is all academic, I agree he should just let the bank add themselves to title.
OP is probably asking if it is okay to stop paying and get a free car legally since it is the bank’s mistake. If he wanted instructions to resolve this, a 5 minute phone call would’ve done it and done it faster than making this thread.
Thanks for humoring my question. I agree it certainly is not my car since there is a promissory note given the loan. I was just wondering if they actually could do those threatening things they said on the letter given my payments have been on time and since they are not on the title they technically cannot repo the car. But yeah this is resolved now. I sent the bank a copy of the title and they will add themselves.
Also for what’s it’s worth - the tone of the original post seems off in that OP implies the bank is responsible for the fact the lien isn’t listed on the title. The bank typically isn’t the one applying for the title - it would either be the dealer handling the paperwork or the buyer handling directly. Isn’t clear if OP did lease buyout through the dealer or paid off directly to leasing company but in either case I doubt the credit union processed the registration & title process at DMV.
They can, I have seen it happen multiple times. If you read the terms and conditions of your retail installment contract, you can figure it out how. They just have to go through the process of obtaining a bonded title
