Co-signer on auto loan gone bad

I'm not sure if I have this in the right place or not. My husband, while not thinking straight (in my opinion) co-signed on a loan with his business. The company had no credit, so his was used. Both the company as well as him are on the title & registration. His partner, a relative, insisted on buying this expensive truck and didn't have any credit. In the year that he has had it, he has caused 5-6 reports of late payments 30 & 60 days late added to my husbands credit report. He kept telling us "Yes, I did make the payment, just wasn't posted yet?". Anyway, you get the point.
My husband has since left as co-owner and officer of this company, but, obviously, still on the loan. The partners name is no-where on the loan, but the company's is. I have been told it is a 50/50 as to who can have the vehicle. The partner is allowed because he is an officer of the company, but we are just as entitled to it as well. We have not been able to acquire the vehicle, he does not want to give it up. He has been very unreponsible and also let the insurance lapse, so we now have the vehicle covered since my husbands name is on the truck. Is there any recourse or information regarding this? I have never been in a situation like this. We are trying to save our credit and do not want to have to have the truck reposessed, but we also do not want to have to make payments for him so that he has a vehicle to drive for free. Any suggestions? Thanks!

He is wrecking your credit plain and simple! If you keep allowing him to do this, he will do so of course.

If you are smart and since you are here I take it you are, since his name is no where on the vehicle, repo the vehicle at once!

I would enlist the services of the police if he isn't willing to give it easily, this will protect you as well.

He can then take his lazy ass and try and sue you for the truck back. Which in his case isn't gonna be easy cause the judge will see he is a mooch who doesn't pay.

Again, don't wait, Repo the truck ASAP!

Tac

The company is on title too, Tac. So there's the dispute.

I really don't know what your options are. You have a HUGE mess on your hands and I don't understand why one would leave a company without resolving this problem first.

Personally, I'd send a demand letter and ask for the truck to be immediately turned over physically as well as transferring title. I would also make the payments to protect the credit rating.

When he most likely doesn't comply, I would file suit in small claims against the company for the insurance cost and the payments that are made. Maybe filing the suit will get his attention, if not, after getting a judgment you may be able to get the truck.

Real court would be better, but a lot more costly.

My husband left the company because the truck isn't the only problem we had....he had spent almost every penny of the company's money by paying his rent, his wifes rent, and anything else he wanted to do. Cable, electricity, $4,000.00 vacations (all on a debit card). We tried to stop this once we noticed what was going on by opening a new account for the business without him on it....and he managed to get money out of that also, with no concern about payroll checks that were out. The account was flagged that only my husband was allowed to do anything with the account, a teller at a different brach, even though the flag was there, let him take money out twice and he signed his own name. The bank said the only thing we could do is file a civil charge, unbelievable since the teller wasn't supposed to let him take money out. We have subs and other bills that the company owed and haven't been able to pay because of his spending. According to the attorneys we talked to, they said to walk away from it before he got sucked in. We have some proof of what was going on, but they have told us that there is nothing we can do because he is co-owner/officer of the business also. This came from a detective at our police department that we had made an official visit to see. CRAZY.

So, there is the whole problem in a nutshell. This person has also been in court over a rather large bad check he wrote on company funds (that weren't there), without checking the account first. He's also now got other charges going for domestic problems. We haven't approached him in a real forceable manner because he has been prone to violence in the last couple of years for fear of him having a gun, etc with him.

The truck is the thing that is getting our credit though. The subs etc know exactly what is going on and why they haven't been paid. This whole scenerio is a bad one, and it has all been done by a family member, no doubt.

Sorry this was so long, just wanted to get a brighter picture of why the truck is where it is.

You need to speak to an attorney ASAP!!

This might get very costly for you. I hope that none of these "subs", "Employees" or anyone else done wrong by this deadbeat don't try and come after you for their money.

There is more at stake here then just a truck and a credit rating.

See that attorney as soon as you can!

Good Luck!

Tac

All of the subs, etc know exactly what is going on. It has literally been a nightmare. The company is still up and running for now and the subs are going to the company to try to collect. We do have proof of where the money went, buying furniture, large tv's, vacations etc instead of paying who needed to be paid. The secretary who was handling paying things was afraid to say anything much to my husband because he(yes, he) was afraid of retaliation by the other partner, with due cause.

I know it could get costly, I'm sure we will have attorney fees up the ying yang before long, that is one reason why I would like to get a $40,000 vehicle away and get it sold. One less headache to worry about.

Just wanted to say that this is a great site! Thanks!

Forgot to mention that we have been in contact with 3 different corporate attorneys and can't seem to get much of anything. 2 of them told my husband to walk away and resign his position before anything else happened. He has been officially gone for 2 weeks now and has his own corporation up and running. Some of the subs as well as employees (payroll) ended up with bounced checks because the partner had either used the debit card for large purchases or wrote checks for personal use without letting anyone know. My husband made good on the bad checks as soon as he found out, either by borrowing money or taking it out of his own money. My husband is a very honest person and the subs, etc know that VS the record of the partner, and they know that also. Hopefully this will help us later on.