Brother repossessed his truck from us, what do we do?

Question

2 years ago May my husband was looking to buy a used truck and his brother had one for sale. We had his brother call for payoff and he told us it was around 7200.00. We have mailed his brother 300 a month since then. A couple months ago, we figured out that we had paid 8100. We called and said what is going on, we overpaid you by 900!! He told us there is still almost 2000. left on the loan. His brother denies ever telling us a payoff amount, which is crazy because we never would have bought a truck not knowing for how much. We then told him would not be sending him any more payments, that we already overpaid and he should be paying us back. He then told us that he did not have the money to finish off the loan and we said fine, we would split the payment for remainder of loan. For 3 months we have sent him 150 for a total of 8550.
Last week we were on vacation and his brother came, broke into truck and took it home, about 400 miles away, he called and said he was repossessing it

We are home now. His brother will not give the truck back. He said it is in his name and he can do what he wants. There was never anything in writing because it was my husbands twin brother. What do we do now? Can we sue his brother for the amount that we have paid him? Or force him to give us the truck back by taking him to court? The truck should be ours because of our verbal agreement.

I mean, we have paid 8550. to his brother, well over what he told us payoff was, and then when we tell him we won't send him 300 a month anymore, he breaks into it and takes it back!! We just want to know what we can legally do, either to get the truck and title, or the money that we have paid. I have proof of all cancelled checks showing we paid him.

Answer 1

The pay off amount is not the balance due if you continue making monthly payments. It is the amount due if you pay off the loan that day. Beyond that date, more interest is added increasing the amount of payback.

I guess you know how foolish you were to blindly pay someone that amount of money with nothing in writing. You can sue the brother in small claims court without an attorney but you won't get the full amount you paid for several reasons. The first reason is the limitation on the amount of small claims, which varies by state. The second is that you had the use of the truck and that should not be free.

Why don't you ask the lender to provide you with a loan history which will detail all of the payments made on the loan and you can probably resolve this with the twin brother without going to court.

Answer 2

The payoff was $7,200 2 years ago. Interest on the loan that he's paying continued to accrue so it would not be unusual at all for there to be an outstainding balance at this time. You don't get to pay off a loan without interest!

If the truck was still titled in the brother's name or if he was listed as the lienholder on the title then what he did was probably entirely legal.

Next time, get your own bank loan and don't depend upon someone else's credit.

Answer 3

Basically you got screwed by the twin brother. Now there is really nothing you can do except swallow it, and learn by your mistakes. In all legality it is still his vehicle. it is as if though you were just leasing/renting it from him. Everything is still in his name, so he is still the sole owner. Your money only paid the renting of it. he can break into his own vehicle without a problem. Now, if he files an insurance claim if their was any damage done to the vehicle, then you can turn him in for falsifying information. Go ahead and make a police report. After all he was on your property without you at home. best of luck and answers to you. I think that you will just find that your brother is not your friend and never make deals with family.

Answer 4

a pay-off on a loan for anything is cheaper than a monthly payment.because your eliminating interest .it sounds like he told you the pay-off price,which means if you gave him/the bank the 7200 dollars.your done cause you eliminated interest.but you paid the monthly payments so the price is going to be thousands higher,so he was right for taking the truck back.i think you need to learn what a loan is before you think hes wrong.

Answer 5

That is why it's so important to have everything in writing ...family or not.If you have cancelled cheques made out to him as proof that you have given him the money you may be able to take him to small claims court and try and get the truck or your money back but small claims will only go as high as $5000.