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View Full Version : Car accident / Banker impropriety



queenmama
12-15-2012, 09:51 AM
These two are unrelated but I figured I'd condense.

DH has been driving my car because his had the timing belt go out and he hasn't had time to mess with it. He was in a car accident yesterday (thankfully there were no injuries) and my car is likely going to be totalled. We have to wait on insurance to sort it out because there were witnesses but they can't say for sure who had a green light.

DH swears his was green -- and he wouldn't lie to me or anyone else about it, he is an honorable person and also very much the type to own up to his mistakes, unlike myself (lol) -- and one car turned left in front of him then the car he t-boned followed suit. I don't know how insurance will prove fault, but at any rate, we have gone from two cars to zero in less than a week.

ETA: Do we need to replace an infant seat base? We do have a second but the seat is borrowed so I need to know if we need to replace the one that was in my car at the time. Thankfully it was just the base at not the whole seat!

The bank thing started with us at fault... We had a couple of things go kaput in the past month or two, first the heater/thermostat and then the washing machine. We have hardly any savings so we had to skip our HELOC payment last month to make repairs and were waiting on this week's paycheck so we could get caught up.

The bank VP has tried getting in touch with us but I haven't made an effort to return his calls and DH is unavailable (working nights and sleeping days) so VP has resorted to calling MIL. Is this even legal??? She's not on our accounts at any bank, but we live in a small town and she banks there, so I guess he knows we're related. It just seems improper if not illegal, and it's also frustrating to have our parents up in our business.

I remember the recent BP about the bank giving the DH private info and this somehow seems worse... I just can't believe a bank feels like it is okay to involve third parties!

DH doesn't see it as such a big deal, and he is planning on going down today to settle our account, but I am super frustrated and feel like something should be said to the VP.

Again, it is our fault for getting behind, and maybe if we'd spoken to him to explain he wouldn't have felt compelled to call MIL (twice!), but I feel like that was out of line regardless. Am I wrong?

Lara

Pennylane
12-15-2012, 10:21 AM
It is totally not appropriate! I would speak to his superior and threaten to file a complaint with the Federal banking agency. Unless she is somehow connected to your account, consigned the mortgage or something like that, no information should have been given to her. I would be furious!!

Ann

amldaley
12-15-2012, 10:40 AM
You may have listed her as next of kin or nearest relative or something when you initially signed up for the account.

My mom will occassionally get a random call about my student loans even though I took them out after I was married and living away from her b/c she is listed in some obscure place on my application form.

Your MIL can simply tell them to stop calling her IRT your account and they MUST do so.

Melbel
12-15-2012, 10:43 AM
I am sorry about your run of bad luck. I received collection calls for my sister who was behind on her mortgage. She lives over 4 hours away and has never shared an address with me (1/2 sisters). I told the collector that I found the call harassing, in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Act and advised them not to call again.

TwinFoxes
12-15-2012, 10:44 AM
I agree that MIL may have been listed as a contact somewhere. I would be annoyed too.

I don't know what state you're in, but a good friend's DH was in a similar accident in California, but he was the one turning, and got t-boned (light was yellow, he thought guy would stop). The law there is the person turning left in that situation is always at fault, you're supposed to yield to oncoming traffic and only proceed when safe.

BabyBearsMom
12-15-2012, 12:09 PM
It is fairly normal for creditors to call family members to track you down if you owe them money and you don't respond to their attempts to contact you. Collection agencies do it all the time and I'm pretty sure it is legal.

ETA: definitely legal because the bank holds the debt. See http://www.lawmo.org/law_fdc.htm

kristenk
12-15-2012, 12:13 PM
I think it's legal for the bank to call people in an effort to contact you. I don't think they can discuss the matter about which they're calling, though. So, they can call your MIL, identify themselves and ask about a way to contact you. They can't say that they're calling b/c you're behind on your payments. I don't think they can contact the relative more than once.

I think that's what I heard on Dave Ramsey one day.