Jail for late vehicle payments

kschmitt · #1 07-18-2006, 07:52 AM

is there a law in texas that you can take someone to jail for a pmt being 2 months behind ? or the credit union getting a court order to surrender vehicle ?

GreatGadsby · #2 07-18-2006, 08:34 AM

there are no more debtor prisons in the US. (maybe for the IRS)

IAAL · #3 07-18-2006, 09:23 AM

Quoting GreatGadsby

there are no more debtor prisons in the US. (maybe for the IRS)

My response:

Correct, and the Credit Union could reposses the vehicle for non-payment, pursuant to the contract and/or State law.

IAAL

kschmitt · #4 07-19-2006, 07:54 AM

Well !! Is there a law in Texas ? To get a court order to surrender the vehicle ? That was one of my questions.

GreatGadsby · #5 07-19-2006, 08:12 AM

of course there is, it's basic contract law. when you signed the deal to finance the car, the lender has a clause in there where they can take it back if you don't pay. they may not even need to take you to court first, read your contract !

aaron · #6 07-19-2006, 08:42 AM

Is the issue that you made payments late, or that you are now alleged to be trying to hide the car such that it cannot be repossessed?

Libbie Green · #7 07-22-2006, 05:53 PM

The creditor can potentially sue you and get a court judgment to make you pay (and THEN if you don't pay, you could get jail time) but I don't think it's legal to threaten you with jail time "up front." This is, after all, a civil matter--not a criminal matter. If you have a court judgment already against you for the amount in question, that may be a different story.

GreatGadsby · #8 07-22-2006, 07:02 PM

They can NOT put you in jail for not paying on a civil judgement. the only way that could happen is if the judge signed an order for you to turn over the car and you didn't, then he could order you to jail for contempt.