The safest thing to do is send a money order priority post. Buy it at Money Mart. Only after satisfactory receipt of a letter that states $4000 will result in the account being paid in full.

Update:

Called NCO today about my $4000 settlement offer. The NCO office manager already sent the request in to WFF and it was accepted (so yes Angella, you were correct when you said NCO was lying, lol).

They will be emailing a scanned copy of the letter (original) I will be recieving by mail accepting the $4000 settlement and release letter.

They suggested that I make the payment via internet banking (my chequing account). Is there anything I need to watch out for with these people??? I am afraid that they will have my account number somehow and be able to take more money.

BTW... I s'pose I could be wrong... but in my experience, once the account is "sold" to a collection agency the former lender has no more interest in the account, and therefore no say in a settlement.

Somewhere along the way, NCO is lying to you.

As for what a collection agency can and cannot do... here's a link

http://www.qp.gov.ab.ca/documents/Regs/1999_194.cfm?frm_isbn=0779743393

That seems awfully high for an original 6000 loan that you had been paying on for three years and defaulted less than a year ago on. I'd ask for a statement of account to prove this amount... and do not give them anything in writing in the meanwhile.

Once you have asked for it, they must provide it. If they don't and they continue to call you then you can point out that you are not discussing it without an itemized history/statement of account. Also, according to legislation they must provide it within 30 days, or provide you with a letter stating they can't get it... and why.

Once you have it (if you get it), I'd consider approaching Wells Fargo, telling them you're in a position now to pay the loan (if you are), but that, on principle you won't deal with a collection agency. You'd like them to recall the loan and you'll make arrangements with them. Some companies will actually do that, although I'm not sure about WFF.

Update:

I called WFF, and they refered me to NCO Financial who has the file now. So I called NCO financial. I asked them what the buy out was on the loan, and what the settlement cost was. I was astonished when they informed me that the amount was over $12000, and the settlement was about $8000, I expected the total buy out to be about $5000-$6000. The rep told me there was an additional $3540 of additional charges added by "NSET" (at least that is what the name sounded like) the collection agency they bought the loan off of, and NCO had added $229 in interest. I asked the rep. for NCO if that was legal to add such fees, she assured me it was. I offered a settlement total of $4000, and the rep. said to call her when I had the cash in hand and she would contact WFF for approval on the settlement amount.

So, has anyone heard of "NSET" before, and can they add huge fees like that?

What is the likelyhood of the $4000 settlement offer being accepted?

Thanks for your help.

DBG

If you don't want to contact WFF to find out what's outstanding on the loan, then you're going to have to run some checks yourself.

You mentioned having a credit card. Go online and purchase your credit report (I assume you need the information quickly) if you have room on your card. If your card is maxed, Safeway sells Visa gift cards that will work. Your credit report will show the status of your loan and how much is left over. You may also want to consider purchasing your credit score as it seems strange you are being refused with the score you mentioned... unless your debt load is too heavy. They will also turn you down for that.

Go to Motor Vehicles and check for liens registered against your vehicle.

Whatever decisions you make from there... at least they are made from a position of knowledge rather than what you think or are afraid the situation might be.

If you're going to a side lot place you will definitely need to have a mechanic check it out first and then do a "write off" check.

If the vehicle is worth 5g, depending on when the loan went defunct you may actually have most of the loan paid off and have enough left over to buy a cheaper truck cash.

I would be very careful about the little 'side lot' places you speak of. Especially the ones that say 'no credit, bad credit, no problem'. Often times they use this to lure you in, do a credit check and turn you away. It's no loss to them and you take a hit at the credit bureau.
Not to mention most of what they sell are write-offs that have been fixed up, and rarely have the accident history.

I'm not even going to touch the cost of these vehicles...I think Ray said it all.

PB.

Perhaps the loan was unsecured and they didn't actually take an interest in your truck...?

Do you still have your original documents? How long did you still have to pay on the truck?

Ray, I know the interest at these places is stupid outrageous, but it has to be better than insurance fraud.

Have you tried Cars on Time? Some of the little side lot places do their own financing.

I bought the truck 7 years ago for about $15G through VFC. About 3 years ago, I had a family crisis and needed money. I sought out WFF for a loan, they gave me $6000 to pay off the rest of loan with VFC (under a grand left), and the rest was a cash loan. I ran into money trouble late last winter, security breaches with my bank accounts, etc.

My insurance company rep. saw the lien from VFC and asked for a letter of release. I provided it. They have never mentioned another lien.

I figure the payout by the insurance company SHOULD cover whats left owing to WFF, but can I take the risk of not having a vehicle.....NO!!!

I just need to have a vehicle lined up before I turn the truck over, one way or another.