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The thermometer showed a 103.5-degree fever, and her 10-year-old’s asthma was flaring up. Mary Bolender, who lives in Las Vegas, needed to get her daughter to an emergency room, but her 2005 Chrysler van would not start.
The cause was not a mechanical problem — it was her lender.
Ms. Bolender was three days behind on her monthly car payment. Her lender, C.A.G. Acceptance of Mesa, Ariz., remotely activated a device in her car’s dashboard that prevented her car from starting. Before she could get back on the road, she had to pay more than $389, money she did not have that morning in March.
“I felt absolutely helpless,” said Ms. Bolender, a single mother who stopped working to care for her daughter. It was not the only time this happened: Her car was shut down that March, once in April and again in June.
This new technology is bringing auto loans — and Wall Street’s version of Big Brother — into the lives of people with credit scores battered by the financial downturn.
Auto loans to borrowers considered subprime, those with credit scores at or below 640, have spiked in the last five years. The jump has been driven in large part by the demand among investors for securities backed by the loans, which offer high returns at a time of low interest rates. Roughly 25 percent of all new auto loans made last year were subprime, and the volume of subprime auto loans reached more than $145 billion in the first three months of this year.
But before they can drive off the lot, many subprime borrowers like Ms. Bolender must have their car outfitted with a so-called starter interrupt device, which allows lenders to remotely disable the ignition. Using the GPS technology on the devices, the lenders can also track the cars’ location and movements.
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This entire is total BS and the only reason I posted is to illustrate how winy people can be. Not one person who gets loans for one of these vehicles attached with these devices does not know it is there. They sign papers agreeing to it. Seriously, if you have a problem with it do not get the loan. This article is crying for NEEDLESS regulation. Nobody is being tricked here. The only argument I see valid is disabling the car while its driving, which is just stupid for a creditor to do because it opens them up to all kinds of liabilities. Bottom line - if you want your car to start and you have one of these loans - pay your freaking bill.
The cause was not a mechanical problem — it was her lender.
Ms. Bolender was three days behind on her monthly car payment. Her lender, C.A.G. Acceptance of Mesa, Ariz., remotely activated a device in her car’s dashboard that prevented her car from starting. Before she could get back on the road, she had to pay more than $389, money she did not have that morning in March.
“I felt absolutely helpless,” said Ms. Bolender, a single mother who stopped working to care for her daughter. It was not the only time this happened: Her car was shut down that March, once in April and again in June.
This new technology is bringing auto loans — and Wall Street’s version of Big Brother — into the lives of people with credit scores battered by the financial downturn.
Auto loans to borrowers considered subprime, those with credit scores at or below 640, have spiked in the last five years. The jump has been driven in large part by the demand among investors for securities backed by the loans, which offer high returns at a time of low interest rates. Roughly 25 percent of all new auto loans made last year were subprime, and the volume of subprime auto loans reached more than $145 billion in the first three months of this year.
But before they can drive off the lot, many subprime borrowers like Ms. Bolender must have their car outfitted with a so-called starter interrupt device, which allows lenders to remotely disable the ignition. Using the GPS technology on the devices, the lenders can also track the cars’ location and movements.
Miss a Payment? Good Luck Moving That Car
Subprime lenders are increasingly relying on technology that allows them to track and disable delinquent borrowers’ vehicles with just a tap of a cellphone app.
archive.nytimes.com
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This entire is total BS and the only reason I posted is to illustrate how winy people can be. Not one person who gets loans for one of these vehicles attached with these devices does not know it is there. They sign papers agreeing to it. Seriously, if you have a problem with it do not get the loan. This article is crying for NEEDLESS regulation. Nobody is being tricked here. The only argument I see valid is disabling the car while its driving, which is just stupid for a creditor to do because it opens them up to all kinds of liabilities. Bottom line - if you want your car to start and you have one of these loans - pay your freaking bill.
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