How Can We Help This Driver?

[ATeam]

By "we," I don't mean Diane and me alone. I mean anyone inclined to help or knows someone that may have a solution.

We met this solo D-unit expediter today at a truck stop in a typical drivers-talk-shop chat. He has been sitting a while. He paid off his house in November. He leases his truck from a vendor and is just four payments shy of owning the truck. His credit is not good.

In these slow freight times, he has fallen behind on his payments and repossession is being threatened. The truck is worth $30,000 easy as it sits. He owes $15,000.

As Diane talked to him first and then me in a second conversation, he did not ask for help. To conserve cash, he is eating one meal a day. He declined the $100 bill I tried to give him for food. He later took it after I told him he did not want to lay in his sleeper overnight and regret not taking the $100 earlier in the day. He agreed to take it as long we would let him pay us back when he can.

You know how it is. You meet someone and get a sense of him or her. You can read people (sometimes incorrectly, I admit) and you can read trucks. This guy's truck has been well cared for. It is showing its age as any older truck would, but this is a cared-for truck operated by a good driver (in our judgment).

Details remain to be verified but I believe him. He will have someone at home fax us his lease and other info for Diane to review and verify his story. If need be, we can have him have someone at his carrier verify his numbers.

That's for later. Right now, I'm looking for ideas.

His repo deadline is Friday. Diane and I are never going to be fleet owners so the idea of us buying the truck and leasing it back to him on reasonable terms is out. We want to help but gifting $15,000 to a stranger is a bit much for us. We are not inclined to lend that amount to him either. Doing so shatters one of our precious goals; that of living a simple life. Hating debt as we do, we have no desire to get on the creditor side of the creditor/debtor relationship.

But we are willing to cast about to see if we can help this man find a solution and keep his truck. Even if he later leaves expediting, it just doesn't sit right with us to see a guy earn all but the very last part of his truck, only to see it go to the lender. If nothing else, he can sell the truck and get $30,000. If it goes back to the lender, he gets nothing.

Never having traded in the used truck market and having only had one truck loan, I know very few people to call for ideas or solutions.

Does anyone here have any ideas to share?

Thanks in advance for anything you share.

 

[ds1450]

Hi Guys.. Check your private mailbox, I left you a message earlier.

Sounds like if this guy files BK right now, he will have 90 days to get caught up or pay it off. If he has no other debt he can restructure... if he has debt he can decide what to do. But this buys him time. In 90 days he should have enough to at least pay it down to a reasonable level. This is assuming he hasn't filed in the past 7 years. The BK filing for a simple attorney and fee's should not be more than $800 - $1,000. Hope this helps.

 

[Bruno]

Very good post Phil. God will remember your guys for your good deed. Have him call around to the dealers to see if they may want to buy his truck for $30,000 then he could pay it off and have $15,000 left over. What kind of truck is it and what year is it? What carrier does he have it on with. I will try to help as much as I can Phil with the people I know. This is the best post I have ever seen you do, it show a different side of you.

 

[pjjjjj]

If the truck has $30K value, and only $15K is needed, if you are so inclined, why not pay the $15K, and put it in your name, and make arrangements for affordable payments for him. It might be a better bet than day trading, or interest you might have accrued from banking the money? If he were to default, you would still own the truck. If worse came to worst, you could either sell, probably for a profit, or hire a driver or team and become a fleet owner. As much as this is not your goal, it would only happen in the event your research and gut feelings were wrong, and even still, you wouldn't be taking a loss, (as long as it's insured).

That seems pretty crappy that a lessor would take repossession of the truck with only 4 payments left, but I guess you could be right. They could see an opportunity to make even more money for themselves by taking it, as opposed to working with him on the remaining 4 payments. (They must have been awfully high payments?? Or how far is he behind?)

If you are inclined to do this, make sure you CYA by having the truck looked over thoroughly by someone you trust, and get some knowledgable input as to what it's worth. Also a good idea to pull a credit history.. it's one thing to not have a good one, but another thing to have one that contains fraud. And as has been mentioned elsewhere on EO, make sure you get title.

One thing that kind of put up a bit of a pink flag for me was... do creditors really tell you exactly when they will take repossession? I don't know since we have thankfully not experienced this, but seems to me a creditor wouldn't want to give warning of such an exact time, for fear the debtor, along with the asset, may mysteriously go missing?

I can't see much else anyone could do to help this guy, aside from putting themselves at risk... unless he has something else that could be held as collateral, which is probably unlikely.

This may be an opportunity for you ATeam, to lend a helping hand while still profiting financially.

 

[greg334]

I don't want to sound cruel but there is a lot of incomplete information here.

Are we not required to carry our lease with us?

What company does he work for?

If he owes $15k and he has four payments left, isn't that like 3759 a payment which is too much for a truck that is worth only 30k, or did I miss something?

If he paid off his house in November and he is starving, then he needs to get his act together. He needs to leverage his assets to get out from under the truck. His asset, I mean his house can be borrow against to provide the money to pay off the truck and a little extra to make it through and then sell the truck after it is paid for what he owes on the house and make up any difference between the money used for the loan and the money spent in the mean time.

There are banks that will lend him the money if he has a clear plan on what and how he is going to do this to show the bank, then the chances of the idea working is really good and maybe even have the bank help him with the idea to limit the risk. it is not like the media is telling everyone people are getting loans.

If he is not willing to do this, what can I say. Priorities maybe a bit messed up.

If he can't get a loan, then Phil maybe co-sign for the loan?

 

[davekc]

I am not seeing a problem.
If his house is paid for, he can take a second mortgage out on it for the 15k. In the process, he can have that bank send a letter of intent aand he should be good to go.
Better get busy though, a second mortgage will take a couple of days to complete.
If he is good for the money, then tapping his own asset makes the most sense.

 

[ATeam]

As I said in the original post, Diane and I are never going to be fleet owners so the idea of us buying the truck and leasing it back to him on reasonable terms is out. We want to help but gifting $15,000 to a stranger is a bit much for us. We are not inclined to lend that amount to him either. Doing so shatters one of our precious goals; that of living a simple life. Hating debt as we do, we have no desire to get on the creditor side of the creditor/debtor relationship.

The thing about being fleet owners that scares us totally out of it is the liability of all kinds that comes with people operating your equipment. I know there are ways to manage that liability and that fleet owners do it every day. We just don't have the stomach for or interest in it. The last thing we want to own or have an interest in is another truck.

Yes, the information is incomplete. We were moved to help as we could on the spot and then left the truck stop to head to a pickup. This was a parking lot chat, not a credit consultation.

Yes, we are required to carry a lease in our trucks; carrier leases, not loan agreements. His house is paid for but he does not have clear title (divorce mess). His bank will not lend money to him because he is behind on payments now. The bank did say they would talk to him if he gets caught up.

I do not know this man's life story and credit details. All I know is he is close to losing a truck he could otherwise own with just a bit more money and time. We'd like to see him keep his truck without becoming fleet owners, lenders, co-signers or financially committed ourselves. Any ideas toward that end are appreciated.

His next two moves are to fax us his loan ageement (lease) and contact relatives to see if help is available there. He had been holding off on that out of pride. I asked him, what is more important, his truck or his pride? He will be talking to family soon.

The truck is a 2004 International, Class 7, Aluma-Bunk sleeper, DT-466 engine, 293,000 miles, ProHeat generator, single axle, dry box. The truck is built similar to this one, carrier is FedEx Custom Critical.

 

[greg334]

OK Phil, there is more to this than meets the eye. It sounds like he was listening to all the fluff from someone.

OK so the house title is in a mess, there are other ways to approach this and it may be one of those things where he could sell the truck for what he owes right away and get rid of the truck and loan at the same time. I don't think that he should be messing around at this point, his exit is clear to me, he has little in assets to back him up, you are asking for help by proxy and the entire thing is a good illustration of what an exit strategy is and when to use it.

As for the house thing, maybe something can be worked out between his other soon to be departed half and him.

But I also think that he can use your professional money management help post truck loan. Maybe teaching him how to handle his money and what to do in these hard times may be the thing to get him on his feet.

 

[greg334]

OH WAIT A MINUTE.....

He is contracted to FedEx?

I thought that everyone there was doing great except me?

 

[pjjjjj]

Silly question.. but.. if this person was not asking for help.. how did the conversation get to be so indepth about his problems, while at a truckstop?

 

[ATeam]

Silly question.. but.. if this person was not asking for help.. how did the conversation get to be so indepth about his problems, while at a truckstop?

It began in the parking lot. Diane was on the way back from the building to our truck. His truck was in between. He was in the cab with his window open. It started as many such chats do.

Diane got back to our truck and shared what she learned. We decided to lend a hand and give him some money. I caught up with him later in the restaurant and talked further. We then went to his truck and talked some more. After we left the truck stop, I still wanted to help. Thus this thread. None of the steps were planned. It's just how things developed.

There is not a lot to this. We took a liking to the man and want to do what we can (within limits) to help him keep his truck. Even if he has to sell it and get out of expediting, he will be better off than if he loses the truck to the lender.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

I'm with Greg. How can someone have 4 payments left, and owe 15k? Sounds fishy to have a 900+/week payment. Me thinks either he was pulling at your heartstrings, or he got into a big pile of doodoo. His best bet is to legally delay the repo, by either consolidating, or, as ds1450 mentioned, restructuring by bankruptcy.

 

[bluejaybee]

It looks like this fellows options are blocked from every angle (angel for moot). Selling his truck right now for what it is really worth just isn't going to happen. Might get half right now. And might not get that anytime soon enough to help. Sad part is that there are probably several more out there in the same boat, or fixing to be. Financial help from an already strained bunch of us would probably not be enough. And what I mean by that, is that, I am sure we could all come up with a small donation without putting ourselves under, but he needs major funds. And times are tough.

 

[ATeam]

As I said, I'm just looking for ideas. His next step is to fax us a copy of his loan agreement for Diane's review. That will tell us more about what is up. It could well be that he is playing us for suckers. We have considered that possibility. We continue to believe his story and cut him some slack.

We meet a guy in a truck stop. He twice refused to take a $100 bill. He is in a truck. He has a job (such as it is these days). He did not approach us. While he told us of his circumstances, he asked for nothing. We offered.

The fact that his details do not add up does not surprise me. I used to sit with financial planning clients who could not tell me things about their money most people would expect them to know. How many truck drivers are running around out there right now that do not know the terms of their truck loans? Thousands.

He may not be sharp as a tack on his finances but so what? If we can help him find a way to keep his truck, why not do it? Think of how his life and self image will change when he gets out from under his lease and into his truck free and clear. Think of how his cash flow will improve. Think of how the pressure in these slow freight times will decrease because his cash flow is improved. Think of how his savings will build because he is no longer sending money to his lender.

Many good things can cascade in his favor if he can make it through the near future and keep his truck. We feel an urge to help, even if everything does not add up. We are not his banker. We don't need all the info. We're just trying to give the guy a hand.

 

[bluejaybee]

I totally agree with you. It would be nice to help him, "IF" he can be helped. But what you may have to live with is the fact that the needy was put in front of you and you provided what you could at that moment. You are trying your best to take it a notch higher. If it doesn't work out, you didn't fail, cause you stepped up when there was noone else. And even did it without being asked. So, hope for the best. I still think he has more problems than can be fixed in the time frame he has.

 

[ConfusedMuse]

Im also with Gregg, and TH. I know it truly sucks to be 4 payments away from ownership, but, I think he saw this coming, that is if he was on top of all his finances he did. Perhaps he could ask Obama for some sort of a bailout, or call Madoff for some of the billions he suddenly can't find.... I dont mean to be taking this in a funny way. But in this business, heck any business one needs to stick to their guns, and stay on top of the situation, and not get into this sort of mess. I hope he finds family members, or some bank official who has his best interests at heart.

 

[ATeam]

Sad part is that there are probably several more out there in the same boat, or fixing to be.

You are right about that. Expediter wannabees, I hope you are listening.

 

[pjjjjj]

I guess if his payments were something like 1500/month, and he were 3-4 months in arrears, plus interest, plus maybe penalties and nsf charges, and when he is saying he's only 4 payments away, he may not be counting the other 3-4 that were missed along the way.. it could add up to somewhere around 15000.. (in effect really making it 7-8 payments shy), plus.. if he were to pay if off early, would there be a penalty for that as well?

Oh and another thought.. wonder if there is also a buyout price at the end?

If a whack of people were willing to give him a hundred bucks.. I guess you'd need to find 150 of them.. might be hard to do? Maybe you might find.... 30 or so from EO? Or if you could find 30 who were willing to give 500? Like a charity dinner thing? Then a bunch more will probably come out of the woodwork too.. needing a hand..

 

[ATeam]

Oh and another thought.. wonder if there is also a buyout price at the end?

Exactly! Until we see the loan agreement, there is no way to know what is going on.

I am not inclined to do a fundraiser for this guy. We are not going to bail him out. I don't know if he has a long term future in expediting. I'm not trying to be his fleet owner, lender, brother or buddy.

It just sits wrong with me to see someone so close yet so far from owning a truck he has been paying on for a while. If we can help him find a way to refinance what little bit remains on the truck, or otherwise get out from under the lease that is squeezing him dry now, we would sure like to.

 

[gotta go]

I didn't see any mention of how long this driver has been on with his current carrier. It's possible that he used to drive for the company previously mentioned in several threads that got behind in payments to drivers and continued (or continues) to make promises and dispatch runs. Just throwing this in as one way a driver doing everything right can end up in a bad situation.