Originally Posted by
mistersmithers
so heres a scenario...this debt is actually my wife's with her old last name...can she file bankruptcy without it affecting me her husband with Wisconsin's marital laws? Or would i still have to be involved in that somehow? I'm curious why the bank never came to repo the car that secured this debt? I also think its interesting there was no attempt to collect this debt(s) since 2005 when it went into default...then all of a sudden one month or two of a 'law firm' debt collector calls then court papers...can i just return the car or is it way too late now?
They don't always repo the car; sometimes they just obtain the judgment because it's more cost-effective for them than having to re-sell the vehicle.
They didn't worry about trying to collect because Wisconsin statute of limitations is 6 years, so they had until 2011 to sue you.
Returning the car won't do any good because it's value had depreciated far too much at this point. You'll still owe the difference between what you financed it for and what they can sell it for now.
EDIT: And setting aside the legality, I commend you for at least trying to make the effort to pay rather than just ignoring the debt or denying it altogether.