My husbands parents, own a mobile home. Last year, his mother, was in the hospital for one month, for heart failure and respitory failure. She was also in a coma. His father is on social security and can no longer pay for the mobile home. They are currently 3 months behind of the payments. The morgage company has been harassing them on a daily basis. As of last week, they came and put locks on the house, so they can no longer get into the home. They did not send out any letters, giving them a date to be out of the home. They did not have any papers served by a sherriff either. Is this legal for them to do this, without any proper paperwork? Without any eviction notice?
And can they take their land? They owned their land, before they purchased the mobile home.
My mother in law, is not suppose to get upset, due to her heart condition. The collection department, for this company, harasses her every day. Tells her that they will take her husbands social security check, and their land. Verbally abusive to her.
Any advice on this matter, is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

mr.yet

First is the land and the Mobile home all under one mortgage?

They cannot just come out and put locks on the door without due process. I personnally would remove them.

Contact an attorney, charge them with tresspassing and destruction of private property.

Send them a letter by Certified Mail that all contact as of this date should be in writing only, do not call.

Go to the court to see if any claims have been filed against them.

mr.yet

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was passed in 1977 to protect consumers from abusive debt collectors. Here's a closer look at the rules a third-party debt collector must follow when collecting a debt.

Contacting a debtor.
A collector may contact you in person, by mail, telephone, telegram or fax. However, a debt collector may not contact you at inconvenient times or places, such as before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., unless you agree. A debt collector also may not contact you at work if the collector knows that your employer disapproves of such contacts.

Contacting a third party about your debt.
If you have an attorney, the debt collector must contact the attorney, rather than you. If you do not have an attorney, a collector may contact other people but only to find out where you live, what your phone number is and where you work. Collectors usually are prohibited from contacting such third parties more than once. In most cases, the collector may not tell anyone other than you and your attorney that you owe money.

Giving written notice.
Within five days after you are first contacted, the collector must send you a written notice telling you the amount of money you owe, the name of the creditor to whom you owe the money and what action to take if you believe you do not owe the money.

When a consumer doesn't owe the money.
A collector may not contact you if within 30 days after you receive the written notice you send the collection agency a letter stating you do not owe money. However, a collector can renew collection activities if you are sent proof of the debt, such as a copy of a bill for the amount owed.

No harassment
Debt collectors may not harass, oppress or abuse you or any third party they contact.

Debt collectors may not:

Falsely imply that they are attorneys or government representatives.
Falsely imply that you have committed a crime.
Falsely represent that they operate or work for a credit bureau.
Misrepresent the amount of your debt.
Give false credit information about you to anyone, including a credit bureau.
Send you anything that looks like an official document from a court or government agency when it is not.
Debt collectors may not state that:

You will be arrested if you do not pay your debt.
They will seize, garnish, attach or sell your property or wages unless the collection agency or creditor intends to do so and it is legal to do so.
Actions, such as a lawsuit, will be taken against you when such action legally may not be taken or when they do not intend to take such action.
No unfair practices
A debt collector may not engage in unfair practices when they try to collect a debt from you.

Debt collectors may not:

Collect any amount greater than your debt, unless your state law permits such a charge.
Deposit a postdated check prematurely.
Use deception to make you accept collect calls or pay for telegrams.
Take or threaten to take your property unless this can be done legally.

Cvillecpm

If she can't get into the MH, how is she getting the phone calls?

Mobile Homes are considered personal property and in most states they can be repo'd just like a vehicle - hooked up and hauled off.

Consult an attorney before cutting the locks and have the attorney write a letter to bank advising them to contact him/her in the future.

mr.yet

If the property and the Mobile Home are emcompassed under one mortgage than the MH cannot not be hauled away, again "without due process". Meaning that they must follow the rules in the state upon which the property is in.

They cannot simply come onto the property and lock them out, even tennants cannot be locked out without due process, it's all about contracts.

Contact an attorney, they must follow the rules in their state and afford due process from the beginning to the end.

Fr_Chuck

Ok, I am going to assume that the mobile home is done the way they are normally done here in GA and TN where I have delt with them.

The mobile home is perosnal property, not real estate, and there is a title on the trailer like it would be on your car or motorcycle.

So they basicly repo it like a car not foreclose like they do on property.

So when they pad locked the door they are still giving you a chance to pay for it before they actually do the complete repo, many people actually come home to find thier mobile home "gone". They bring a tractor out, disconnect the utilities and drive off with the home.

It may be they came out to do that but perhaps the axle under it was not working or there was some other issue, so they merely pad locked it.

So if the trailer merely has a title, yes they can do what they did.

Before the repo he should have either made arrangements to pay, sold the trailer and paid off the loan.

And he needs to call the lender and see what he can do.
If he can not make arrangements with them, they will soon merely take the trailer.

If the trailer and land is on a mortage together, then the above is not correct.

But basicly if you don't pay for something and get 3 months behind, very soon they will take it back using the procedures allowed for that property.

Cvillecpm

Long story short - someone needs to be communicating with the bank/mortgage company and getting money to them ASAP. They don't want the MH - they want their $$$$. Ignoring them will not make the situation go away.

Donnalueck

Someone asked, if she can't get into the MH, how is she receiving phone calls? They have moved into a small travel trailer behind the mobile home. And has the same telephone and same number as before.
Thankyou for all your replys.

Donnalueck

Dear Sir:
No, the land and the mortage are not all together. They owned their property/land before they purchased the mobile home. And the land is not in the contract of the mobile home.

ScottGem

This still leaves the question of how the MH was purchased. It sounds like it was purchased under a contract and not a mortgage. Which means its personal property subject to repossession.

To answer some of your other fears. They cannot attach Social Security payments. Nor can they take their land. What they MIGHT be able to do is place a lein against the land. To do that they would first have to sell the MH for less than the outstanding balance on the contract. They would then have to sue for the balance and obtain a judgement for that amount. They would then have to file a lein against the property. Which would then have to be only when and if your in-laws sell the property.

I would also consider getting the local press involved. They would LOVE to go after a company that is harassing an older women with a heart condition.