Bad economy means good business for repo men

FORECLOSED HOMES DURING THESE TOUGH TIMES -- BUT WE'VE FOUND PEOPLE ARE LOSING THEIR NEW ...  More »

FORECLOSED HOMES DURING THESE TOUGH TIMES -- BUT WE'VE FOUND PEOPLE ARE LOSING THEIR NEW CARS LEFT AND RIGHT HERE IN ALBUQUERQUE. REPO MEN SAY THEIR BUSINESS HAS DOUBLED. HERE'S CRIS ORNELAS WITH A LOOK AT THE PROBLEM. ITS ONE OF THE FEW BUSINESSES THRIVING IN THIS ECONOMY... THE AUTO RECOVERY BUSINESS. WITH MORE AND MORE PEOPLE FALLING BEHIND ON THEIR CAR PAYMENTS...REPO MEN ARE WORKING OVERTIME. 1:28 ' people just cant make their car payments'THAT SIMPLE STATEMENT IS WHAT'S BEHIND A BOOM IN THE REPO BUSINESS. NATIONALLY 1.5 MILLION CARS WERE REPOSSESSED LAST YEAR AND THATS EXPECTED TO GO UP 10 PERCENT THIS YEAR. AND LOCAL REPO MEN SAY THE PROBLEM IS MUCH WORSE HERE. 1:16- 1:23 'i've talked to several repossessors that are still active and they say the numbers are way up they are probably getting double the amount of repo assignments that they used to get' BUT ITS NOT AS EASY AS JUST TAKING THE CAR BACK. ONCE THE REPO MAN HAS IT IN HIS YARD THE BANK HAS TO FIGURE A WAY TO GET SOME MONEY FOR IT. 1:55 'when a bank repossesses a car its usually a losing proposition because now the bank has to take the car in'BANKS COULD BE RE-POSSESSING EVEN MORE CARS THAN THEY ARE. SOME BANKS ARE CHANGING THE RULES ABOUT REPOS TO TRY TO GET SOMETHING OUT OF A BAD LOAN. 1:31-1:39 'the banks are letting debtors go even longer before putting them up for repossession hoping that maybe they'll get a payment or two in' GERALD MADRID SAYS SOME BANKS ARE LETTING OWNERS FALL BEHIND ON PAYMENTS AS MUCH AS SIX MONTHS. THAT'S BECAUSE MOST REPO'ED CARS GO TO AUCTION WHERE THEY SELL FOR FAR LESS THAN WHAT'S OWED ON THE LOAN... AND THE BANK USUALLY ENDS UP TAKING A LOSS.  « Less