auto
Did auto payments go astray?
 Dear Terry,
Nearing the end of a lease with Ford, my son thought he had two months left. As the payments were being taken out of his paycheck automatically, he wasn't late on them. Come to find out the lease was up two months ago and he walks out to find the truck gone -- repossessed. No contact, no nothing. Now they are saying he owes them $11,000 and they are going to sell the car at auction for whatever they can get and he will be liable for the balance. Is this legal? He didn't default in any payments, and even though they say his lease ended two months ago, they still took the payments out of his account.
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Wm. Ollie
 Dear Wm.,
I think there's more to this than you've explained. If your son had a lease agreement like most lease agreements, he should have been able to make the final payment and walk away, assuming the car was in good shape. Even if it had some abnormal wear-and-tear, that wouldn't seem to justify an $11,000 balance. Ask to see the original lease agreement to see what the terms were. And you might want to double-check your son's pay stubs to verify the payments were being deducted. If it all checks out, you may need to consult an attorney to unravel all of this.
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