February 08, 2008

REASON 8 MILLION WHY LIVING IN GERMANY WAS A PAIN IN THE NECK

Yes, we're still feeling the effects of our lovely OCONUS move.

We paid off our first car while my husband was in Iraq. The lienholder mailed us a letter saying to complete the title, we needed to go to our local DMV. Um, our local DMV was a bunch of Germans working on post in the pseudo-licensing office. The German lady looked at my documents and shrugged. I think I remember her saying at the time that we might run into problems later down the road.

We sure did. But that was nearly four years ago, and I didn't think much of it.

We moved back to the US and reregistered our cars in our state of record. By mail. That car has not been back in Missouri since we bought it back in 2002. Which meant the problem was never noticed...until today. We went to register our cars in our new state, and our lien was never shown as lifted.

So now what? How do I undo a problem that was created four years ago, and 1000 miles away? And through the fricking DMV, of all headaches.

What an unnecessary pain in the neck it was to live in Germany.

Posted by Sarah at February 8, 2008 11:59 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Is it possible to contact the lienholder, and get another copy of the release?

Posted by: Toni at February 8, 2008 09:07 PM

My best guesstimate would be two-pronged. 1) pull a free copy of your credit report and see how it shows that debt. If it still shows as open, you will 2) need to dispute that item on your credit report. At that point, I think the lienholder will have to prove you do still owe as the burden is on the one trying to enforce the debt to prove it exists. My next best guess would be to contact your JAG office b/c I'm sure you aren't the first couple to experience this. Also, for consumer problems and fixes, check out www.clarkhoward.com
Good luck!

Posted by: Guard Wife at February 8, 2008 10:17 PM

Oh, and P.S. If no one has come to try and repo your car, my guess is the lienholder doesn't even realize this snafu is occurring...

Posted by: Guard Wife at February 8, 2008 10:18 PM

Sarah

I have never really understood your anti-German thing, but different strokes I suppose.

I can tell you though, from my experience with the state of Missouri this likely has more to do with them than being in Germany.

Posted by: Badger 6 at February 9, 2008 10:51 AM

Badger -- No, I know for sure it is Missouri's job to handle it. But I wasn't IN Missouri, because I was forced to live in Germany. That's why there was a problem.

And I've lived in three different foreign countries. I hate living anywhere but the US. I don't understand why anyone would request to live anywhere else...different strokes, indeed.

Posted by: Sarah at February 9, 2008 12:03 PM