Imagine. You’re enjoying your day, minding your own business, and then someone from the bank pops over and tells you that they’re seizing your car because you defaulted on a loan that you never actually took out. Welcome to Tage Kendall’s life.
According to CBC.ca, Kendall was contacted by a repossession company this past June to let him know they were coming to take his 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI because he’d defaulted on a loan with the Royal Bank of Canada. Which seemed weird—Kendall claims not to have an account or a loan with the bank. He brushed off the warning. The car was fully paid for. He was the registered owner and had proof of purchase.
Well, they took it anyway.
Basically, the collection company contacted Kendall via Facebook of all things. It seemed pretty sketchy, and Kendall told them they were wrong. He works as a miner in Yukon two weeks per month. He didn’t really have the time to deal with it.
In July, Kendall got a call from his building manager. His car was being seized.
The Vancouver resident immediately had to take a leave of absence from his job and book a flight back home. He only had 21 days before his car was to be sold at auction—he had to get his Subaru back.
As it turns out, Kendall was listed as a co-signer on a debt that someone else defaulted. That was news to Kendall. The bank wouldn’t show him any of the documents he was said to have signed. Then, on July 11, they returned the car to Kendall with no explanation, barring a letter that said they had no interest in the Subaru.
Kendall is, as most of us would be, royally annoyed. He filed a suit against the RBC on September 26 with the claim that “RBC negligently failed to verify … the owner of the Subaru before they took collection action against the Claimant and was in breach of their statutory or common law requirement to verify the ownership of collateral for their loans”.
Basically, he’s suing them for the wages he lost having to take time off from his job and deal with this questionable situation and for the fact that the bank treated him pretty poorly in the whole process.
I can’t say I blame him. If someone came and seized my pride and joy without anything to show for it, I’d want some retribution, too.
