Florida ?

Q: Repossession Related Question in Florida ? It is starting to be common practice that creditors want recovery agencies (repossession agencies) to provide them with a list of the contents of the vehicle at time of repossession. Here in Florida (as in California) it is abundantly clear that the recovery agent/agency is fully and entirely responsible for these contents. Would disclosing the nature of these contents...sometimes personal, sometimes embarassing....be some sort of violation of the debtor's right to privacy? Wouldn't this be some sort of illegal "third party disclosure"? If you have any documentation to support our position (that we should not report the nature of the contents to the creditor), or hold a contrary position I would greatly appreciate hearing about it.

A: -No they need to in general the contents due to the fact that debtors will claim they had something in fact they didn't ! You should do inventory then have debtor sign for it. Then forward that to client. Third party is due to $$ figures to a third party and not the debtor. -We just list the contents but there are certain discretionary ways of doing so. For example, a stash of pornographic magazines is listed as "magazines". Financial documents are listed as "personal

papers". Firearms are turned over to the police. Embarassing photos or items are listed as "photos" or "personal items". It is largely a CYA issue for all sides. I wouldn't worry about a privacy issue. If the debtor is there upon repo and the situation allows for it, we allow him/her to strip the vehicle of all personal possessions and mark the report accordingly. Many times I have knocked on the door (especially when we needed the key) and "allowed" the debtor to take his/her property. When they open the drivers door I ask for the keys "so I can open the trunk". While they're taking their stuff out of the trunk, I'm removing the keys from the keyring.