Complaint Review: Wauchula State Bank; Linda Dean - Sebring Florida

After sending certified letters to the bank president, the manager of the branch where Linda Dean works, two of the Tampa TV stations Consumer Lawyers, and the head of the FDIC, the bank sent a check for the fair market value of the Ford Explorer that they took form my daughter minus what my ex-husband owed. Without those letters, I am sure that they would have scammed my 23 year old daughter.

Now our family is healing from the trauma we suffered in the Fall. Linda Dean, I hope something like this happens in your family, and that you get treated with the same cold callousness with which you treated my daughter! 

First of all, thank you for your wishes of condolence.

My children are ages 30 and 23. They were adamant about handling all of the legal details themselves, their way- and since they are adults, they had every legal right to.

My ex-husband's death was due to a murder-suicide. This is a small town in a rural part of Florida. It was big news- all over the internet and the local papers. Everyone in town knew.

My children hired an attorney from out of town, and my daughter neglected to tell her these facts. I will say that today, the first attorney has refunded the money paid as a retainer, and my children have found a second attorney.

I have never had a vehicle repossessed, but have spoken to someone who has. According to the person with experience in this situation, it is very unusual that a bank representative would fly 1200 miles to personally oversee a repossession, and would drive said vehicle back, putting another 1200 miles on the odometer and taking a risk of an accident, especially given the recent snowstorms in the Northeast. It makes no sense at all-unless Ms Dean either wanted the vehicle for herself or for a friend or family member.

The first probate attorney was trying to protect the truck for my daughter, since it was her principal vehicle. This is allowed under Florida law. The bank should have waited for probate to clear.

I wonder whether the higher-ups at the bank knew about this trip. Tomorrow, they will be made aware. It seems as though Ms Dean had plans for that vehicle, as less than a week after the death, she came to my ex-husband's house with a tow-truck driver to take the vehicle- and got very upset that it was no longer there. Again, why would she come out personally?

As a friend of mine says:  "There is a rat in the woodpile!" Ms Dean deserves the Grinch Award for taking away the vehicle of a grieving young woman who has been through a horrific experience, and is now facing the holidays without her father.

Sorry for your loss, but there are several parts to this story that make no sense.

First why would this person with the bank know the circumstances of her father's death, and not the probate attorney.  In addition to this why would that cause the attorney to drop them as a client.  Seems like if anything you have a claim against the attorney.

Second all of that should have been handled in Probate and if there were claims of people not talking to each other the courts would(should) have gotten involved.  But then it comes down to if she was contacting the attorney representing your kids(at that time) saying she couldn't contact you.  Wouldn't you have given the attorney the authorization to get all of that information you say you wanted, making the need to contact you directly unneeded.

Third, probate law can get a bit confusing.  But if her father still owed money on the truck, it was not his truck to give.  The bank still had a lien on it and would be able to say that they do not want to tranfer it to another person.

Unless this is some Buy-Here/Pay-Here place, I have also NEVER heard of someone from the bank personally coming to reposess a vehicle.  Especially to fly out to get it.  Which in addition to everything else leads me to believe that there are several things that are being left out.