Settlement Preliminarily Approved With Arcadia Financial (CitiFinancial Auto)
The San Diego Superior Court has preliminarily approved a settlement concerning a class of persons our law firm represents whose vehicles were repossessed by Arcadia Financial Ltd.(now known as CitiFinancial Auto Ltd.). The settlement class includes persons to whom Arcadia sent a notice of intent to sell after repossession (NOI) between November 1, 2002 and September 25, 2007, and against whom Arcadia sought to collect a deficiency or who made post-repossession payments to Arcadia and whose vehicles were not redeemed or whose contracts were not reinstated.
The final settlement approval hearing is set for January 2, 2009 at 9:00 before Judge Jeffrey Barton in downtown San Diego. If the Court finally approves the proposed settlement, persons in the settlement class who do not opt out will receive several benefits. Arcadia will reduce any deficiency owed by settlement class members to zero, and will report to the credit bureaus, TransUnion, Equifax and Experian, that nothing is owed. Arcadia will stop all collection efforts against settlement class members, and dismiss all pending lawsuits. Additionally, anyone in the settlement class who has made post-repossession payments to Arcadia will be entitled to a refund of that money, plus 7% interest from the date of payment through June 30, 2008.
Arcadia is not obligated to do anything until after the the Court finally approves the settlement. If that happens, it will then have up to 120 days to take all the action the settlement requires, including refunds to class members. However, we have received reports from several class members that their accounts are already showing a zero balance.
The Settlement Administrator, Rosenthal & Company, sent out Notices to settlement class members on about September 29, 2007. Class members will have 60 days from that date to opt out of the settlement or object, if they wish. They may also come to the final approval hearing on January 2.
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