<prompt> Human: I posted this in the rlegaladvice and got no replies so Im trying it here...I bought a car 6 months ago from a dealership here in Texas. I paid cash for this car 13k. From what I understand, the dealer didnt own this car outright. The bank loans them the money to purchase cars and they in turn, sell the cars and pay back the bank while keeping the profit. The dealer did not pay off the car with the bank. They pocketed my money and shut down. So now theres a lien on the car.. which pisses me off because I paid cash for it! Ive tried to contact the dealer several times. They told me that they are going through some legal trouble with the bank, but it will all be sorted out soon.. 2 months later, Theres no way to get ahold of them. They shut down their dealership. Phone lines all disconnected..I filed a report with the DMV, the OAG, and every possible entity for help. They all say that theres nothing that can be done. Im screwed. So I contact the bank that financed the vehicle to the dealership. They will not give me any info. They said they are going through litigation with the dealer, and cannot comment on it. They did tell me that they never received a payment for the car, and the dealership never paid them a cent. Is there a possibility that the bank will repo my car?? Whats my next step? I cant afford an attorney right now.. Please help Assistant: Do you have a bill of sale? Physical or electronic records of you paying the 13k to the dealer, like wire transfer receipts or bank statements? Get all of that together that you can and call the bank the dealer used. You need to have something with a dollar amount and the VIN. If you can prove to them that you paid the 13k cash for your car then I cant see how theyd repossess it. The lien should be removed and the debt will be transferred to the dealer. There were probably a million red flags that you missed on this one, but I cant imagine the bank repossessing the car. Unless you dont have a bill of sale or receipt. Then you might be SOLHuman: I have bill of sale and copy of cashiers check used to pay dealer. I sent it to the bank, they said they couldnt release the title to me pending litigation with the dealership. They refused to provide me any more info  <response>: Im not a lawyer either or any sort of personal finance expert, I honestly stumbled across this post randomly. However, my father experienced the exact same situation several years ago. He bought a SUV outright from a incredibly sketchy dealership, did not receive the title pending some kind of legal paperwork as par the dealership and weeks after the transaction they seemingly vanished. Like you, he didnt receive any beneficial assistance from the DMV and was told by friends just to let them handle the situation. His vehicle WAS repossessed. Randomly in the middle of the night my entire family was awoken by bright lights and a burly man attaching the SUV to a tow truck, it created quite the scene as you could image. Anyways, he contacted a lawyer after the fact and it took him nearly six months to get a fraction of the money he spent back. I like in New York State and am young and admittedly naive when it comes to purchasing cars, state laws, etc. Im sure some of this information has some bearing on my advice. So keep that in mind, I just dont want to see someone else be taken advantage of in such a terrible manner. I think the best thing to do in this situation is to contact a lawyer as soon as possible. 