Heartbroken repo man helps pay off elderly couple's car

Wednesday, November 23, 2016
RED BUD, Ill. -- He makes his living by taking people's cars away.

Jim Ford, a repo man in Illinois, sprung a huge surprise on an elderly couple after helping to get their car paid off.

"You know, it was just one of those repos," Ford, owner of Illini Asset Recovery, told KTVI. "My grandparents are gone, but you know - I could see them in the Kippings. I knew what was going on. The cost of their medications have doubled or tripled, and I know that's happening to everybody. I knew why they were behind."

Pat Kippling said she and her husband used the Buick to travel to the doctor's office, the drug store and the grocery.

"That's about all we ever got to do," Kippling said.

But now, the Kipplings' transportation was gone. Ford did repossess their car, but he immediately got on the phone with the bank.

"I pulled over about a block away from their house and called the bank and said...we got to do something. How about I just pay it current right now?" he said.

Ford set up a GoFundMe account and within eight hours, raised most of the balance to pay off the car. Not only did the car get paid off, Ford and his fellow benefactors got the oil changed and had the vehicle detailed.

"When they took my car, I thought my husband and I were going to break. I thought, 'We have no way of going places.' I prayed to God. I said, 'Whatever you decide, God, we'll be OK.' And that's what happened," Kippling told ABC News.

Stan and Pat are now behind the wheel again, thanks to the generosity of the man who took their car.
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