Letters to the Editor
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@anonymous at 8:50
I guess I don't get why you're mad at Blue Cross. They paid $61,00 of your bill. Sounds like an 80/20 policy. They are not the ones who charged $75,000. That was the medical provider, right? So thanks memorial hospital, or whatever, with your costs rising 14% every year might be more correct. Sound like the contract you or your employer have with Blue Cross was honored. OF course, what should that matter? If you given a hardship, Blue Cross (other subscribers) should have to pay! No matter what your contract reads. No matter how ridiculous the bills submitted by the providers.
Hm.
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Freelancing
doesn't have to be a dead end, and I don't know why Cath1 feels so strongly that it is. It helps if you freelance doing a few different things-- I do a combination of academic tutoring, music lessons, and performing-- but you can make a pretty penny working for yourself even if you specialize in one area, as long as you've networked and marketed yourself well and there's sufficient demand for your services.
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A bon-bon of an article
Sarah Hepola’s article is a good one as far as it goes. It’s an honest account of getting into debt through irresponsible behaviour, and then getting out of it by making use of common sense budgeting principles and the resources she is fortunate enough to have. And I appreciate the fact that Hepola takes responsibility for her actions. But I agree with some of the other letter writers that there are other stories about debt that should be told. I’d like to read a series of Salon articles on debt. Let people with massive student loans or health care bills or who have weathered long spells of unemployment tell their stories. Examine the bankruptcy laws for bias towards credit card debtors and against student loans. Discuss the sub-prime mortgage situation. Talk about the systemic and societal costs of debt and bankruptcy. Suggest some solutions. Amidst a number of such articles Hepola’s articles would take its place as the bon-bon on a well-laden banquet table; as it stands it is an insufficient offering on such a complex and far-reaching issue that strikes so many nerves.
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I did a really naughty thing once
A long time ago, I had a co-worker - who I really liked - and a couple of years after he had moved away and we all lost touch with him, this collection agency called my job looking for him. I told them that he had passed away. Then another year passed, and through the grapevine we found out he was living in Atlanta and was doing great!!
Is that illegal?
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Playing with plastic
I too play with my plastic to an extent I can handle, but don't like. I'm working on it by paying more than the minimum on each card each month as soon as I get the statement, calling each card every six months and getting lower interest rates, and trying to scale back. e-Bay has become the clothes store of choice.
This isn't the first time I've run up the plastic. It seems to be my besetting sin, and I scold myself for it quite enough. I also save aggressively. Ironically, what's helping me this time is a job loss about two years ago. I disciplined myself to job hunt, and that included personal finances.
Dirty little secret: the usual "They" denounces credit card insurance. If you're worried about your job, it's a lifesaver.
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Obviously this has hit a nerve
Sarah, learn from our mistakes. I'm 40 now and my husband and I spent the first 15 years of our marriage thinking we could control our credit card usage. We'd spend high and then get freaked out by it and pay it down 'till it was almost gone (and felt manageable) and then jack it back up. Of course, life happens, we moved for my job and put the $4K moving expenses on the card. After the move, my husband's job issues were wonky, but we made enough to keep making the min payments plus a little extra. We made a dent in a $13K credit card bill only by using money we liquidated from a 401(k) that we had to liquidate any way to pay for the sale of our house (didn't live there long enough to have any equity saved up).
We've moved back home now and have, somehow, FINALLY learned the lesson: spend less than you make. We've gone back to the cash/envelope system, which is to divvy up the cash for your expenses (other than bills, which we pay for with a check) into separate envelopes. When the money in the FUN envelope is gone, it's GONE. We've started putting all the money we were paying towards the stupid card (down to ~$6K now) minus the min payment into savings cause the economy is freaking me out. Pay yourself first!!
Oh, and cut those freakin' cards up. After you've payed them off and been debt free for a few years, get yourself a card with a $500 limit, if you feel you absolutely need one. I'll bet you find you won't want one. We don't carry our's anymore.
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Kudos to Ms. Hepola
I've never been in debt, although I do have a credit card (which I pay in full each month), drive a 20 year old car, have money in savings, yadda yadda yadda, but the thing that struck me about this article is that it's really about facing a hard reality - whether it relates to a painful financial situation or a relationship in which one is doing most of the work - it's about taking stock and having compassion for one's own situation. It is so tempting to have illusions to prop up our egos, a false sense of worth, etc. but to actually be honest takes a lot of courage. I wish you luck Ms. Hepola and hope that you find ways to sort this out.
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Chiming in re student loans and medical bills
1. Student debt: Nondischargeable, as another poster said. The reason why it is nondischargeable is superficially sound --but the result is that people who are in precarious circumstances are now being screwed by an unforgiving rule because a few decades ago a few medical students upon graduation declared bankruptcy notwithstanding that in a few years they would have more than ample means to pay off the debt. Congress overreacted. Bottom line: no one should assume student debt without doing the same cost benefit analysis they do with other kinds of debt. Getting a job, a roommate, living at home, doing two years of community college, etc., etc. are all potentially much more prudent than just financing your education. And if your school has an endowment, for God's sake, negotiate with it about the level of assistance you are being offered, or consider going to a "lesser" institution that gives you more assistance. And look at those trade schools the same way you should have been looking at subprime mortgage lenders. Many of them are complete scams that will take your money and leave you unemployed and unemployable.
2. Medical bills: If at all possible tackle them one at a time and get relief where you can by negotiating with doctors. At the very least, work out a payment plan and ask for the Medicaid rate -- and don't put them on credit cards if you can avoid it, because then your only recourse is with the bank, as the doctor has already been paid. Hospitals have become completely rapacious. Some are under an obligation to provide charity care, so you might qualify for assistance in that way. You can sometimes escalate the situation by calling elected representatives. Short of all that, save your cash and file for bankruptcy. It really is your only recourse.