Letters to the Editor
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Addicition to Unnecessary Convenience -- Like Chemotherapy And Child care!
(Sacrifice) That word is conspicuously absent from today's vocabulary. No American wants to be uncomfortable, even a little bit, even for just a little while. Our ridiculous addiction to convenience and instant gratification...
Sorry, but I couldn't resist.
The Holier-Than-Thou Crowd is obsessed (literally obsessed) with portraying the majority of debt in this country as the result of frivolous over-spending.
"I know some people got into debt because of medical bills, but...."
And thus begins the lecture on how the majority of debt is really all the result of those damn hippies and their free love ideals spending money they don't have on drugs and pornography!
I just love how subtle they are!
"I know a few people got into debt because of excessive child care costs, but..."
Damn you kids and your rock and roll!
Hee hee. These people will never grow up and realize that, yes, 99 percent of debt is because government in collusion with manufactures (shipping our jobs overseas to use child labor) and credit card companies (you can't declare bankruptcy anymore, deadbeat!) have screwed us over.
One more time: this debt crisis is the result of bad labor agreements and credit card companies who bribed Republican Senators to rewrite bankruptcy laws, rewrite usury laws and turn a blind eye to the subprime mortgage industry (which was being run by credit card companies instead of banks!)
"On, but using credit is all a choice! A choice!"
Bullshit (pardon my French)
When your job is outsourced to China with no notice and your unemployment check barely covers your mortgage and COBRA payments -- what the hell are you going to use to buy FOOD or MEDICINE for your family???
That's when Visa steps right in and offers that Faustian bargain.
"We'll help you buy food and put gas in the car," smirks Visa. "Just sign right here for a mere 30 percent APR."
That debt ain't trips to Paris. It's food, gas and utilities.
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We are all Indentured Servants of the Federal Reserve
Indentured Servitude is a contract for work in exchange for something of value like ships passage, room, board, food for a period of seven years or so. It is essentially a small step above slavery in that within the contracted period of time, the servants became so indebted to their lords that they could not leave. Most were coaxed into this existance by the promise of a better life in the "New World". The same literal process is alive an well in China taking young people from the farms to "work" in a factory an remain perpetually indebted to their "employers"
Now the "American Way" and the promise of a better lifestyle has created the exact scenario. However, we are enslaved by personal debt and the declining value of Federal Reserve Note. We are given the false freedom to do as we please as long as we consume what the mass marketers of the corporatocracy make us believe we need. Like $4.00 daily starbucks when we have a French press to make better coffee at a fraction of the price on top of our credit card bills.
They call owning a home the "American Dream" because you need to be asleep to believe the right to occupy 800sqft in a major city is worth borrowing one million of those debt notes and paying nearly twice as much over 30 years.
Rich, poor, and the barely surviving should cut up their creditcards and seek happiness making an effort to not contribute another dime to some corporation with a private jet shuttling executives to exotic holiday destinations most of us will never afford to visit.
Don't be a slave. Don't spend what the IRS does not confiscate from you already. Owing nothing is better than not having what you think you need.
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Guilt is a powerful tool for the banks
The reason people like Suzie Orman and Dave Ramsey are really, really well-off these days is because the rest of us have such an emotional attachment to our money. The moralistic tone of some of these letters bears that out. Apparently, you ARE your credit score in some people's eyes.
But that doesn't help the people who've reached the point where they can no longer cover their bills, for whatever reason. They know they've made mistakes and put themselves in a terrible position - throwing mud on them doesn't fix anything.
So, if your debts have been charged-off (turned over to a collection agency) here's what you need to know (once you've finished wearing your sackcloth and ashes):
The collection agency wants your money, plain and simple - and most of them don't care how they get it. They'll call your job, your friends, your family, your neighbors (Yes - even total strangers!) to try to shame you into paying them. The first thing you need to do is educate yourself about the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. (Google FDCPA - there's plenty of information online about all of this.) You can stop the phone calls by sending them a letter (certified, return receipt - always document, document, document when dealing with these people - don't make any agreements over the phone) requesting that they stop all calls and conduct all further correspondence in writing. Once you've received the receipt and know they have the letter, every time they contact you by phone from that point on they're in violation of the Act and you have grounds for a lawsuit (or a countersuit if it comes to that).
You also want to request validation of the debt. Quite often these collection agencies will have no more information about your account than your name and an amount. In most states that's not enough to take to court if they threaten to sue.
The point here is not to get out of paying your debt - but simply being in debt does not automatically make you a criminal or a deadbeat. You have to know your rights and make the collection agency follow the proper legal channels if they want your money.
A collection agency cannot legally garnish your wages or take your property without a court order. That means they have to sue you in your state. They're not going to waste time and spend their own money suing you unless they've got all the paperwork in order and are pretty confident they're going to get money out of you. That's why you ask for validation - unless they have legal proof that you owe the money (like a document with your signature), they probably won't sue and will be more than happy to make a settlement. At the very least it slows down the whole process and gives you some breathing room.
Most debt collectors work on a commission basis so you want make your settlement offer near the end of the month - they're more likely to accept a lesser amount then. Scrape together whatever you can manage to pay off in a lump sum and if they accept it, make sure you get everything in writing and that the agreement is reported to the credit reporting agencies as "paid in full" and not "settled".
If you can't afford to make a settlement, you can take your chances and ride out the years of bad credit until the statute of limitations on the debt runs out (in most states it's 6-7 years). That's why you should never send a little each month to a collection agency - just to keep them off your back - every time you send a payment you're extending the clock on the SOL. You're better off not paying a dime and then either settling the debt or preparing yourself in case you end up being sued. It's a crap shoot, but it's better than a lifetime of indentured servitude and harassment.
You can survive a lousy credit rating - because number one, it forces you to live within your means if you don't qualify for easy credit, and number two, you actually have an advantge in that you make a much less attractive target for identity theft.
Anyway, for anyone who's going through a crisis - good luck, and learn about your rights as a debtor before you make a move. You don't deserve to be shammed and shamed just because you owe somebody money.