Education can be a powerful tool....

Posted by Drew (24.59.27.46) on January 14, 2004 at 21:18:14:

In Reply to: 16 hardly considered a child. posted by SunkissedBeach on January 14, 2004 at 20:21:11:

He is learning a lot. He is getting an education on what his rights are. He won't be scammed when the creditors play dirty (and if you don't have the money to pay, they get nasty).

But education can be a cruel master SunkissedBeach. You talk about your son only charging what he can afford to pay that month. THat is good and fine in theory. But you go out and spend only $200 in one month because you have a job and can pay it. Then you leave work and you are in a car accident and in the hospital. The creditors don't care if you are in the hospital and you can't pay their minimums. Neither do the collection agencies. If that experience should happen to him (God forbid) or he should suddenly be out of work or his house gets burned down, he will know how to handle the creditors who won't care, who won't work with him, who sneer at him, call him a deadbeat because he can't pay and has nothing to his name. He will know that he has rights and that he can record the phone calls and fight back. He can learn real quickly that the majority of the collection agencies are not mommy who put sob stories in a special file on her computer so her bosses and the nastier collection agents don't get their shot at him. When they start threatening him, telling him what a loser he is, he will know how to fight back. He will learn if he can't pay, it is dangerous legally to promise to pay unless you can really pay. He will learn that attorneys don't give a rats ass if you are on disability or have medications to pay for all of a sudden. He will learn that the best laid plans can still go awry.

Now knowlege is a powerful thing. Are you sure you really want him to have this knowlege. You can sit and pretend to know how well you raised your children, but when the fire comes in, and survival instincts take over, which will your son choose? To shoot himself in the foot and risk never coming out on the other side by paying a bill that he cannot afford to pay or benefitting from the knowledge he is getting on this board.

If I read the archives correctly, you certainly benefitted mightily from the education you recieved to settle. You only paid $8,000 of a $30,000 debt. WHat happened to the principal of paying back all of what you owe. When are you going to pay back the other $22,000 you owe and they are morally entitled to according to you. After all didn't you say that the creditor is entitled to the full interest and penalties and even the principal. Are you telling me $22,000 was all interest and penalties?

Or are you a closet Jerry Springer fan and you and your son come in and watch the deadbeats as you like to call us. Isn't that called vicarious entertainment. Just be careful that the knowlege that he is gaining here doesn't rub off on him too much.

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