Re: question

Posted by J Kelly (141.151.13.80) on July 17, 2004 at 13:55:02:

In Reply to: question posted by debt collector on July 17, 2004 at 13:27:04:

I think that people CAN'T PAY their bills. Job loss, underemployment, medical. Whatever, this is a bad economy. Very high umemployment. Easy to say, just get another job. Sometimes that is not possible. Often times they already have that 2nd job making minimum wage. Most of the time both spouses are working and there are children involved. BY THE TIME THEY GET TO THIS FORUM, they are already way beyond saving their credit. Their accounts are charged off or close to it. Interest rates have been increased and over the limit charges added. So, it turns into a hopeless situation for people. They feel defeated, they feel that they can't dig themselves out. Now if the original creditors recognized unemployment and medical issues (documented, of course) I think most of these people would not be here. It has been said, we should have money saved in case of an emergency. I DID. I was able to keep up for about a year, paying minimum. My interest rates went sky high and penalities were added. The minimum payments were actually money down the drain in the end.
Wish I hadn't bothered. My creditors did not care about my medical problems or income loss. THAT'S THE PROBLEM.

Back to the subject. By the time people get to this forum, they are already dealing with collection agents. Their credit is trashed, and paying a CA does not help on the score. These people are just trying to survive and keep whatever little they have.

As Why Chat told you.....The CA buyer is a 2nd hand dealer, he buys merchandise that has been written off by the original owner. However, rather than reselling his used goods for a fair markup on his purchase as a used furniture dealer or even a used car dealer would, he used nasty intimidating tactics to try to scare people into paying the FULL PRICE."new Merchandise".

I can speak for myself here. I tried to save my credit....I just couldn't. I think that is true of most of the posters here. Paying the CA 2K on a debt that was originally 1K just isn't fair, not to mention that that the CA paid a fraction of the orginal debt.

If you read these posts long enough, you will see how CAs talk to consumers. CAs assume that we are lying when we say we can't pay. Maybe 1% of the people that default are lying.....most are not. The whole things just tumbles way out of control until we feel that the situation is hopeless. Nobody asks for a pay cut or a medical problem or a sick child or a sick parent. Those things are part of life, and the credit card companies take that risk.

By the time my financial circumstances changed for the better, my accounts were charged off and the balances about doubled. By the time the CA that sued me made their first phone call, I had experienced enough abuse (and I MOSTLY ignored CA and did not talk to them) that there was absolutely NOTHING that could have been said to make me even want to offer a low settlement. They annoyed me further, and so I made sure that they did not get one thin dime from me.

Our credit system is not set up to reward those that pay. What did paying minimum for a year do for me besides get my interest rates increased through the roof.

People here are beyond benefiting from paying. They have been harassed and threatened. Fair is fair, and I guess that's about it.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could buy our accounts for the same price that CAs buy it.

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