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I just got a job as a debt collector, and lord do people who charge up thousands of dollars they know they can't afford bother me.

They always say "I have no money," when they have a 400,000 dollar house they have $150,000 worth of equity in, etc. Or they hang up on me, or they answer to their name, then figure out what I'm up to and act like they're not who they just admitted they are. GAHHHHHHH!!! PAY YOUR FUCKING BILLS. And if you can't, just try to work with us. It's in your best interest, because if an account is charged off and you start paying, the balance won't continue to go up at the whim of the creditor.

Ok, rant over. Thanks for your time.

You do realize that some of the "debts" that get sent to debt collection companies are complete bullshit, right?

For example, I got sent to a collection agency for failure to pay my cell phone bill. The problem was that I had called (twice) to cancel my cell service and the phone company didn't cancel. And I still got my bill sent to a collection agency until I sent the phone company a letter, co-signed by a buddy of mine who's a lawyer, and told them to knock it off or we'd see them in small claims court.

I'm in much the same boat as SancheztheWhaler. Put my phone on hold before I deployed. Paided off my balance(Called, asked and double checked that my balance was payed off.)

Then six months later I get back and find out they charged me for the month AFTER I put it on hold. Needless to say six months of late charges had occured and they sent it off to a debt agency.

Here's the kicker, they agreeded to refund me my money and strip it from my credit report... Except they don't have the records. Their standard pratice is to give all of their records to the debt collection agency.

An agency no one inculding they can get ahold of...

*clears throat, steps up to podium*

PWNZD!

*steps down from podium*

We could always just kill them.

Some of these debts might be bullshit, but the vast majority aren't. I've worked in collections, and there are a lot of fucking deadbeats out there.

Having been on both sides of collections.... yes, there are a lot of deadbeats. If YOU aren't a deadbeat, but you are having problems paying your bills call the people you owe money to and start negotiating - you'll almost always come off better in the end that way. Assuming, of course, you really aren't a deadbeat.

FireNexus wrote:I just got a job as a debt collector, and lord do people who charge up thousands of dollars they know they can't afford bother me.

They always say "I have no money," when they have a 400,000 dollar house they have $150,000 worth of equity in, etc. Or they hang up on me, or they answer to their name, then figure out what I'm up to and act like they're not who they just admitted they are. GAHHHHHHH!!! PAY YOUR FUCKING BILLS. And if you can't, just try to work with us. It's in your best interest, because if an account is charged off and you start paying, the balance won't continue to go up at the whim of the creditor.

Ok, rant over. Thanks for your time.

Problem being is most people in that situation, owe money to multiple people and a collector want just their money and will try to smooth it out of you for just them and damn everyone else.

While the debtee is usually trying to satisfy multiple dickheads calling them at all hours of the day. So while the broke asshat who owes a lot of money is to blame, I don't feel too sorry for the telemarketer on crack that is a debt collector either.

Checks in the mail and no you can't take it out of my debit card account.

Phone check my good man, and regardless of them owing multiple debts to multiple people, it's really none of my concern. If all you can do is ten dollars a month, fine. We'll take it. Shit, we offer people settlements of as low as 40% (Discover does, anyway, I worked a few capital one anccounts, and they just never seem to go lower than 70). Regardless, we don't do cell bills in my office. And if there is a problem with a credit card, ie: id theft, send us a police report and we'll leave you alone. If you're declaring bankruptcy, just give us the name of your lawyer, and we'll leave you alone.

We're not unreasonable, and we're not assholes (well, there are a few, but the majority aren't), but some of these fuckers are just deadbeats.

FireNexus wrote:Phone check my good man, and regardless of them owing multiple debts to multiple people, it's really none of my concern. If all you can do is ten dollars a month, fine. We'll take it. Shit, we offer people settlements of as low as 40% (Discover does, anyway, I worked a few capital one anccounts, and they just never seem to go lower than 70). Regardless, we don't do cell bills in my office. And if there is a problem with a credit card, ie: id theft, send us a police report and we'll leave you alone. If you're declaring bankruptcy, just give us the name of your lawyer, and we'll leave you alone.

We're not unreasonable, and we're not assholes (well, there are a few, but the majority aren't), but some of these fuckers are just deadbeats.

Not that I'm in that position now, mind you. But I've suffered the attension of collectors before. Yes, by damn law you take what you can get, but it doesn't stop most firms from pushing and pushing for what ever they can get. Shit happens and crap occures, but if I could send you $500 bucks, I'd damn well just pay off the damn bill instead of having you call me regularly.

RedImperator wrote:Some of these debts might be bullshit, but the vast majority aren't. I've worked in collections, and there are a lot of fucking deadbeats out there.

even worse are people who CONSTANTLY overdraw on their checking accounts, blame the bank and demand that we re-activate their debit card. This usually happens on mondays when trasactions they made as credit card transactions all weekend finally post. Then I sit them down at the computer and show them every last transaction they made. Usually they sheepishly just transfer funds from thier checking accounts. Sometimes they storm off in a huff, other times they claim that they never made the transactions. At which i point present them with an affadavit for them to complete and sign and offer to call the police for them to "expedite the completion of the stolen property report. 99 times out of a hundrend they turn sheet white and instantly "remember" making the purchases.

I absolutely loathe the idea of getting into debt. I'm never taking out a car loan or a mortgage, and I'm never getting a credit card. There's nothing a credit card can do that a debit card can't.

Andrew J. wrote:I absolutely loathe the idea of getting into debt. I'm never taking out a car loan or a mortgage, and I'm never getting a credit card. There's nothing a credit card can do that a debit card can't.

Same here-- never gonna take out a school loan. As long as I can maintain work during the summer, and during schooltime when possible, I pay cash for everything as much as I can. Sometimes this necessitates a visit to the ATM, true, but I can generally manage to keep some cash on me at all times. I paid cash for my car-- of course, it was just $1300, and I don't carry *that* much cash on me -- and I fully intend to do so with any large purchases, up to and including a house, as much as possible.

Andrew J. wrote:I absolutely loathe the idea of getting into debt. I'm never taking out a car loan or a mortgage,

Either you plan on being stinking rich or spending years saving money to pay cash (or you're in line to inherit a house), then. Unless you're in the ghetto or the middle of nowhere, or willing to settle on a crackerbox, you can expect to pay at least $100,000 for a house.

Of course, you could rent your whole life, which under some circumstances might make sense, but renting puts you in a similar situation to having a mortgage: if you don't pay, you and your stuff gets kicked to the curb, and all the money you've paid until then is lost forever.

and I'm never getting a credit card. There's nothing a credit card can do that a debit card can't.

Except make an emergency payment for which you don't have enough cash in your checking account to cover.

RedImperator wrote: Except make an emergency payment for which you don't have enough cash in your checking account to cover.

If you keep an emergancy money fund thats not a problem.

I for example myself keep five hundred. Enough to rent a car, get a hotel room for two to five days depding on the area plus pay for food.

Sure there's something a credit card can do that a debit card can't. Let's say your wallet gets stolen. You can refute the charges on the credit card, but what they charge on your debit card is gone forever.

plus credit cards build credit. Without debt, you really can't build a nice credit record (which you will need for a house/car/college/college for your kids/etcetcetc). You can build credit with phone contracts and utility contracts, but those are nothing compared to what you can build with just one credit card (even one with just a 500$ limit).

RedImperator wrote:Either you plan on being stinking rich or spending years saving money to pay cash (or you're in line to inherit a house), then. Unless you're in the ghetto or the middle of nowhere, or willing to settle on a crackerbox, you can expect to pay at least $100,000 for a house.

Trust me, I'm kicking my parents into an old folks' home as soon as possible.

Except make an emergency payment for which you don't have enough cash in your checking account to cover.

With my temperament, an emergency that bad would probably drive me to suicide anyway.

Andrew J. wrote:I absolutely loathe the idea of getting into debt. I'm never taking out a car loan or a mortgage, and I'm never getting a credit card. There's nothing a credit card can do that a debit card can't.

In my professional opinion as a banker, thats an incredibly stupid statement. Without a mortgage (or a lottery win or a millionare relative leaving you a fortune) you will never own a home. But not to worry because you won;t qualify for one because you never bothered to build up a credit history by showing the responsible use of credit cards, and automobile loans. Lending, and the responsible use of credit cornerstones of the modern economic system. Refusing to use them because you are an obtuse stick in the mud is to put yourself at a serious disadvantage.

Andrew J. wrote:

RedImperator wrote:Either you plan on being stinking rich or spending years saving money to pay cash (or you're in line to inherit a house), then. Unless you're in the ghetto or the middle of nowhere, or willing to settle on a crackerbox, you can expect to pay at least $100,000 for a house.

Trust me, I'm kicking my parents into an old folks' home as soon as possible.

I'm sure they'll be thrilled to hear that.

Except make an emergency payment for which you don't have enough cash in your checking account to cover.

With my temperament, an emergency that bad would probably drive me to suicide anyway.

You mean, an emergency like your transmission dying without warning or a windstorm knocking a tree through your roof? Are you telling me that would drive you to suicide?

Red, how dare you present Andrew with plausible real world scenerios that conflcit with his fashionable distatse for the banking industry.

Ill admit cant standing having debt, but I settle for just having sensible debt. School loans, mortgages, et al.

And someday, I wont have any. I try to pay with my debit card for everything.

RedImperator wrote:You mean, an emergency like your transmission dying without warning or a windstorm knocking a tree through your roof? Are you telling me that would drive you to suicide?

Those are hardly the sort of dire, urgent emergencies that you were talking about. Fuck it, I'd probably carry enough cash on me for bus fare and a motel room if my car died. If a storm smashes my roof the floor underneath is probably soaked anyway, so there's no point in trying to get it fixed overnight.

There's nothing wrong with having a credit card if you're responsible with it. It's not like it's gonna jump out of you wallet while you're not looking and go buy Elvis collector planes off QVC.

A credit card is a part of modern life. A mortgage is the only way you can buy a home unless you are just plain ass wealthly. Getting an equity line against your home can be very valuable too if used responsibly. Consumer debt sucks, but debt to pay for school or buy a home is a usually a means to a better end.

And if you want to stay out of debt, never buy stuff on credit that your SigOther swears "I'll help you pay it off!"

I've got a $4000 debt hanging over my head because of that. Everytime a debt collector (there's been three? four?) calls/writes about it, the 'settlement amount' is more than my monthly paycheck!

So I just trash the letters and ignore any phone calls that the Caller ID doesn't ID. Odd how most debt collectors show up as 'Unknown Number".