Oct 21, 2008
People like supercollector up there have NO CLUE how to handle people. Your interpersonal skills, sir, are pathetic. If you don't treat others with respect, how can you expect them to treat you with respect?
One debt collector, when I answered the phone, accused me of going by an alias -- when it's the name I've gone by since I was in junior high school -- which is LONG before I ever had credit. These people are just plain [***] for the most part -- and I refuse to work with people like that. Send me rare polite debt collector and I'll do my best to work with them and get things paid off. Ever heard of the expression you get more flies with honey than vinegar? Learn it, Know it, Live it!
You don't know people's situations. My own situation... my car broke down. My parents talked me into getting a new car that I really could just barely afford (I DID pay the car off), but while paying on it, I lost my job -- completely OUT of my control, layed off. I scrimped and all my credit card debt piled up. See, I already had credit card debt from college. These companies (which are the biggest money makers in the world, despite their pleas for help -- when others need help much more) prey on the young and unknowing, tricking them into thinking they need a credit card, tricking them into thinking they'll make good money when they get out of college, despite the fact not everyone does. Our society is way too materialistic for most people to responsibly handle credit cards. This is why we are a nation FILLED with debt. The credit card companies loan money to people they shouldn't -- EVERY SINGLE DAY. They increase credit limits when they shouldn't -- EVERY SINGLE DAY. It's a risk and is very akin to gambling. Credit cards are evil, point and simple. When you build up credit card debt, you become an indentured servant, which is illegal in MOST dignified countries.
I'm sorry, but someone working part-time for $6 an hour, should NOT qualify for a credit card. When the credit card companies issue cards to those people, it's their own fault for being STUPID and making bad RISKS. Take an Economics 101 class and learn the basics that the credit card companies have not learned.
Now...as per this caller... I don't owe them money. I filed bankruptcy 3 years ago because the debt grew too large until it was more money than I make in 3 years (so, no... I didn't have the money to pay off the debt.) I never intentionally ran it up without intent to pay. But bad things happen to good people. My credit is shot. It's a hard lesson to learn. Now, I keep most of my debts up to date. I only have one past due balance and I have been paying some on that one but I'm behind right now because things have been tight. There are unexpected bills, like your cell phone gets knocked into a lake and now you have to come up with $500 to cover the deposit and the fee for the phone. So, for 3 months, I've been without a phone and can't call them (their number was on the phone) -- but it wasn't Niagara so I don't know why Niagara is calling me. I received no contact via mail from either of these companies notifying me of any change in the collection process on my one past due bill.