Found this at that collectionindustry website. I found it to be interesting. A little far-fetched, but maybe true. My story: I'm a good person and I went through a bad period of time and now I'm trying to get back on my feet. I pay all of my bills on time now and am on my way back to credit recovery, but now I feel that I am a victim of the FICO system and credit companies that continually try to scam us? So, what do you guys think of what this lady says? Author: DebtCollector01 Date: 6/30/2002 1:16 am EDT Don't judge if YOU yourself do not want to be judged. I know all too well what it feels like to have suffered thru 7 years of bad credit and have debt collectors calling me for payments on charged off credit card debts I did not have the money to pay for. You see, my situation is very similar to most of the people (maybe even you) that I now call to collect on. Back in March of 1992, after 10 years of "surviving" a very physically, emotionally and financially abusive marriage, I woke up one day and made a life changing decision to flee my abuser and take the kids and run. With only the clothes on my back and my then 2 1/2 & 1 1/2 year old infant children, I made a committed decision to change my life for the better (no matter what the cost) and run for our lives. So there I was, an unemployed stay-at-home Mom of 2 children with no money and only a desire to better our lives. We ended up in a spouse abuse shelter for 6 months with only the clothes on our backs. The very first thing I did was call all of my creditors and make them aware of my situation. Did they care? Nope. Not at all. They called me DAILY at the SPOUSE ABUSE SHELTER having me paged over the intercom demanding that I pay my bill as agreed. That is when I vowed that when I got back on my feet, I would become a debt collector and HELP others like me who thru no fault of their own fell on hard times. YES, I AM A DEBT COLLECTOR. I do not believe in belittling the people I collect on. Rather I listen to their stories and try to educate them rather than berate and belittle them. I tell them my story and let them know that I have walked a mile in their shoes but also empower them with the knowledge and fact that they do not have to remain victims of circumstances. That they can start over and that it takes ACTION and a committed decision -- just like the ones I have made in my life -- and only THEY control their destiny from this day forward. How did I get back on my feet? I took a job on a construction site as a cleaner for $7.00 per hour. I purchased a used car (1979 Chevy Camaro) for $200.00. Not a luxury car, an old junk that got me back and forth to work. I also took on a 2nd job cleaning office buildings in the evening. Since I could not afford a babysitter, I had to take my infant children to work with me. On the weekends, I went to apartment complexes, jumped into their dumpsters and went "dumpster diving" for good used discarded items such as household furniture, bedding, clothes and anything of value that I could find. Some of it I used to furnish my shared apartment and the rest I sold at yard sales I held on the weekends. I put the money from the sale of those items toward my debt. I also collected bottles and cans from the garbage and recycled them for a little pocket cash and gas money. I purchased clothes from thrift stores, not Burdines or the Mall. My children wore second hand clothes from Goodwill and we received food from food banks and the Salvation Army. Since I could not afford a place of my own, I was forced to share a small apartment with a few other people who shared in the expenses. That's right. 6 people living in a 1,000 sq ft apartment. My children and I all slept in one room. I am happy to say that I have remained a single Mom with no help from anyone. My credit score is now 780. I have never filed for bankruptcy and own 4 homes (3 in Florida) one in South Carolina and some 12 acres of land in Vermont. I DID IT ON MY OWN AND I DID IT MY WAY!!!!!!! WHERE THERE IS A WILL THERE IS A WAY. There are definetely two types of people. The ones who want to do the right thing and those who want to take the easy way out and IGNORE their responsibilities in life. The people that I collect on each and every month pay their debts BECAUSE THEY WANT TO IMPROVE THEIR CURRENT SITUATION and the ones that repeatedly hang up on me and curse at me and have total disregard for not only themselves but also for their financial obligations, I have to tell you, I have no respect for. They are the ones who make EXCUSES and BLAME OTHERS for THEIR BAD DECISIONS or HARD TIMES. The debt collectors did not put them in that situation. They got themselves there by overspending or perhaps thru no fault of their own. But the way THEY CHOOSE to handle their responsibilities FROM THIS DAY FORWARD, is definetely THEIR CHOICE. I don't know what your particular personal situation in life was that caused you to not be able to pay your debts, but if you are a fair minded person you will realize that if the shoe was on the other foot and it was YOU who was owed the money, would YOU be as forgiving of the other person as you want someone to be of YOU? Remember the Golden Rule: Treat Others The Way You Would Want To Be Treated and Love Your Neighbor As You Would Love Yourself. Would you be hating or cheating YOURSELF?
This debt collector is an a$$hole and it's too goddamn early and I'm too freaking tired to go on some long rant. For someone with nothing and kids, the first responsibility is the kids - not debts. Who the frig is she kidding? Am I expected to believe that story? Puuuuuuleeeease! I'm going back to bed now that I'm all goddamn irritated!
Re: ok...let's get a debate started I don't get it. She seems like a nice person to me. I've known people who've extracted themselves from seemingly impossible financial circumstances, worked multiple jobs, and now enjoy substantial net worth. This doesn't sound outside the realm of possibility imho. Doc
Re: ok...let's get a debate started ...Yeah, but to say that she doesn't have *any* respect for them seems a bit brutal... If you are to treat others as you would like to be treated (as she requested), then it seems to me that you try your damnedest to respect all people as humans trying to find their way through hard times the best way that they can at the moment. It's inappropriate to determine that someone is not making their best effort simply because you've done differently in a quasi-similar situation. You may hate what they're doing and how they're doing it, but you can still respect the sense of self we each carry with us while we strive to handle our quandaries. She seems to have put that aside. I think she is forgetting to allow for growth. People don't always wake up and do the best, most righteous thing straight away, even when they know what that would be. It takes time and soul-searching to find out how to act from your highest sense of truth and authenticity, I think. I admire that she is trying to be understanding, but she seems irritatingly self-righteous when she should really feel pride in her own actions and compassion for others. Ai-yi-yi. It's 3:05 a.m. and my eyes are starting to blur. G'night, all...
Re: ok...let's get a debate started I wonder if anyone has ever offered to work off their debt by becoming a debt collector for a CA trying to collect from them before. LOL...just struck me as funny. You know...having to do dishes if you couldn't pay for dinner, etc.? L
Re: ok...let's get a debate started This lady is full of garbage, b.s., etc. She did not give any specific amounts nor did she give a timetable that is took to pay off these debts. Futhermore, she did say if when she paid off these debts that they deleted the paid collections. When push comes to shove. You need to take care of the necessities - food, shelter, clothing. Look at Moslov's hierachy of needs. I don't see paying debts on there. If you pay a little amt. to keep your accounts from charging off or if you pay a little for a collection. It will take you forever to pay it off plus the fees and interest will still accumulate. So what's the incentive? A clear conscience? Please, I sleep at night. I've paid my dues. Your bad credit cannot affect you more than being turned down for a job, a car, an apt., etc. You pay for it every day for 7 years, so I don't need to give the collection agency any money to make my life more miserable. She is a joke! Ha, ha, ha!!!!
Re: ok...let's get a debate started Frankly, I just reread what she wrote, and she still seems like a fine lady to me. Who cares if she didn't offer a timetable? I'm beginning to wonder if the hostility being expressed toward her has anything to do with the fact that she resolved her debt issues differently than did some people here. 1) I have no problem with consumers who stand up for their federally guaranteed rights. In other words, it's every consumer's right to request validation of an alleged debt. 2) I also have no problem with consumers who choose to pay their debts outright. Both scenarios are worthy of respect for different reasons. I don't see the two choices as being in competition with one another. Moreover, I don't see the value in "one side" bashing the other. In my own case, I was someone who chose to pay every single debt 100% including interest and penalties. There were no negotiated settlements, no validation letters, no estoppel, not even a single cease/desist notice (and the collectors did call regularly). That was my personal choice. I also regularly give tips on validation/estoppel, so I obviously don't have any problem with those who choose that lawful route. There's no need to exclaim, "So what's the incentive? A clear conscience? Please, I sleep at night." In my case, YES, I personally would not have felt very good not paying, and I sleep at night also. As for someone who exercises their lawful validation rights, why wouldn't you sleep at night? (Who the heck raised that question anyway?) I could have gone the validation route on a couple of items myself. Either way would have been worthy. Bashing those who truly advocate for and truly believe in debt repayment isn't very helpful. Neither is it helpful to bash those who seek lawful relief from debts which can't be proven. Doc
Re: ok...let's get a debate started I kind of agree with Doc, on this one. I paid almost all of my debts outright. There is one that I refuse to pay, and that's only because they refuse to delete or validate. Everything else I did. I've been doing this since April of last year, and i'm just now getting back on my feet. There are some of us who started in November, and they are all clean. Different people have different situations. If the story she told is true, I applaud her. Just my 2 cents.
Re: ok...let's get a debate started I think its great she rose above her situation and apparently did what she had to do, especially for her childrens' sake. But not everyone has the same motivation or the same situation. Mine could be much worse. I might not be as fortunate as to find a shelter and have to sleep on the street. And I don't think that people necessarily blame the collector for their debt problems ,its the way in which they enforce trying to collect the debt and sometime a debt that isn't even yours! Constantly calling, sending letters when the pressure is already on you to just try to provide food and clothing for your family. No, this could be a real situation and good for her that she now owns 4 houses and probably makes a million dollars (my words, not hers about the million) but, as we have found, collectors make mistakes, creditors make mistakes, and we as consumers make mistakes and everyone needs to find a way to make it right.
Re: ok...let's get a debate started I'm gonna call B.S. on the story as a whole. Debt collectors don't make enough to own 4 houses and realestate in 3 different states. They'll get a base salary and a percentage of money collected over a certain threshold. No way she paid her old bills, provided for current living expenses for 2 growing children AND was able to buy real estate with a value into 6 figures in just 10 years. Nice story but I seriously doubt it happened.
Re: ok...let's get a debate started I gotta go with keepmine - not likely. And add to his comment - "black and white" "good and bad" "all or nothing" scenarios aren't realistic. Maybe this has a ring to it because it's part truth - but it's probably also part fiction. If she owns all that real estate, she's working for someone else? The collection industry feeds itself these moralistic stories - that they are helping people get their lives straightened out - in order to justify, in their own minds, what they are doing to people who are at the end of their rope. So the sick should go without medicine, the hungry without food, kids go without shoes, and you should pay the collection agency for a stale debt purchased for pennies on the dollar, instead....? bleccchhh! Nah, send them to me. All they need to pay is postage.
Re: ok...let's get a debate started Or inherited it? Actually, if she was collecting business accts., then maybe she is making big bucks. But I doubt it also.
Re: ok...let's get a debate started I'm in the same boat with breeze and keepmine and that's why the whole story irritates me. It just sounds like BS. She claims that her hard times made her want to be a debt collector? Are you kidding me?? Where is the correlation? I don't see any. May be there is SOME truth to that BS story but most of it is horsebleep. And, no - I don't begrudge her for how she handled her debts because she claims she handled them differently than I. There was a brief 1 month period where I had no car, no house (we stayed with my sister), and a not-so-well paying job right before my BK. Did I sleep well at night knowing that I was putting my money toward food and other necessities while ignoring the creditors? YOU BETTER BELIEVE I SLEPT OK. When all is said and done, my first and only loyalty is to my family - not some debt collector.
Re: ok...let's get a debate started I have a story just like that..I can't believe it..here goes.. Once, there was this beautiful girl who lived with her ugly stepmother and two ugly stepsisters. (All of them were debt collectors)...then, there was going to be a ball in town and everyone was going but the ugly debt collector, er, stepmother, forbid poor Cinderella to go..... blah, blah, blah... horsehockey.... what a dip chip.
Re: ok...let's get a debate started Ok, let's put that lady aside for a minute. She may well be exaggerating her success or even making it up or telling the truth -- none of us know. Forgetting about her for a second, I have a few questions about the issue itself. (The original poster asked for a debate, and this one seems as compelling as any I've seen lately, lol.) A few questions: 1) tmitchell, you mentioned that you slept better. My question is... why WOULDN'T you have slept better? (You brought up the issue, so I'm wondering.) My thinking is that one would sleep better either way -- whether one decided to pay off outstanding debts or whether one decided to exercise ones federal rights by seeking validation. Either way is a respectable and lawful course of action, so it seems to me that either would be worthy of a good night's sleep. What am I missing here? 2) Does anybody here have a problem with people who decide that it's best to just pay off debts? Of course, for some people that is impossible anyway, so they don't have the opportunity to do so. But my question has to do with people like myself who were fortunate enough to have the resources to just say, "To hell with this. I'll sell this asset, and cash in this asset, and live below my means for several years, and drive a 4 year old Honda rather than the brand new "luxury" car, and wipe out the damned debt." Am I mistaken in believing that some people here harbor some hostility against those of us who choose that course of action? Thanks for any clarification. I just want to know the motivation behind the arguments so that I can argue my case more effectively. Doc
Re: ok...let's get a debate started Doc: When I read her "story," I had a problem: a) believing it b) her "better-than-you" attitude (you being generic, of course) c) swallowing my coffee from the laughter
Re: ok...let's get a debate started Would I become a debt collector as job to pay my bills, when I am behind on my bills? Probably not for fear I would have to call myself up and demand money for some account turned over to collections. Would I get a job as a debt collector as a part time job now? Yes in a heartbeat. For the reason to know the inside secrets of thy enemy. As for that story, some parts sound credible, others not. Seems that she uprooted very quickly and her first priorities should have been her children. After providing for them and getting back on her own, the next priority should have been making a better life for her children. Not that paying her debts should have not factored in there as well, but to hold the standard that those who hang up and curse the collector do not deserve a break......tell me when she became judge and jury.
Re: ok...let's get a debate started I myself, do not have a problem with those that choose to pay off their debts. I would if I could, but the keyword is COULD. I do not own my own home, where I could take a loan out on the equity. My car is now close to 10 years old and in need of dire repair. Afraid to take vacation, cause the only way I can go is to drive and afraid the stupid car will disengrate enroute. Vacation to me, is just a means away from the every day stresses. As for material things, the furniture sold would bring little if nothing. I do not hold stocks, have a 401K, nothing. For the collections to hold you in fear of answering your phone and treating you like scum, give me a break. All I want is their home number, so one day when things are bad for them, I can hound them like they have me, so they can wear the shoe. The one company that treated me with respect got paid, the others....well, fighting them in court and racking up the violations.
Re: ok...let's get a debate started Ok, thanks for the feedback, whatever. (That sounds like I'm saying "whatever" but actually that's your nickname, lol.) So you don't have a problem with my deciding to pay off my debts. Good to know. Anybody else? Sometimes it feels like there's a general prejudice around here against those of us who decided to pay off our debts. tmitchell, any thoughts about my question #1? I'm trying to get a sense of this lost-sleep thing. Doc
Re: ok...let's get a debate started Doc.... Her whole original post seemed to throw guilt on those who DON'T make paying debts their first priority - I'm pointing out that I personally lost no sleep after deciding that my family was my first priority, not debt collectors.
