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Dealing With Debt Collections

Debt Collections Agents 

Can Be Difficult to Deal With...

I know many people that have had to deal with unpaid debt, and what a tough experience it can be to deal with the debt collection agencies that use every tactic they can, legal and illegal, to collect the money owed.

Being behind on your bills and dealing with a debt collections agency is never a pleasant experience.  It’s humiliating and can really sap your mental and emotional energy, dragging you into a despair you never thought you’d have to go through when you incurred the debt in the first place.

When the debt collectors start calling , the first thing you have to tell yourself is that you WILL get through this and you WILL come out better on the other side.   You have to muddle through the process, find a way to resolve it, and move on with your life.  It may not be easy but you CAN get it done.

10 Tips For Dealing With Debt Collections

The next thing to do when the collectors start calling is to realize who you’re dealing with. Once your debt is turned over to a collection agency, you are typically dealing with bottom feeders at that point, especially if the debt is very old.  These agencies normally buy your debt for pennies on the dollar and hope to collect at least a little something from you to make their investment worthwhile.

In order to do that they will use every tactic they can to hound you into giving them some or all of the money you owe.  They have been known to call incessantly, hurl insults, curse people, yell, scream, contact neighbors and relatives, and anything else they can do to browbeat or embarrass you into giving them some money.

You Have Rights

But you have rights when it comes to how debt collectors do their job, and the more you know about how to deal with them the better.  So here are a few tips to help you navigate your way through the debt collection nightmare you might be experiencing:

• Don’t Ignore It- If you’re contacted about a bad debt, ignoring it won’t make it go away.  In fact it can make things worse due to additional fees, lawsuits, and additional phone calls.  If you owe the debt, acknowledge it and try to work something out.

• Keep Track of All Phone Calls- Write down the time, date, who you talked to, and the details of each call.  This will help you to keep track and stay on top of what’s happening with the account.  You can also document any harassment that may be happening.

• Keep Your Emotions in Check- Many debt collectors want to get you angry and emotional to force you into doing whatever you can to erase the debt.  When you get too emotional you are much more likely to make a stupid decision that could cause you even more money and trouble in the long run.  If they start playing emotional games, tell them they can call you back when they are ready to talk rationally, then hang up.

• If You Don’t Think You Owe it, Then Dispute It- Request proof of the debt in writing.  If you have any documentation that says you paid off that debt, provide them with a copy.  Never send the original.

• NEVER Give Them Access to Your Bank Account- If you work out a payment schedule with the debt collector, NEVER, EVER let them autodraft your checking account for a monthly payment.  They will continually ping your account, and when they see that you have any significant amount of money there, they may drain the account, leaving you with no money and probably a lot of overdraft fees as well.

• Only Agree to Pay What You Can Afford- Never agree to a payment settlement you know you won’t be able to meet just to get them off your back.  All that does is delay the pain and you’ll be back in the same situation soon enough.  Only agree to pay what you know you can afford, and no more.

• Try to Settle for as Little as Possible- The one thing you have working in your favor with a debt collector is that you can negotiate with them.  They only paid pennies on the dollar to buy your debt so you typically can negotiate them down to sometimes half of what you owe or even less.

• Get it in Writing- Whenever you come to an agreement on how much they are willing to take, payment arrangements, and so forth, make sure to get it in writing so that you will have proof later on if they suddenly decide to deviate from that agreement.  Getting it in writing helps to keep them honest.  When you finally do get the debt paid off, make sure to get it in writing that the debt is paid in full and the account is closed.  Keep that piece of paper FOREVER!

• If You Get Sued for the Debt- Respond to the court immediately, and on the court date take every bit of documentation you have so the court can work something out for you that is fair.  If you don’t respond or show up in court you may end up with a default judgment that could mean your wages would be garnished and bank accounts frozen.

 

By Jason Cabler

Write or Die

This is horrible! The novelist David Nicholls says that while working on his latest book Us he used a piece of software called Write or Die, which starts to delete what you are writing if you pause for too long. “I was convinced that there was a novel in me and I had to just spew it out on to the page,” Nicholls told an audience at the Cheltenham Literary festival. “I produced huge piles of paper and I saw it was all rubbish. It was as if I was writing with a gun to my head.”

I agree. I can say so because I have been asked to write this article both about Write or Die, and on it and, under the circumstances, the only way I could do justice to the stress would be with a list of swearwords. Having readied that quote from Nicholls, I set a target of 400 words in one hour and activated the evil setting. This seemed the fun thing to do, but in fact it means that if I stop typing even for just a couple of seconds, the screen goes pink, then puce, then red, then crimson … then the last word on the document disappears, then the next, then the next. There is a pause button I can press once, I have just discovered by pressing it.

I have tried adding and deleting spaces, like dribbling a basketball when I want to stand still. I have put some unimportant notes at the end as a kind of buffer. It is interesting to see how much pausing I do, but either way I can’t concentrate. “I want to write and finish a book because I want to be published and make a living as a writer,” says the inventor of Write or Die, Jeff Printy (another quote I readied). In short, he loves writing so much that he wants to do it for the rest of his life – but not quite enough to do it for a couple of hours continuously.

 

Actually, I think the second half of that is healthy. I have been published and I do make a living as a writer, just about, but I know that this is only because I am weird enough to enjoy the years of solitary pondering and nitpicking that writing a novel actually involves – the very things that Write or Die won’t let me do.

In the end, Nicholls had to bin the 35,000 words he had written this way, but they weren’t wasted. In just a few months, he rewrote the same idea in the first person to produce a novel that was longlisted for the Booker prize. For him, perhaps, this terrible torture was itself a kind of pondering time. And look! I have just passed 400 words. Finally, it’s safe to go back and do some editing.

 

FROM: THE GUARDIAN - SHORTCUTSBLOG

 

Grateful Me

I am thankful to know you,
I am grateful that I have you,
I am thankful for our interactions,
I am grateful for our connections,
I am thankful that you are here,
I am grateful that it is now,
I am thankful to be alive,
I am grateful you are alive,
I am thankful for this experience,
I am grateful for my inexperience,
I am thankful for the lands I walk on,
I am grateful for the skies I look upon,
I am thankful for the shining sun,
I am grateful for the beautiful moon,
I am thankful for the rain,
I am grateful for the wind,
I am thankful to you mother, I am grateful to you father,
I am thankful to you sister, I am grateful to you brother,
I am thankful to you son, I am grateful to you friend,
I am thankful to you family, I am grateful to you community,
I am thankful to all beings, I am grateful for all meanings,
I am thankful for the stars, I am grateful for the scars,
I am thankful for every tear I ever shed, I am grateful for every lesson I learned,
I am thankful for the opportunity, I am grateful for this journey.

(found online)