Calls Begin

[Ann]

Today I received my first "courtesy" call from one of my many (20) creditors. It was from CitiCards and honestly the lady couldn't have been nicer. I wasn't expecting that! She asked why we didn't make a payment last month and was concerned because in the past 10 years we had the account we were never late. I told her point blank that I could either make a credit card payment or my house payment and asked her what she would choose. She said the house for sure. She offered me 0% for a year and said she understood if I couldn't even make those payments but it was there for the offering! Wasn't expecting that and then I started to feel guilty because I DID borrow off of that card and they did lend me the money! Not paying goes against everything I ever believed in when borrowing money. I have no choice now though. I'm quite sure those calls will persist and the next agent won't be as nice. This lady actually told me that here she is working in a collections department and she too is behind on her cc payments. Weird. Not so sure I believe that one but I guess it is quite possible.

[Cheeseater]

They were nice to me as well, they handed my account to GC services at 150 days they aren't as nice. Good luck.

[SandyShores]

Ann-I'm in the same boat. Citi was the first to call. They are nice but they will call and call and call. The worst creditors so far are Macys and Kroger. They put you on the defense from the start and don't let up.

I, too, felt guilty (at first) but the fact is non of us, you included, is an amoral deadbeat that intentionally ran up debt that we had no intention of re-paying before blowing town in the middle of the night with a gleam in our eye and a smile on our face. Actually, it was the sub-prime lenders who did that before they folded their tents and blew town only after lining their pockets with double-digit commissions and bonus checks. They colluded with appraisers to over-inflate the value of homes while, at the same time, artificially manipulated the demand curve by granting loans to people at a LTD ratio of 125%. They stole our equity and left us holding the bag.

And, the credit cards companies are not blameless either. They extended credit to people without jobs (e.g., college students) and relentlessly and calculatingly peppered all card holders with low/zero percent interest balance transfer/cash advance checks. And, if you used any of those unsolicited checks, they would immediately reward you with another fist-full of checks some of which were pre-printed cash advance checks payable directly to you for large sums of money. Credit limits increased commensurate with the card holder's spending habits and not their payment history.


SandyShores

[wantout]

Ann-I'm in the same boat. Citi was the first to call. They are nice but they will call and call and call. The worst creditors so far are Macys and Kroger. They put you on the defense from the start and don't let up.

I, too, felt guilty (at first) but the fact is non of us, you included, is an amoral deadbeat that intentionally ran up debt that we had no intention of re-paying before blowing town in the middle of the night with a gleam in our eye and a smile on our face. Actually, it was the sub-prime lenders who did that before they folded their tents and blew town only after lining their pockets with double-digit commissions and bonus checks. They colluded with appraisers to over-inflate the value of homes while, at the same time, artificially manipulated the demand curve by granting loans to people at a LTD ratio of 125%. They stole our equity and left us holding the bag.

And, the credit cards companies are not blameless either. They extended credit to people without jobs (e.g., college students) and relentlessly and calculatingly peppered all card holders with low/zero percent interest balance transfer/cash advance checks. And, if you used any of those unsolicited checks, they would immediately reward you with another fist-full of checks some of which were pre-printed cash advance checks payable directly to you for large sums of money. Credit limits increased commensurate with the card holder's spending habits and not their payment history.


SandyShores

Lets not forget how the CCs jacked up the rates people were paying to 30% or higher.....on accounts that had never been late or had a missed payment...they expect you to hold up your end of the agreement but when they change the agreement allmost monthly how are you supposed to pay off that debt, simple, you cant.
So they expect you to pay and pay more and more interest every month while little to nothing goes to your principle...

While I hate to file, I have no choice, every month I got deeper and deeper....no more, they got their high interest, now I want my relief...

[747LUVR]

Yeah, Citi's been sweet as honey to me. I always feel guilty kinda talking to the sweet girls on the other line, for like 2 minutes maybe, tops. But so far they've been really really nice. I'm kinda curious when it stops. On another note, Citi sent me a real nice letter on my flex line that either I pay up in 30 days, or they'll give it to an atty in my state to deal with me. oooh noooo. Now I can't sleep tonight. hahahaha. Filed it and thats that.

[Ann]

Yeah, Citi's been sweet as honey to me. I always feel guilty kinda talking to the sweet girls on the other line, for like 2 minutes maybe, tops. But so far they've been really really nice. I'm kinda curious when it stops. On another note, Citi sent me a real nice letter on my flex line that either I pay up in 30 days, or they'll give it to an atty in my state to deal with me. oooh noooo. Now I can't sleep tonight. hahahaha. Filed it and thats that.

How late were you when they sent that pay up or else letter?

[SandyShores]

Lets not forget how the CCs jacked up the rates people were paying to 30% or higher.....on accounts that had never been late or had a missed payment...they expect you to hold up your end of the agreement but when they change the agreement allmost monthly how are you supposed to pay off that debt, simple, you cant.
So they expect you to pay and pay more and more interest every month while little to nothing goes to your principle...

While I hate to file, I have no choice, every month I got deeper and deeper....no more, they got their high interest, now I want my relief...

Amen to that! I once, for some stupid reason, underpaid my Discover bill by 3 cents (never late-ever) and they jacked up my interest to 29% and charged me a $30 late fee. I complained and they reversed it but in America the punishment is supposed to fit the crime.

Seems almost like they are waiting for you to slip up so they can stick it to you even more. I'm wondering if these new credit card regs are going to really help the consumer in the final analysis. I know the government's Hope for homeowners program is a big rip off. Supposedly the program has only helped about 18,000 people re-fi while 278,000 homes went into foreclosure since its inception back in April. The government allowed these sub-prime lenders to operate without restriction for years-no doc loans in particular. But the worst was the "pick a payment plan" which was nothing more than negative amortization. That is why we are in the mess we are not because consumers alone acted irresponsibly. We thought the double digit appreciation was real not contrived.

In any event, credit card companies asked for what they got. Eventually they get a tax break when they write off the bad debt jammed packed with late fees, over credit fees etc.

SandyShores