Impatience (Rant)

[tigergem]

I have come to the conclusion that in this electronic world of instant everything, Instant payments, instant information, I am becoming very frustrated with snail mail and manual processes.

I wish I could get access to electronic filing. It sure would make my life easier. And why oh why oh why do the trustees only take money orders? That have to go through the mail? What happened to pay.gov? Or... I dunno... heck, why don't they take PayPal? Or debit cards online or over the phone or even by fax authorization? No... let's do it the slow, dinosaur and MOST EXPENSIVE way.

[justbroke]

Paypal causes issues because Paypal wants a cut. The Paypal 2-3% fee would eat into the Trustee's fee of 5-8% (on average it's about 6.5% of the Trustee percentage). Same with using the Debit (not POS) feature of Debit Cards. Pay.GOV similarly charges a fee to municipalities, and there's the credit card/debit card fees on top of that as well!

Fees are why almost all mortgage servicers don't allow payment by credit card!

Also, many electronic transactions can be undone rather easily. Including debit card payments. I don't even know if it's possible to undo a cashed check. You can, however, cry fraud on a debit/credit card transaction... and even EFT transactions can be recalled! (I learned that the hard way when an employer recalled a direct deposit after 2 days! This summarily caused checks to bounce. We straightened it out in the end, but the Bank informed me that direct deposits via EFT were reversible!)

I have payroll deduction, so I don't mail anything in. I have no cost.

[tigergem]

Heck, if they would even take a check, that would be ok with me. I would love to set this up for automatic payments in my bill pay service with my bank. That is how I handle all of my insurance payments, and it's great. I know the check will be there by the due date and I don't have to remember to mail it. And if anybody says they didn't receive a payment the bank makes the phone calls and does the follow up, so I don't have to.

[justbroke]

Heck, if they would even take a check, that would be ok with me.

Umm... people bounce checks. The Trustee doesn't want to be in the business of chasing down bounced checks. I mean, you're dealing with people in debt and on a tight budget, who are known for not paying their bills.

I would love to set this up for automatic payments in my bill pay service with my bank.

I would too, but it would still just issue a paper check. Same problem.

And if anybody says they didn't receive a payment the bank makes the phone calls and does the follow up, so I don't have to.

They do? Regardless, that would NOT be a valid excuse for the Trustee.

[tigergem]

Yeah I have been very careful with my checking account though. The only time I ever had overdrafts on a checking account were when I had a joint account with somebody else. Which I will NEVER EVER do again.

The way my bill pay works is the bank takes the money out of my account before they process the payment. So it won't/can't bounce. And as for the bank following up, yeah they do that and if ever I am charged a late fee or anything, they take care of it. Because they kind of guarantee their on time bill payment.

I just have too much month at the end of my money, and these bills that I am claiming, except for TWO of them, are from my ex-husband and our divorce. The two that are mine-all-mine are extra large medical bills from a time when I did not have health insurance. NONE of this is credit card debt or shopping... absolutely none of it.

The funny thing is, apparently his divorce lawyer knew he was a jerk. He called me after the divorce was final and said to me... "you know how to get back at him for all this don't you? File Chapter 7 bankruptcy! Then it will all be back in his lap again." That was I guess 4 or 5 years ago, and I really really didn't want to do that. But here I am anyway. But in a 13 instead of a 7. Oh well. Whatever.

[justbroke]

I just have too much month at the end of my money

Really? Perhaps you should spend more of your money to make the month end sooner!

[tigergem]

I spend ALL of my money and the month ends when it's gone. But then there is this gap, see, between months. So when the money is gone and I am in that gap I nap until the next month comes around. Napping is easy and free and I'm good at it.