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I
got another call today from one of my creditors.
Although these calls are becoming fewer and fewer, they
still come through. I have had calls to my house, to my
cell phone and to my job. These guys and gals can be
relentless. Letters come regularly in the mail as well.
Surprisingly, debt collectors do not seem to care about
email which would seem to be a valid third avenue of
communication which they could easily utilize. Don't
get me wrong, I do not need another means for them to
reach me; and I am sure you feel the same way if you are
in a similar situation.
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The call
today was for the line of equity on one of my
properties (have
you seen my properties?). The debt is over one hundred and
fifty thousand U.S. dollars ($150,000.00). It is a hefty amount
of money. The call was from Kelly. Although
I have not talked with Kelly directly before, I
have talked with Kim from her office. Kim had
dutifully included on my account all of the
information from our last call which was from
only about a week ago. In that telephone
conversation with Kim, I told her politely that
the property is up for sale (as
are two of my
other properties); but I have not had many
offers and the local real estate market is, in
fact, not moving at all. I did not have the
money to pay back the money although I will be
paying them back if I come up with the money or
if the property sells for enough to cover the
primary mortgage plus the line of equity (which
it won't in today's market and any market
anytime soon). Kelly had all of this information
as she stated so during our conversation.
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The purpose of Kelly's call was to confirm with me that
today was the last day before the bank writes off my
entire debt as bad debt and makes the entire amount due
and payable. I thanked her for the follow-up call, but I
told her that circumstances had not changed. I still did
not have the money. The property still had not sold; and
I was unable to make a payment. Kelly was very nice. She
did, however, ask me if I had any way to come up with
the money - could I make any payment at all, could I
borrow the money, could I refinance, did I have family
that might loan me the money? My answer to all of these
was unfortunately "no". Making a payment would extend my
time by thirty (30) days. Kelly suggested that 30 days
might give me enough time to find a buyer. I declined
this offer. Currently no buyer is going to pay enough money to pay
off the entire primary mortgage and the line of equity
credit. I had also tried to refinance just recently (read
how that went). My credit score is so low that
refinancing is not an option. The idea of getting money
from my family was ridiculous as well. There is no way
that I am going to bring my family into my poor
financial dealings. I plan on dealing with these myself
so, no, I will not be asking any of my family or friends
to bail me out (now,
taxpayer money, I welcome).
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For all of you receiving similar calls, please consider
all of your options before making a decision. If you
need to, take the caller's name and number; and call
them back after you have had a chance to think about
your options. Do not let them pressure you into making
any payments or arrangements until you are absolutely
(or nearly absolutely) positive about what course of
action it is that you need to take. If you make any
payments, will it solve your problems? If it just delays
the problem, then making a payment may not be very
useful. Also, if you have not already done so,
seek
legal counsel from a qualified professional. Their
assistance in such matters may prove invaluable.
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