I Owe Nothing and I Refuse to Pay it
Posted: Monday, January 21, 2008
by Mike Fak
http://mikefak.com
We all have read how the sub prime mortgage fiasco has helped tank our economy. Couple a person losing their home and their job plus having a 50% increase in gasoline and energy to heat ones home that they soon won't own and it is no wonder things have gone screwy.
The stock market is dropping as financial institutions and banks write off billions of dollars in losses. There is more to this with lending institutions however than just making bad mortgages. It appears the banks have all been so caught up in technology that they don't know what the heck they are doing. Listen to this nutty tale.
Things were pretty simple. I received a reminder when the payment was coming up and went to their website and authorized the withdrawal from my checking account. After a few months I opted for "no paper" transactions and had a regular authorization to have the payment taken out of my checking without me having to do anything except make sure I had the money in my account of course. Last month was the final installment on the loan, or so I thought. Now I have received a letter stating I have another payment due next month that is for a total of 0.00 due on February 6th.
Now since I had my payments automatically removed I had a solid I-1 credit rating with this lender. The problem now is what should I do with this statement. I certainly don't want to be considered past due on the loan. I also don't want any late charges accrued although what they would be on a zero payment I have no idea.
Should I send off a check for 0.00? I suppose that's what the bank is looking for but how will they be able to cash a check for nothing? Isn't their postage, check processing and my postage a little steep to recoup from a zero proceeds payment?
I certainly don't want to just ignore this statement. I don't want the bank turning in a report to all the credit bureaus that I owe them nothing and refuse to pay it. I really don't want to call them and stay on a phone for an hour. Of course the call will be toll free which means the bank will pay the phone bill for me and all the other customers trying to get through to someone to make arrangements on paying 0.00 to them.
I wonder just how high this bank and all the other banks phone bills are. I'll bet it's a heck of a lot higher than the salary to pay a few pleasant young girls to answer the phone immediately. A youngster could also look up my statement and tell me, "Yes Mr. Fak, your payment is due Feb 6 th and yes the amount required is nothing and hey, what the heck, Mr. Fak, this is stupid, let me fix this for you".
But no; instead I will have to just sit here and worry about what I am going to do with this bill or spend time pushing buttons and getting rerouted from one recording to another until I go nuts again.
To make it worse, I didn't have this payment figured in my February budget so I have no idea where I am going to come up with the nothing to pay this bill. Darn banks. Darn computers. Bring back the monks with the quill pens. Amen to that.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Ok Mike being an IT or Computer guy for ages and really since the dawn of computer banking systems in NYC, I can understand your situation. There aren't many today who have not been impacted by thes types of systems. Of course you know they are mostly beta, meaning you debug as you go and deal with the issues as they arise. The second aspect is we don't do much software here in America any longer. It is one of the benefits of the Global economy. So let me ask, have you ever communicated with one of these offshore types? I rest my case. Speaking English does not mean comprehension. So, if you don't fix it you will be reported to one of those "Credit Reporting Agencies", you know the ones set up for people who are late paying. Then you will really be in the world of finacial hurt trying to get that resolved, if ever. Did you listen to the argument on CNN last night. To sum it up I found it interesting none of them thought 30% interest was immoral. Boy in my opinion does that speak to character and circumstances? Best Wishes RTM.Thanks for the comments Bob. I notice a few credit cards now are at 34.99% APR. We don't have a chance do we. Thanks for stopping by. Mike
hi mike, it was so nice and easy! when i went to sign my son up for a vo tech school. they said my son's father made too much money, so they'd put the balance on student loans, but we discussed at home that this was merely semantics, his father would pay. well, his father left almost a year ago, and never paid any of the bills, so i have credit people hounding me. last night, my 20 year old son called me in a panic because the credit company told him if he didn't have 3,000.00 in 30 days, they'd confiscate all his belongings (he has a guitar, a computer, a beat up car, and a cat!) they used their scare tactics on him, which worked. a lawyer was screaming at me on the phone that i should take a sears master card i forgot i even had (my purse was stolen) and get a cash advance to pay the school. now, this lawyer is committing what? he knows i don't have the money to pay his bill, but he wants me to steal from another credit card. times are getting worse, unfortunately, not better, good article, thanks for sharing, best regards, sueHello Susan. Thanks for baring your soul and life. I make fun of things on searchwarp but in reality I am trying to make fun of the people and things that try to hammer us into the ground with no conscience. One of these days all us "common people" will say we have had enough of this crap and then and only then will things get better. Thanks Mike
Hey Mike - thanks for the laugh. Back in the day before online/electronic bill pay options, I once got a bill for .13 from a credit card. I refused on principle to write a check for 13 cents and then pay the bank fees for the checks, so I taped a dime and 3 pennies to an index card and mailed it in. I'm sure the company thought I was a lunatic, but it made me happy! Sometimes the small "victories" are worth it! I hate to think of how I'll be in another 30 years!Good action Jean. If more of us did things to show how stupid this world is to rely on machines rather than brains, we might survive. Thanks Mike
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