Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Just Trying Not to Lose My Temper, The ups and downs of it all

Probably one of the nice (if you can say that about this process) parts of going bankrupt, is when these nasty bill collectors call, I can refer them to my attorney's office and I get at least a little peace and quiet. At this point in the process, I know letters have been sent to each creditor so they have been notified. The number of calls has dramatically dropped. Except for one company.

I had told one such credit card company that called that I was filing and to contact my attorney, they said they would. They instead sold my account to a collections agency for more aggressive collections. This agency sort of stepped it up a notch, they must have Googled me because they called an acquaintance/sort of friend of mine who lives across the country looking for contact information. I have my name on a public web site for some outside work. It has my current contact information, so why the need to harass some poor volunteer, I don't know. It's hard to find my name on Google, I mean I'm back a good 5 pages if that and then it's linked to a small reference on this web site. My own personal web site that I've been working hard on to get better search engine rankings for my outside business doesn't even come up under my name. I know, because I look! I had to call said agency AGAIN, tell them my attorney contact information AGAIN and tell them if I found out they called friends, acquaintances, family, I would report them to the State Banking Commission for harassment. I also Googled them and it seems that this particular company's collection practices border on the illegal if not illegal with some. (Ripoff Report was an excellent read). I'm also sending them a certified letter with above information just as a CYA.

Their messages to me this week have been. "We want to work with you to resolve this" sort of thing. HA! Had said credit card company worked with me 9 months ago, I might not be in this position. I really had to laugh, I really did. When it became apparent to me that I was getting in way over my head and tried to set up a payment plan, these folks did not want to play. It was all or nothing as far as they were concerned. And at that time I only had partial, which to them is nothing.

Believe me when I tell you had I been able to pay it all months ago or pay at all, I would have. But to have to deal with these idiots even post filing is just a pain in my rear. I kinda wonder what part of the following line they don't understand "I have retained legal counsel and am filing for bankruptcy, all further communications about this account must be referred to my attorney's office at the following number 555-555-55555. I do not authorize any further communication from you to my home, friends, family, or work numbers. To do so is considered harassment and will be reported to the authorities."

I guess even though I think I speak clearly and in English, I really must be speaking bastardized French-UGHH

To be continued

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bankruptcy is an emotional and financal process. It took me a while to come to terms that I am not a failure because of the situation. After the final process and proceeding, I have been able to move on and re-establish my credit. Good luck to you and keep your chin up.