# Ungrateful Little Snot **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 23, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ungrateful-little-snot/177139 "2003-05-23T23:23:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ungrateful-little-snot/177139/41 "2003-05-24T20:25:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by milroyj \* > \*\*…I messed up, paid for my mistake, and moved on, never thinking of blaming the store or anyone else. I don’t get where **Binarydrone** or **butrscotch** are coming from. \*\* Guys, I really don’t know why you are lumping me in here. As I have stated, I do take responsibility for my debts. Period. All that I am saying is that I understand why some folks have trouble making those types of calls. I am not attaching a value judgment to that statement, endorsing it or otherwise stating that it is ok to dodge responsibility. To be honest, this seemingly deliberate misinterpretation has me a bit incredulous (my apologies if English is not your native tongue, and you are having reading comprehension issues). ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ungrateful-little-snot/177139/42 "2003-05-24T21:00:03Z")
**butrscotch** has asked me to tell you, “So sue me.” What HAPPENED was that she made a very small math error and a $26 check bounced. The bank did NOT notify her of this, and it got sent to collections. The agency sent a letter which she NEVER GOT. How is this her fault? She DID pay up when she found out about it, if you missed that little part. ---
**Author:** ![Triss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Triss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triss)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ungrateful-little-snot/177139/43 "2003-05-24T21:04:06Z")
> [@](#): > > _Orginally posted by Binarydrone_ > To be honest, this seemingly deliberate misinterpretation has me a bit incredulous (my apologies if English is not your native tongue, and you are having reading comprehension issues). I submit that it is YOU who is seemingly deliberately misinterpreting other people’s posts. To wit: **Binarydrone** , quoting myself in a post above: > [@](#): > > Originally posted by Triss > …who said anything about having cash “kicking around”? I said, “personal responsibility and planning.” Do you think that people with cash find it laying around in the street or something? **Binarydrone’s** reply: > [@](#): > > Um, You did. For “proof”, **Binarydrone** then provides the following quote, also mine: > [@](#): > > Originally posted by Triss > …There are any number of arrangements you could have made. Brought enough cash to tide you over, for one example… _Um,_ nothing about “cash kicking around” in there, is there? Let’s go over this again: **I** said: “…brought enough cash to tide you over.” **You** said: “Just having more pocket money _kicking around_ couldn’t happen.” Then, you claimed (see above) that **I** in fact, said “kicking around.” And now **you’re** bleating about other people misinterpreting your posts, and making snide comments about reading comprehension issues? :wally ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ungrateful-little-snot/177139/44 "2003-05-24T21:22:35Z")
And what you guys seem to be missing is that I never said I didn’t want to pay what I legitimately owed. Which to me would be the original debt, interest, and maybe even a reasonable penalty charge. No, I was upset because: 1. I bounced a small check through a small arithmetic error. Yes, that’s bad, but I will add that I was in the process of moving 6,000 miles away and things were really hectic. So my math abilities aren’t perfect. I admit it. But the person I bounced the check to never tried to contact me (which they could have done before I left the country), just turned it over to collections immediately. 2. Although _I_ contacted the collection agency the moment I found out about it (two years down the road), the woman was rude, hostile, and nasty from the moment she opened her mouth. She didn’t even try to hold a conversation; she just lectured me and shouted at me, screaming at me that I KNEW about her letters, even when she checked her file and realized that I hadn’t GOTTEN her letters so COULDN’T have known about it. No, she was right even when she was wrong. 3. She would not even contemplate a reasonable accommodation on the usurious “penalty” charges (which I still doubt are supported by law – had I been less pissed off, I might have asked her for the exact California Code sections and hired a lawyer to confirm it). Even though _I_ had come to her long past the normal time they could expect to collect on this debt and volunteered to pay it, she was willing to do nothing in the way of negotiation on the outrageous fees. How on EARTH can you justify $600 for a two-year-old $26 debt? 4. At the end of all of it, even when I DID pay the full amount, she still neglected to report it as paid to the credit agencies; thank heaven I got a letter from her that I’ve had to save and use any time I apply for credit ever since! I never said I had objections to paying what I owed. I object to being scammed by a collection agency, that used a small bounced check as an excuse to make hundreds of dollars for their firm at my expense. I can guarantee you the original creditor never saw a penny of those large “penalty” amounts I had to pay! I wonder if they even saw the original $26!! ---
**Author:** ![Pathros\_1983](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@Pathros\_1983](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pathros_1983)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ungrateful-little-snot/177139/45 "2003-05-24T21:38:53Z")
One thing I thought about before I even made this thread, was about how many rants I could have made about my co-workers and how their lovely handling of accounts has brought particularly vile and nasty people calling ME back to complain. Trust me on this one: A lot of creditors know and understand where you are coming from. Notice I did say “a lot.” There are some who are heartless trolls. > [@](#): > > She already had made arrangements to pay the bill. There was nothing to talk about. I never mentioned this to her, or in this thread, but calling in to say you are making “A” payment when you are giong to be due for two is not exactly making arrangments to pay. She never waited for me to repeat back what she was planning on doing to confirm her intentions, or offer assistance. She never gave me the chance to. > [@](#): > > I didn’t realize until you explained to us why you had to know the reason for the late payment. Maybe if you had explained it to her the way you explained it to us…? As per my last statement, she never gave me the chance. What I say to customers is somewhat scripted, although every situation is different. Even if she had refused to tell me why she was late (which a lot of people do) I can make a judgement call to offer a deferrment, but in every case I educate people about their credit and ways to help protect/improve it. My only reasoning for calling her back was that she had no prior contact with my company and had immaculate credit. From my point of view, she would WANT to protect her credit. > [@](#): > > It’s a humiliating experience and sometimes the circumstances leading up to the debt can be very personal and difficult to talk about even with close friends and family, much less a stranger on the phone…snip…If she had never been delinquent before it was probably intensely uncomfortable for her to talk about. I understand this and dealt with it growing up, and now with the people I talk to on the phone. Sometimes, though, and I know this is different for everyone, but some are more easily to tell their life story to a complete stranger because they would never meet him/her and they don’t hold anything against them. A LOT of people are embarassed and perhaps when I asked “what caused you to fall behind?” is why she immediately hung up after I called her back. > [@](#): > > I know Pathros\_1983 was trying diligently to do his/her job but I don’t think he shuld have called her back after the first hang up. Actually, in my time on the job she was the ONLY person that I called back after the second hang up. Today for instance, I called someone up who, after I asked for someone, the line hung up. I called back, and the same guy picked up the phone and apologized because he was on a hand held and the phone slipped out when he went to pick it up. I also get a lot of people who hang up because out automated dialer takes a while to relay the call directly to me, so I call them right back and they never know the difference. I also have called people back right away if they don’t let me get a word in, and their situation IS a mistake made on my company’s part, and I immediately apologize and offer assistance. NEVER before had someone hang up twice when the only thing I stated was I was calling to offer assistance/protect their credit. I think that is why this particular call made me upset, and because this person had no apparent reason to not want to take my assistance other than pride or embarassment. I’ve dealt with several thousand different people, and even more unique situations. I convey the same attitude to each of them, and although I AM in collections, I try to offer whatever assistance I possibly can. > [@](#): > > I find it hard to believe that the contract or any collections business model would call for an agent to press so hard for the reason for lateness if the customer is essentially trying their best to cut you a check on the spot. Your job is to collect overdue bills. I work for an automobile finance instution. We ask because if it is a long term problem, and someone can’t afford their vehicle, then we need to work to avoid a reposession. Yes, my job is to collect overdue bills, but it is also to find out why they are overdue. As I said before, even if someone just forgot to make their payment, I can offer a new payment method to help them avoid late charges or additional interest if that’s the case. One example of why asking if someone late can really help, is that some people get hurt at work, or are diagnosed with an illness and suddenly out of work. They also may have purchased disability insurance at the dealership and not even known about it. Directing them as to how to fill out their paperwork can suddenly mean they have no car payment for a few months while they are recovering. > [@](#): > > So. let me get this straight. This woman calls you to let you know how she’s taking care of the debt. You’re going to get your money, regardless, but she needs to know if there’s a fee for the payment method she plans to use. She asks about the fee, and instead of just answering a direct question right off the bat, you ask why she’s late. She asks her question again, and you talk about how this will affect her credit rating, and how you’re just here to help. She has to ask you the same question several times before you’ll answer her. Is that correct? Somewhat. While I was asking why she was late, she kept repeating “is there a fee?” I think it was 3 times she asked? I can’t remember exactly how, but after the 3rd time (which was after I was interrupted several times) I told her. My original intention, was to say after she had told me why she was late, “Okay I am noting your account, now there is a fee with the phone pay service but I can offer an extension if you need it, and if you pay on that date it will report to the credit bureau as a late payment.” She didn’t GIVE me the chance to tell her about her credit, confirm the arrangments, tell her she was going to be due for 2 payments, or do anything else. I called back because the arrangments she said she was doing was going to affect her credit. Now, I COULD have called back and demanded more money because the arrangments were not acceptable, but I didn’t. I called back to offer assistance and inform about her credit. > [@](#): > > Also, if you’re on the up and up, and aren’t making arrangements and promises you don’t intend to keep, why the fuss about her recording the conversation? Company legal policy. This is one of those things where I know the law to some extent, but the exact reasoning why the company would refuse to allow others to record a conversation I don’t know. One Bottom line, though, is that if collection agencies want their bill to be a priority, they should offer as much consideration as possible, and if you’re a debtor, you should be willing to work with them as much as possible. Then again, I think both creditors and debtors have only so much they are willing to bend to do, and in the end the creditor will probably always win. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ungrateful-little-snot/177139/46 "2003-05-25T05:34:23Z")
**Triss** , if you can’t understand how you saying that I should have brought enough cash to tide me over is pretty much the same as saying that I should just have more money (or more money kicking around, as you seem obsessively focused on that), I really don’t know what more to say to you. Either way, I am done with you as you are obviously too stupid to continue to try to reach. ---
**Author:** ![Triss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Triss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triss)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ungrateful-little-snot/177139/47 "2003-05-25T14:23:48Z")
:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ungrateful-little-snot/177139/48 "2003-05-25T14:45:53Z")
So that’s why they want to know the reason for a missed payment! I figured it was in order to scold you! Thanks for filling me in. This thread brings up many unwanted memories of MaddyStrut’s month of hell! The month in which I paid at least one hundred dollars in “fuck up fees” due to my own stupidity! Yes, once upon a time MaddyStrut had a month of awesomely incredible stupidity in which she wrote out checks for all her bills just before their due date, put them into their envelopes, applied stamps, and put them into her brief case–forgetting to actually put the darn things in the mailbox! In my mind, they were paid. When I got a couple letters later, I just figured that since I’d paid them so close to the due date, my payment and the letters had crossed in the mail. Then I started getting phone calls. I was absolutely insistant that, while they may have been a few days late depending on the mail, I had paid the silly things! It wasn’t long before I realized that if no one had received my checks, maybe the problem was with me. Imagine my embarassment when I found all those nice envelopes in my brief case just waiting to be mailed! I’d already paid a couple bills over the phone, but for those I hadn’t I had call to explain what had happened and when payment would be coming. Some collections agents were nice–one even waived the late fees since this was a first time for me. Others acted like my mom (“don’t let this happen again”). I still shudder at how many late fees I paid just because of my own stupidity! I have auto payment for most of my bills now–makes life much easier. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ungrateful-little-snot/177139.md?page=2)