If you’re like millions of other Americans, you’re getting calls from debt collectors. Whether you owed a debt or not, you’ve probably been on the receiving end of a nasty call from a debt collector that likely ruined your day.
Like everyone else, I’ve fielded my fair share of collection agency calls. I’ve always been in the position to be able to get help from the attorneys I worked with. I’ve come to realize that not everyone is so lucky, judging by a horror story I heard last week when I went into the Motor Vehicle Division. The lady helping me, not knowing anything about my background (as is usually the case), told me a horror story about a car dealership that specializes in high risk vehicle loans for people with bad credit.
A couple of years ago, my mom and I went into a dealership to look for a car for her. After driving several crappy, high mileage cars, we went in to review the financing terms. At first, I looked at the payment and thought it was reasonable, until I read the fine print! Essentially, they wanted my mom to make TWO car payments each month, equaling around 22% interest, on a ten year old car with 75,000 miles on it.
I laughed and told the woman she was out of her mind. We promptly went down the street and bought a new Hyundai accent for $14,000 and 12% interest. It’s unfortunate, but I guess there are people who have no other options. Personally, I’d rather take the bus than pay interest rates that high.
Unfortunately, the lady helping me at the MVD failed to read the fine print and wound up with a very expensive problem on her hands. Because Arizona doesn’t have a “cooling off” period, she was stuck with the car and is now being ruthlessly harassed by Drive Time’s collection agents.
She mentioned the woman’s name (which I won’t repeat here) and told me that she had recently began taking anti-depressants as a result of the calls from Drive Time’s collection agent.
I know this is happening to a lot of you, and I don’t want to see one more person’s life ruined as a result of a dirtbag debt collector! I’m going to teach you everything you need to know when it comes to handling debt collectors and their harassing calls.
Now, before you leave me nasty comments about how debt collectors are just doing their jobs, I am not saying that all debt collectors are bad people. However, there is enough evidence out there that a lot of unscrupulous debt collectors wreak havoc on people’s lives with their underhanded tactics. So I’m talking about those debt collectors, not every debt collector out there.
****CHRISTINE SPRINGER IS NOT A LICENSED ATTORNEY OR FINANCIAL ADVISOR. THIS BLOG IS COMPRISED OF HER OPINIONS, OBSERVATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL ADVICE. PLEASE CONSULT WITH AN ATTORNEY BEFORE RELYING ON OR TAKING ANY ACTION BASED ON THE INFORMATION IN THIS BLOG.****
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