Debt Collectors?

What does this have to do with ministry?

It has a lot to do with ministry.

As a pastor, past and present, you may find yourself straddled with a lot of debt, especially if you have a student loan. A bankruptcy does not relieve you of a student loan.

If you are or were a pastor in a small church you may have found yourself living on plastic. Do not be ashamed to admit to it. Many of us have found ourselves in this boat.

Today I want to talk about what happens when you do fall behind on your bills and the debt collectors start calling you. What can you do?

I got into debt issues because I made some stupid decisions. I did some things that I knew better than to do but I always thought things would get better tomorrow.

Well, they did not get better and the debt collectors started calling.

However, I believe my problems came partly because God needed to teach me a few things about humility.

When I used to see the guy on the street corner asking for money, I would say get a job. I had no mercy for those who could not pay their debts. I paid mine, now you pay yours.

I believe God used my financial collapse to help me come to the point that I now carry a $20 bill with me and when someone is on the street I give it to them.

It is not for me to judge why they are there. My responsibility is to help them and leave the judging to God.

"Well, they will just go buy alcohol with it," you may say.

If they are living on the street, alcohol is easier for them to pass than food. In other words, it is easier to urinate than to poop. Get my meaning?

Anyway, that is why I would like to open a home for addicts which is something the old David would have never even given a second thought to.

My financial world collapsed and the month finally came when I could not pay all my bills. I paid what I could and let the rest go. Actually, when I realized I was in trouble, rather than to send a payment here and a payment there, I would just all I could on the card with the lowest balance. This way I could at least get one paid off and move on to the next.

Then the phone calls started with the debt collectors. The scourge of the earth started calling--"we want our money today," they would start out. This went on for a few months.

Then it turned to, "I am the lawyer for so and so and your bill has been turned over to me for collections." "Sorry, I have no money to give you so do what you have to."

I thought about bankruptcy. The lawyer said he needed three thousand down and then there would be other expenses along the way. Heck, if I had three thousand I could get one or two of these people off my back. So that was not an option.

So I decided to just tough it out and see what happened.

Threatening phone calls and letters continued from the debt collectors. But no one ever showed up to arrest me. No one ever showed up to take me to court. Then I realized that some of these people were not who they said they were.

On 3-27-09, Dateline showed a report on these collectors. I could relate to what was happening. They pulled the same stuff on me. They threatened, they cussed at me and on and on.

The debt collectors treated me like I had thousands of dollars just laying around and I could pay the bill if I wanted to. I felt like a scum bag.

There was a lot of yelling on the phone. The debt collectors know how to push your buttons. They would tell me to go borrow it from friends and relatives.

But the bottom line was, I had no money so I did not send them any.

At one point I was 90 days behind on my house. They would not work with me in any fashion. They wanted their money. My interest rate is almost eight percent. They would not refinance for a lower amount. Nothing.

But then things changed somewhat and I was able to make the monthly payment but still behind for 90 days. This meant that I had to pay an extra fee for $50 a month but that was it.

They called me one day and offered me a deal that would catch me up. It would leave me with a higher monthly payment, which I could not afford. In the end their new deal had me paying almost six thousand dollars for the three thousand I was behind.

When I said no, they were angry. But apparently as long as I was paying now, there was little they could do.

Along came the Gulf War and I went to work in Iraq and we got things caught up and paid off. The debt collectors stopped calling me.

Some of the bills, I paid the total amount due. Some we worked out a deal and only had to pay 1/2. The biggest one was with Bank of America, they took 1/3 of $9,000.00.

Some debt collectors would call me and try to make me feel bad for using the credit card. On some of them I did. On others I did not.

Household Finance used to send my wife and myself a check each month. Just cash the check and the money is yours. They would send these twice a month. They did this for a year. They knew that one day they would catch us in a weak moment and they would have us. They did catch us in a weak moment. I did not feel bad at all that I owed them this money because they should not have preyed on me until I got caught in a weak moment.

Two years later, they started sending us the checks again even though we could not pay them what we currently owed them.

We finally got them paid off and last week, after this debt has been paid off since 2004, we got a call from a debt collector wanting payment. We went around and around.

The debt collector told me to send them proof it was paid off. I said, "When hell freezes over." And just for fun, since they were showing a local number when actually they were located in California (in all honesty they were surprised to hear that they were showing up as a local number)I would call them back and harass them.

It was quite enjoyable. I was taking up their time and money for once. It is just about time for them to call again. 4-22-09--well as of today they have not called back. They asked for my address. I told them if I owed them money then they should have my address. Do not give them any more information than you have to. Especially if you do not owe the money.

According to where you live depends on your rights. However, according to the debt collectors on Dateline, they do not care about your rights. The companies will pay the fines because they are making so much money because people do not know that you cannot get arrested for not paying your debts.

YOU CANNOT BE ARRESTED FOR NOT PAYING YOUR DEBTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

The second they say this wish them a good day and hang up. If they say, "We are going to take you to court." Counter with, "I am waiting for the paperwork and hang up."

The debt collector can take you to court. But what will the court do if you have no money? They will put a lien on your property so you cannot sell it until the debt is paid. In some states they can garnish your wages but only a percentage.

But all this is a long drawn out process and would cost them more in the long run. And the judge makes his verdict--at this point you have to make a monthly payment--but there are no further interest fees, court fees or anything else.

So the judge could order you to pay $25 a month until it is paid. This means they win nothing. So it is not worth it in the long run to go after someone unless that person owes thousands of dollars on one card.

And if you get backed into a corner and declare bankruptcy--then the game is over for them.

BUT I AM NOT A LAWYER SO IT MAY BE DIFFERENT WHERE YOU ARE. CHECK IT OUT.

So do not freak out. There is not a lot they can do except to harass you on the phone. And if you change your phone number, they cannot even do that--but chances are they will somehow be able to find out your new number.

You made the debt so you should pay it when you can.

However, do not agree to give them money on the phone the first time. Demand a letter for confirmation first. Sometimes I will contact the original company I got the loan from just to see if they are using the people calling me for money.Hospital debt is a financial killer. Since a hospital bill can run into thousands and thousands of dollars, they will pursue you. But, usually they are willing to accept some sort of monthly payment. I have never had to deal with a hospital debt collector. I am not sure how they do their business.

Also, always call the hospital and challenge your bill. Know what your policy says and how it works. Many times if you owe them a couple of thousand dollars and are willing to send in a cash payment today, then they will give you a discount.

My wife and I have worked in the medical insurance billing profession for years and we can tell you there are many, many mistakes made by hospitals and doctors' billing services.

One of the usual ones is billing a patient for services received after they left the hospital. Generally what happens is the people on duty lost track of who had what service so they stick the price label on a patient's chart hoping they got it right.

One guy was billed for a hip x-ray. He said he had no hip x-ray. He sent me the x-ray and sure enough, it was an x-ray for a female. (I used to supervise a film library so I was some what familiar with what a male hip and female hip looked like.)

In another instance a patient was being charged for an I.V. start kit as well as the individual components for an I.V. He was basically being billed for the same thing twice.

And hospitals have a different mark up rate than a store for medical supplies. Most stores mark up their merchandise between 30 and 50%. If all goes well, they can usually make a profit on 30%.

Hospitals will take a .25 band aid and charge $2.50 for it. A 1000% mark up. They usually shoot for a mark up of 300 to 1000% depending on the cost of the item.

I have often thought that my wife and I should have gone into business being a patient advocate to help get their bills reduced. Our fee would be a percentage of what we saved the patient.

Your car, house and any secured loans have a different process.

One thing that does not make sense to me is when I did fall behind, the house and car insurance companies raised my rates because I could not pay my debts.

Does this make sense? "Hey, look this guy cannot pay his debts. Great, let's jack up his insurance rates and take more money for our insurance even though he has no tickets, no accidents and no money."

I have to laugh at this one. But not too much since it is hurting my pocket.

So when the debt collector calls, be calm and if you want to, just hang up especially if there is nothing you can do about the debt.

Sometimes, if I am in a bad mood, I will argue with them just for fun.

Today I have two debts--my student loan and my house. Everything else has been paid.

The best thing and the best way to live is debt free. There are some good programs out there with lots of ideas on how to do this.

One of these is Dave Ramsey. Dave knows what it is like to deal with debt collectors since he has been on the bottom. He has been in bankruptcy, but has come forward with a business and daily show that helps people get out of debt.

But be careful because there are many companies making promises that they will help you get out of debt. Just give us money and we can help you. Stay awy from those who want money up fornt. Usually whatever they can do so can you.

God Bless You.