Paying the Piper

I. Hate. Creditors.

And I'm not even talking about the ones you entered into agreements with, cause I've never had a problem cursing them folks smooth out, knowing 99% of the time, we're having whatever conversation we're having because of some bullshit that they did. I'm talking about the third party companies that acquire your account from those original creditors. Them MF's will have you so tight! Cause they petty AF, for people who are demanding somebody else's money. Nigga, I don't even owe you! Nobody told you to go buy them people's accounts! But for those who don't know, the idea is this: it's already charged to the game that you're not gonna pay the original creditor, for whatever reason. Something is better than nothing, right? So the creditor will allow these third party companies to buy your debt from them for pennies on the dollar and then they'll write off the rest.
The debt collector will then attempt to collect that debt from you in order to cover what they bought it for and anything on top of that is profit. So if you owe Direct TV, for instance, $1,000, a debt collector might purchase that debt for as little as $40. They're amenable to making a deal with you because even if they only get you to agree to pay half, they've recouped that $40 and made a $460 profit. That's why they're usually kind of nice to you when they reach out (if they're smart), but that shit goes out the window when they're at the point of tryna take your ass to court.

I told y'all a while back I've become a full-fledged grown up now. I took the necessary steps to repair my credit, and some of that was through disputing erroneous and aging items on my credit report. One item has remained over the past couple of years that I just refused to pay because of the back story. I had a credit card, once upon a time, with a little $350 limit. It was back in my struggle days and I def struggled to keep up with it LOL. It was fine most of the time, with the exception of the couple of occasions when my payment was late and I'd get a call from one of their customer service representatives. I don't know why, but it seemed like it was the same guy calling every time, which low key made me suspicious, but I'd generally end up just making the payment. After a series of things occurred resulting in me maxing the card out, I get a call from this same dude about making payment. I proceed to tell him that if I had it to pay, I'd have paid it. I didn't have it, so they couldn't get it. This dude lost his whole entire mind. He literally started CURSING at me, getting so disrespectful, talking shit to me about how I shouldn't have a credit card if I can't pay it. I've had customer service people get smart before or have bad attitudes in general, but I had NEVER in my life had one talk to me like he was crazy. I couldn't believe it. I wasn't about to go back and forth with him though, so I just told him to close my account and good luck getting the money from me. As I should have expected, this MF called me back TWICE, still talking shit. I blocked him, then proceeded to call into the office to lodge a complaint. Trouble was, in all the shit, I never got his name or any identifying information, so I suppose it went nowhere. I did confirm again though that I'd like my account closed. They did not oblige, however. They told me the account couldn't be closed until it was paid. Okay, but if Y'ALL wanted to close my account, there would be no problem, right? It's because I want it closed that we have a problem. Fuck that guy and fuck you too, lady.

Fast forward about 7 or 8 years, this item is the lone derogatory mark on my credit report. I tried to have it removed but it was a legitimate debt, hadn't aged out (from the time they reported it), and the debt collector had enough accurate information to validate it. Everything else was either removed or paid but this MF just sat there, and my pride would not let me pay it. First it was just the memory of what went down with them, and then it was compounded by the fees they had the audacity to add on top of the original $350 as a result of not closing the account at my request, which now brought the debt to about $860. All I could think was the nerve of these people. I would have fought every last one of them if I could LOL. I remember about a year ago, sitting in my financial advisor's office. He said, "Look at you, literally sitting there stewing, on your high horse, like you didn't bring this on yourself." Yup, I was mad at that too LOL. He didn't care what I said about it, how I had been treated, nothing. It was a debt I owed, fees and all at their discretion, and his main point; "You have the money, just pay the thing!"

"NOPE." I'm stubborn. Especially when I'm on my high horse, as he called it. That being said, I did reach out to try to pay it after about 8 more months went by, but I could never get a response to my messages. What I should have done was reported to my credit bureaus that I had made several attempts and the debt collector had ignored them. I MAY have been able to get the debt wiped away then. But instead, I said fuck it, I'm not gonna keep calling y'all to give you money I don't even owe to you. Fast forward to a week or so ago and I get a certified FedEx containing a notification that these assholes submitted a petition to the courts for a wage execution. Are you fucken kidding me???

So still mad, I decide to reach out and see if we can come to some resolution. I know I'm gonna have to pay something, but I'm hoping I can settle for considerably less than what they're asking. I leave a message, no response. I call back today (about 3 days later) and finally speak to somebody who basically tells me that once the court has been petitioned, there isn't anything she can do. Okay well transfer me to your manager. Let's see if there's something they can do. I get the Office Manger, Lisa. She's got one of though "nicety" demeanors, where she's not speaking with a "tone" really, but definitely still giving you those passive-aggressive "sucks to be you" type responses. She essentially tells me all she can do is take a payment for the full amount they're requesting, AND it sounds like I may get a second invoice from the court person assigned to the file, who is due fees of another $100-some-odd. Oh, I see, y'all did this shit on purpose. There are absolutely no words to describe the level of pissed I am as I end that call, but of course, I can't give Lisa the pleasure. "That's fine, I'll respond to the court then."

I had absolutely every intention of doing so, even pulled up my Word app and started typing out the letter. I was about 3/4 of the way done before I decided to go to the court's website and see what actual recourse I had. Everything I saw said I'd probably not have a leg to stand on, because principles and $2.25 will get you a swipe into the subway. After all, Lisa had informed me that a judgment had been obtained at some point in 2016 that I either knew nothing about or just have no recollection of. Nether of those things would erase it's actual existence from the court's files, so in this case, it actually does just suck to be me right now.

I'm boiling inside but it appears paying the stupid thing is the only choice I have if I want to maintain the good credit standing I've worked so hard to achieve over the past couple of years. I hate that my financial advisor was right and I should have just paid it, because I know he's somewhere looking over the rim of his glasses, judging me.

*pause to make online payment*

UGH!