Begging for Sweet Relief, A Blessing in Disguise
And almost as suddenly as it began, it's done.
I'm feeling a HUGE amount of relief at this point.
This is the last debt, the last thing I stopped paying on when I realized I had no money left for all these people who gave my stupid 19 year old self credit cards, this is the only thing left that people can actually take me to court on.
I'm SO SICK of the court house, I'm so sick of filing papers I know nothing about, I'm so sick of dealing with lawyers (though they haven't been terribly unpleasant).
I'm just sick of trying to do things I know nothing about. I've been in so far over my head.
I got home last night, already worrying about how I could possible pay 300.00 to attend the arbitration hearing, already racking my brain, thinking...well, I could possibly drop the cable this month...and the internet.
It was an unhappy prospect.
Ben mentioned I had a voice mail, so I checked it and it was an attorney, so I bit the bullet and called her right back. Hoping against hope that she would be there.
She was. I spent a good 15 minutes blubbering into the phone.
She said she understood, she was really nice...I'm still really skeptical.
She said she couldn't go any lower than $1,300.00. I tried, I tried as hard as I could, even offering to pay it all at an even thousand in about a month when I can.
I don't want this hanging on my head forever, any more than they do.
She asked about payments, I spit out a measly amount, she didn't like that.
She said she could do that if I gave her a bunch of financial information so that she could propose lower payments based on that reasoning.
I don't really want her to know my bank account, or anything else.
I don't want them haggling over this amount here, or this amount there.
So we settled. I'm supposed to send $50 now, send the thousand when I can, and then pay 50 until July.
I'm going to pay it all off with the taxes, I don't even want it hanging over my head until July. I want it GONE.
I just didn't want her to know how much I was getting or that I could afford to pay more.
Considering that the arbitration fee was going to be 300.00, I'm hoping I come out ahead. I'm really hoping that bankruptcy is not the answer. I like knowing how much something will cost as opposed to not knowing, but not having money to pay it either. The attorney told me that if I declared bankruptcy, I should spend my tax returns first...
THEN HOW WOULD I PAY? And if I don't know how much, how can I save exactly enough?
In all truth? I'm exhausted. I don't want to find a lawyer, I don't want to declare bankruptcy over this last (relatively) small debt. My credit has been shit for years, I'd like to get somewhat back to normal, and a bankruptcy would screw me for another 7 years.
I hope and hope and hope that I've done the right thing, made the right decision.
I really didn't want to be worried about attending court, attending the hearing, taking time off, not knowing what the hell I'm doing, and then having it come down to them winning.
And I really don't want my wages garnished.
They've taken it down to half the amount they consider due at this point. I'm thankful for that.
I just wish they had been so inclined to offer my something like this before Christmas, so I wouldn't have had such a worry the whole time.
It's like they waited until the last minute. Which kind of pisses me off, but it's about business now, and not emotion.
I still don't have any sort of paper proof and maybe that's stupid, but you know what? I think they are probably right. I think I did make a payment in October. My credit report from 2004 says that I made a payment as late as December.
They just keep saying that their records state I made a payment. I have no idea what holds up in court, and I'm just so not ready to deal with it.
So perhaps I've been played, quite expertly at that, I might add, but I'd like to think that I've made a wise decision.
I'm off now. I don't know what I'm going to do with the boys gone, but I do need to figure out some sort of dinner. LOL.
I'm feeling a HUGE amount of relief at this point.
This is the last debt, the last thing I stopped paying on when I realized I had no money left for all these people who gave my stupid 19 year old self credit cards, this is the only thing left that people can actually take me to court on.
I'm SO SICK of the court house, I'm so sick of filing papers I know nothing about, I'm so sick of dealing with lawyers (though they haven't been terribly unpleasant).
I'm just sick of trying to do things I know nothing about. I've been in so far over my head.
I got home last night, already worrying about how I could possible pay 300.00 to attend the arbitration hearing, already racking my brain, thinking...well, I could possibly drop the cable this month...and the internet.
It was an unhappy prospect.
Ben mentioned I had a voice mail, so I checked it and it was an attorney, so I bit the bullet and called her right back. Hoping against hope that she would be there.
She was. I spent a good 15 minutes blubbering into the phone.
She said she understood, she was really nice...I'm still really skeptical.
She said she couldn't go any lower than $1,300.00. I tried, I tried as hard as I could, even offering to pay it all at an even thousand in about a month when I can.
I don't want this hanging on my head forever, any more than they do.
She asked about payments, I spit out a measly amount, she didn't like that.
She said she could do that if I gave her a bunch of financial information so that she could propose lower payments based on that reasoning.
I don't really want her to know my bank account, or anything else.
I don't want them haggling over this amount here, or this amount there.
So we settled. I'm supposed to send $50 now, send the thousand when I can, and then pay 50 until July.
I'm going to pay it all off with the taxes, I don't even want it hanging over my head until July. I want it GONE.
I just didn't want her to know how much I was getting or that I could afford to pay more.
Considering that the arbitration fee was going to be 300.00, I'm hoping I come out ahead. I'm really hoping that bankruptcy is not the answer. I like knowing how much something will cost as opposed to not knowing, but not having money to pay it either. The attorney told me that if I declared bankruptcy, I should spend my tax returns first...
THEN HOW WOULD I PAY? And if I don't know how much, how can I save exactly enough?
In all truth? I'm exhausted. I don't want to find a lawyer, I don't want to declare bankruptcy over this last (relatively) small debt. My credit has been shit for years, I'd like to get somewhat back to normal, and a bankruptcy would screw me for another 7 years.
I hope and hope and hope that I've done the right thing, made the right decision.
I really didn't want to be worried about attending court, attending the hearing, taking time off, not knowing what the hell I'm doing, and then having it come down to them winning.
And I really don't want my wages garnished.
They've taken it down to half the amount they consider due at this point. I'm thankful for that.
I just wish they had been so inclined to offer my something like this before Christmas, so I wouldn't have had such a worry the whole time.
It's like they waited until the last minute. Which kind of pisses me off, but it's about business now, and not emotion.
I still don't have any sort of paper proof and maybe that's stupid, but you know what? I think they are probably right. I think I did make a payment in October. My credit report from 2004 says that I made a payment as late as December.
They just keep saying that their records state I made a payment. I have no idea what holds up in court, and I'm just so not ready to deal with it.
So perhaps I've been played, quite expertly at that, I might add, but I'd like to think that I've made a wise decision.
I'm off now. I don't know what I'm going to do with the boys gone, but I do need to figure out some sort of dinner. LOL.
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