“Ms. Bats, I can hear you are frustrated so let me offer you this…I will cut your payment plan down to $100 a month, it’s the same payment plan we offer those on social security.” Okay apparently that was suppose to be a good deal and after telling Ms. Cleveland that I only have $133 to my name and have not gone grocery shopping yet, she decided to add, “I need to you to pay six months at a time…” I didn’t even let her finish, “I’m sorry Ms. Cleveland did you just ask me to give you $600? I have told you numerous times now about how much money I have…” At this point I have been on the phone with her for at least 45 minutes and I am frustrated, I feel like she’s talking me in circles and I am sick of repeating myself so my voice is raising along with my blood pressure and I’m about to lose it. “Yes, it’s our company policy and VW wants to make sure they are going to be paid, we call it a good faith payment.” I know what a good faith payment is and I have never been asked to pay one for such a high amount, so I do what any broke SAHM would do when they feel like they aren’t being heard and are sick of repeating themselves…I lose it and I lose it in a big way! “Look, I AM GOING TO TELL YOU ONE LAST TIME…I DO NOT HAVE ANY MONEY! I HAVE $133, HAVEN’T GROCERY SHOPPED YET NOR PAID MY MORTGAGE…I HAVE A LEAKING WATER PIPE OUT FRONT THAT IS GOING TO COST AT LEAST $1000 TO FIX, I OWE THE STATE BACK TAXES NOR HAVE I PAID MY TAXES FOR THIS YEAR, I NEED TO PAY THE WATER BILL, ELECTRIC, AND PHONE BILLS BEFORE THEY GET SHUT OFF. I DO NOT HAVE ANY MONEY FOR YOU AT THIS TIME.” I’m screaming, crying and just plain pissed off this lady thinks that she’s going to take my last bit of money for me, I mean shit it’s the end of the year, I have two kids that still believe in the magic of Santa Claus, I’m about to lose my house and she wants me to give her $600 towards a car that we don’t even have nor own any longer. I’m pissed and my claws have come out. “Mam, you need to calm down, I understand…” She obviously doesn’t which makes me lose my mind even more so I start cussing at her too! “You obviously do not understand that I have no fucking money! because you keep telling me that I need to pay you some huge amount that I keep telling you I do not fucking have.” At this point I think I am flustering her with the F word so she tries a different approach. “Ms. Bats how about you try and calm yourself and tell me what you are comfortable with paying today.” I sigh and tell her that I can pay her $10 today, that is all the money that I am going to take out of my funds, with 2 kids I spend about $120 a week in groceries, my husband spends that same amount in gas every week so we are screwed anyway. It turns out that $10 isn’t good enough and she starts hammering me for more money. At this point I am crying, sobbing, and can not believe I am still on the phone with this woman…now I hear her telling me that I can not avoid this debt, I have to pay this debt whether it be voluntarily or not, I am going to need to come up with the money and it’s going to be now…”Let me get my manager.” I hate those words because it means I am going to have to go through that whole conversation again, just with another person. This time a man gets on the phone, he has a deep intoxicating voice and I hear him say, “Ms. Bats, my name is Mr. Cole and by the end of our conversation you’ll be calmer and we will have this whole thing figured out. Okay?” Oh shit he’s going to hammer me in a smooth style. Which he did but I ended up making only a $10 payment, $15 because of the processing fee. BUT after that he says he NEEDS another phone number, a second number it can be a friend or relative, a neighbor or an employers number. UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE! I end up giving them my husbands office number but they will never get him there nor will they ever speak with me there.
I am exhausted just from thinking about all of this again. My mortgage company doesn’t even hammer me this hard. Yesterday my phone started ringing at 8am and rang every 20 minutes until 9pm…Guess who it was?