Communicate With Your Creditors

Every working adult, or even every unemployed adult for that matter, knows there will always be bills to pay—there’s just no way around it.  Paying bills is a necessity in life.  In the today’s society, you simply cannot stay afloat if you fail to pay your bills.  Unfortunately, there’s a bill for absolutely everything; utilities, trash, water, sewer, taxes, groceries, cell phone, home phone, rent and mortgages, car payments, health insurance, life insurance, auto insurance, internet, car repairs, routine car maintenance, kids’ clothes and toys, baby food and supplies, doctor bills—the list just goes on and on.  If you’re a small business owner; your bills are doubled, tripled, and in some cases, quadrupled.

As mentioned in several previous articles, the U.S. is still being held within the grips of a recession and the economy is staggering and faltering.  The poor economic status has resulted in an increase of foreclosures, corporate downsizing and outsourcing, and higher unemployment rates across the country which has made it more difficult for the average family and middle-class, blue-collar workforce to pay even the most basic bills required to get by.

There are several, major reasons bills are not paid;

ü  Failure to Communicate With Creditors

ü  Lack of Income

ü  Failure to Prioritize

ü  Procrastination

ü  Intentional Neglect

Any one of the reasons listed above can singlehandedly result in unpaid bills, but in most cases, it’s usually a combination of several or more of them.  Did you notice the very first one? Failure to communicate with your creditors is the biggest reasons bills are not paid.  That’s what we’re going to discuss today—how and why you should communicate with your creditors, what are the pros and cons of communicating with your creditors?

Why  Communicate  With  Your  Creditors?

Have you ever had a past due bill and told yourself, “I don’t have the money, so no point in calling, I’ll just pay it when I have the money”—haven’t you told yourself that before? Or, at the very least, you know someone who says and does that.  Stop it!  That’s the worst thing you can do!  Always, always, always, communicate with your creditor!  Here are reasons to communicate with your creditors;

ü  You Show Responsibility – When you talk to your creditors regarding your past due bill, it tells them you’re aware of it, and you honestly want to resolve the matter. When they see this; creditors are more lenient and more inclined to make arrangements.

ü  New Options – In most cases, speaking with creditors regarding your past due bill will open a door of new options on resolving your pas due bill that ordinarily aren’t available to you if you fail to communicate.

ü  Cancelled Interruptions – Speaking to creditors and setting arrangements will surely cancel any scheduled service interruptions or non-payment disconnections, which usually carry additional fees upon re-connection.

ü  Reduced Balance – Many creditors are willing to reduce your payment amount and will accept partial payments to prevent service interruptions, but this will only happen if you speak and communicate with them.

ü  Extensions – Sometimes, you may just need a little more time to pay a bill; well creditors love it when you’re calling to simply ask for more time, and you’re not disputing the amount of the bill or its delinquency—9 of 10 times, you will be granted extra time.

Keep  Records

Alright, this one is simple and self-explanatory—keep records of your bill payments, usage, and conversations anytime you speak with your creditors.  This also shows you take responsibility and you’re fully aware of the status of your account and/or previous conversations regarding it.  The best way to keep records is thru ebilling; the process of having your bill sent to you by email—this eliminates stacks of paper mail, and you should also type the important details of your conversations; who you spoke to, their extension number, the department you spoke to, arrangement dates and amounts, confirmation numbers, payment methods (check, credit card, etc).

How  to  Communicate  With  Creditors

How you speak to your creditors when you do communicate with them is very important.  As a former 1^st and 3^rd party bill collector and Skip Tracer for over 10 years, I can tell you—DO NOT shout, yell, cuss, throw un-proved accusations and demand a manager or supervisor—that is the quickest way to NOT getting the help you need.

Call and speak to your creditors in a respectful, courteous, and firm tone.  Be honest about having a past due amount and what you’re capable of paying.  DO NOT give a ‘sob’ story—I promise you we’ve heard them all, and it will fall upon deaf ears.  Ask what are your options and how can you avoid service interruptions.

If you’re calling regarding a dispute—KNOW what you’re talking about—have your records in front of you, make sure you have a valid dispute, DO NOT become irate, politely ask for a manager or supervisor.

Know  Your  Rights

Sometimes when you communicate with creditors, the representative may be the aggressive person—especially commission-based, 3^rd party bill collectors who often make illegal threats; you have to know your rights.  The best way to handle 3^rd party bill collectors is to know the FDCPA and what the Mini-Miranda is.  Having knowledge of these two things will help you tremendously in dealing with aggressive 3^rd party bill collectors; these laws state when and if a bill collector can call you at work, how often they can call, the consequences for a bill collector failing to recite the Mini-Miranda, what actual legal action a 3^rd party collector may actually take, and the consequences for a 3^rd party collector threatening action that they are legally unable to pursue.

Now, if you’ve truly paid attention to the paragraph above, you’ll notice something—the FDCPA and Mini-Miranda is only regarding 3^rd party bill collectors; not 1^st party, such as your local utility companies—again, you will just have to practice remaining calm, being respectful, professional, and yet firm. 

At Ride Now Motors we want to work with our customers to ensure that we understand the situations that life has presented to them. Please, always give us the chance to work with you and come to an understanding as to what we can all expect.