Collections

I've been taken to collections. I was not notified. Not once. I am fuming. Angry. Ready to call a lawyer. You think after almost 3 years they would have just looked at my account and called my phone number. It hasn't changed in almost a decade. They just continued to send notices to an old address that I forgot to set up a forwarding address at. That's my one mistake. Being a flaky college student that has a million things on his plate, believing that everything will just work out. I know better now, but back then I didn't think about that kind of stuff. No one ever taught me anything about those kinds of things. I just didn't know. Now I'm paying a HUGE penalty. I suppose its not the law for someone to CALL me when I owe them money. But if they really wanted me to know they would have gone though the effort. The fact is that they just don't care. Very few large organizations care about their clients at all. That's the nature of the business. Because they don't care I've been slapped with a bill for over two thousand dollars that I just CAN'T pay. I am stretched so thin with bills, and I don't know if I'll have the money to pay for a place to live. Or to make my car payments. I work 50 hours a week and its not even close to enough to say that I live comfortably. I live paycheck to paycheck and I still don't pay all my bills. I just defer and negotiate.

I have never owned a credit card, and the only things I've gone into debt for have been my education, my car, and medical expenses. That is it. I save when I can, and I try to live as frugal as possible. All I do is work. And I still can't get ahead. I am a single guy, working very hard at a full time career and between my bills and taxes I just can't make it. Something is wrong with our standard of life and I know its NOT my fault.

My advice to any college students out there. #1 Don't go into debt. If you have to, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT use Sallie Mae or any other BIG lender. They don't care about you and you'll pay for it. They will destroy your credit. It will be their fault. Ask anyone who uses them. #2 Always set up a forwarding address when you move. #3 Think about NOT going to college. College is not what it used to be. Its not full of smart, wise people any more. Its full of whiny liberal snobs that hate themselves too much to face the real world. If you are intelligent and hard working enough to get through college and earn a degree, then you are intelligent enough and hard working enough to learn on your own and work for yourself. These are the words you need to be able to describe yourself with: Independent, Dedicated, Flexible, Self-Made.