(no subject)
Sometimes life just really sucks.
All I do is work now. The only person I really see is Kieran, and that's because he drives down from Farmington to meet me after work, spend the night, and go back to school in the morning.
My school debt was sent to a collections agency. It pisses me off that they are able to get away with that. They promised me financial aid, or else I would never have gone. They talked with me in person and over the phone numerous times - all friendly, helpful, and reassuring.
"Yes, you'll get all the aid you need. Don't worry."
"Oh! You've paid this much already? Once everything goes through you'll DEFINITELY be getting a refund check for some of these funds."
"Just fill out this one last form and you should have your award in a couple days. Friday at the latest."
It was always just one more form, or alter this, or appeal that. They dragged it out all semester. Even over Christmas break.
"I'm not sure what's going on, but don't worry. We'll have it all worked out by January when you come back."
And then nothing.
$10,000 for one semester at fucking Orono. And they wouldn't even let me set up a payment plan with them. Not even when I sent them all mine and my mother's paystub information - proving that combined she and I only make $1000 - $1500 in a GOOD month.
So now my debt is in collections. My credit is destroyed. And I still don't have the money. I've been out of school since mid January, and I've only managed to save up about $650. Which I think is impressive. I'm going to call the collections agency on Monday. Maybe they'll let me set up a payment plan.
Maybe in a year I'll be debt free.
Maybe someday I'll even go back to school.
But for now my life has somehow become a loop of transactions.
"Can I put this on your Penney's card?"
"Have you considered opening a SimplyFree Checking account with us?"
"You you like to get a large with a free refill for only another $.50?"
Everything is sales. Everything is money. There's no such thing as compassion anymore, or even individual people. It's just consumers and profits and potential revenue.
The woman who hired me at JCPenney was just fired. She started working for the company when she was sixteen. She went to college specifically to become a manager. She worked her way up from a floor supervisor all the way to the store manager of Rockland. And they just fired her because sales weren't up to par. They weren't making as much money as they wanted to off of customers who don't have the money to be shopping in the first place.
But they want more money. More credit cards. MORE.
Banks are even retail now. There's talk of being open seven days a week now just to try to sneak in a few more patrons. There are quartery goals that we're supposed to make on fees and charges. That's right, FEES. They're outrageous! If a customer overdraws their account by one item they're charged $25 the first time, $30 the second offense, and $35 per following occassion. And that's just for one item.
For the first time offender the first three items are $25 a piece. The next two are $30 and the next two are $35. And if you're account stays in the negative for five days you get charged another $35.
So if you have $200 in your account and you, thinking you have more, write a $202 check...Boom. -$2. Then you go to Dunkin Donuts and get a $2.46 coolatta.
-$4.88
And for lunch you grab a burger off the dollar menu with a drink.
-$6.88
And maybe grab another drink on the way home from the corner store.
-$8.37
That's four overdrawn items. That means that even though it's not even ten dollars in the negative, you're going to get charged $105 in fees. And if you can only afford to pay $70 of that until your next paycheck, it's going to keep going up by $35 every five days until you get that account in the positive.
It's sickening.
What kind of country do we live in where corporate companies are allowed to get away with this? Where education systems are allowed to lie and cheat their students into bankruptcy.
Is learning to accept this what they call growing up?
All I do is work now. The only person I really see is Kieran, and that's because he drives down from Farmington to meet me after work, spend the night, and go back to school in the morning.
My school debt was sent to a collections agency. It pisses me off that they are able to get away with that. They promised me financial aid, or else I would never have gone. They talked with me in person and over the phone numerous times - all friendly, helpful, and reassuring.
"Yes, you'll get all the aid you need. Don't worry."
"Oh! You've paid this much already? Once everything goes through you'll DEFINITELY be getting a refund check for some of these funds."
"Just fill out this one last form and you should have your award in a couple days. Friday at the latest."
It was always just one more form, or alter this, or appeal that. They dragged it out all semester. Even over Christmas break.
"I'm not sure what's going on, but don't worry. We'll have it all worked out by January when you come back."
And then nothing.
$10,000 for one semester at fucking Orono. And they wouldn't even let me set up a payment plan with them. Not even when I sent them all mine and my mother's paystub information - proving that combined she and I only make $1000 - $1500 in a GOOD month.
So now my debt is in collections. My credit is destroyed. And I still don't have the money. I've been out of school since mid January, and I've only managed to save up about $650. Which I think is impressive. I'm going to call the collections agency on Monday. Maybe they'll let me set up a payment plan.
Maybe in a year I'll be debt free.
Maybe someday I'll even go back to school.
But for now my life has somehow become a loop of transactions.
"Can I put this on your Penney's card?"
"Have you considered opening a SimplyFree Checking account with us?"
"You you like to get a large with a free refill for only another $.50?"
Everything is sales. Everything is money. There's no such thing as compassion anymore, or even individual people. It's just consumers and profits and potential revenue.
The woman who hired me at JCPenney was just fired. She started working for the company when she was sixteen. She went to college specifically to become a manager. She worked her way up from a floor supervisor all the way to the store manager of Rockland. And they just fired her because sales weren't up to par. They weren't making as much money as they wanted to off of customers who don't have the money to be shopping in the first place.
But they want more money. More credit cards. MORE.
Banks are even retail now. There's talk of being open seven days a week now just to try to sneak in a few more patrons. There are quartery goals that we're supposed to make on fees and charges. That's right, FEES. They're outrageous! If a customer overdraws their account by one item they're charged $25 the first time, $30 the second offense, and $35 per following occassion. And that's just for one item.
For the first time offender the first three items are $25 a piece. The next two are $30 and the next two are $35. And if you're account stays in the negative for five days you get charged another $35.
So if you have $200 in your account and you, thinking you have more, write a $202 check...Boom. -$2. Then you go to Dunkin Donuts and get a $2.46 coolatta.
-$4.88
And for lunch you grab a burger off the dollar menu with a drink.
-$6.88
And maybe grab another drink on the way home from the corner store.
-$8.37
That's four overdrawn items. That means that even though it's not even ten dollars in the negative, you're going to get charged $105 in fees. And if you can only afford to pay $70 of that until your next paycheck, it's going to keep going up by $35 every five days until you get that account in the positive.
It's sickening.
What kind of country do we live in where corporate companies are allowed to get away with this? Where education systems are allowed to lie and cheat their students into bankruptcy.
Is learning to accept this what they call growing up?