[lbo-talk] I don't get it?

[shag carpet bomb]

well, i wouldn't have been able to rent the last three places I've rented, 
that's why. if i needed any kind of credit -- I am, fortunately, debt-free 
at the moment -- no gettee. i knew someone who fell in a parking lot. sued 
the store to get payment for his bills. store paid. one of the bills fell 
through the cracks and it looked like he never paid up. years later, when 
his 1979 jeep broke down and he needed a line of credit to get it fixed, no 
gettee. he ended up getting that mistake off his record, but he never even 
knew he owed the money to begin with -- and this was years ago, back in the 
late 80s/early 90s.

in many jobs, especially where you have access to anything having to do 
with money or computer technology or information systems, they run credit 
checks on you as part of your screening for hire. if you have a bad credit 
history, you're immediately red-flagged as a potential risk. people who 
don't pay their bills or have high debt-income ratios are seen as potential 
thieves.

additionally, i've heard that if you even live with someone -- partner, 
child, parent -- who has bad credit, it will reflect on you as well.

and me? i have enough going on in my life that i really don't want to be 
bothered with writing letters, making phone calls, etc. etc. i pay the 
fucking bill at some ridiculous "reduced" rate and make a note to never, 
ever let it happen again. e.g., i now have a list of every single credit 
card, vendor, utility company, the account number, etc. and I'm vigilant 
about keeping my address records up to date and not letting anything fall 
through the cracks in the first place.

the obvious answer, as you well know, is that if you want to live in 
mainstream u.s. society, you hew to these demands. If you don't and are 
happy living on the margins, spending your time fighting people about bills 
and payments and how much you owe and going to court and such, then you can 
do as you please. It's sort of like asking us why we work and then pointing 
to your own lifestyle as the obvious answer as to how to avoid all these 
problems we discuss. :)

seems silly to me, bill.

and personally, i spent a lifetime living on the margins of mainstream 
society or so barely inside it that the threat of falling out of it was 
always imminent. i have no fucking interest in living like that ever again. 
i never ever want to wonder where my next dollar will come from, if my car 
will break down on the next job hunting trip, or where i will sleep that 
night. and the last thing i ever freakin want to do is live in some 
anarchist commune wearing a hair shirt or some horse shittery.

nothing's too good for the working class!

shag

At 08:31 PM 2/27/2009, Bill Bartlett wrote:
>Obviously I'm unfamiliar with the US banking system, so I don't quite 
>follow how this extortion racket works. I understand it up to the point 
>where the bank concocts a large debt which it puts into a collection 
>agency. What I don't follow is why you and shag actually pay the extortion 
>demand.