Friday, March 30, 2007

Forgotten Stupid Tax Now in Collection

The other day I received a letter from a collection attorney. A bill I fully admit I owe, but thought had been taken care of. Apparently not though.
Here is what happened, before I started listening to Dav Ramsey, I got caught up with the Payday loan places and one of the checks bounced. I thought it had been re-submitted as I never heard anything more from them.
At any rate, when I received the notice (again a year later) I called the collection attorney and made payment arrangements. They agreed to $50/month (though I had figured $60) to pay the $172.64 and any interest that accrues, between now and then.


Not exactly sure where the money is all going to come from, but it will get worked out. God always seems to provide. Though, I admit I haven't seen it nearly as much, as when I was younger and I felt God impress on me to take in a homeless man. I used the excuse that i didn't have a bed for him. I felt the Lord impress on me to go to the Ditimore's (a neighbor). I went over to their house and they said they had a double bed, but no mattress. After I got it into my house, I picked up a copy of the paper to look for mattresses. I felt to Lord impress on me to call the ad for a twin mattress. I shunned the thought and started calling about double mattresses. They were all already sold or couldn't deliver (I didn't have a car). Finally, I called the one I felt the Lord impress on me, figuring the friend wouldn't need a mattress covering the entire bed. I made the call, told him my story. The guy was a minister, had already sold the twin, but had an unadvertised double that he needed to get rid of as well. Long story short, he brought it over to the house, glad to see it used for such a great use and my homeless friend moved in. That was the summer, that a poor kid barely able to eat, took in three homeless people for the summer. Eventually they all went their ways and I moved to the commune in Chicago, best known for their Christian Rock Band Resurrection (Rez) Band and the annual Cornerstone Music festival in Bushnell, IL. As one of the guys said, God was preparing me for the next step. I believe he was right. That was a great summer, and the nearly 2 years at Jesus People, following that was very wonderful.

4 comments:

  1. This is the sort of thing you have an emergency fund for...pay the debt so no more interest or fees accrue, and then work to re-build the emergency fund.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have a song for all you homeless singing the blues
    www.neworleansfrogman.com
    "Aint got no home" clarence frogman henry

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cheryl's correct. This is exactly what the emergency fund is used for. Unexpected, non-recurring bills that pop up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'll agree with Cheryl and Piggy there PoT. By paying monthly instead of using your emergency fund, you are incurring more interest and yet another monthly payment on a debt. I believe Ramsey would be with us in this, pay the debt using the emergency fund, then use that $60 month to re-build your emergency funds.

    ReplyDelete