Jan 22 2009
Nervous Credit Holders
Out of the blue on December 23rd, my cell phone rang. It was the bank that holds the note on my laundromat. “Your payment on your building is late,” said the pleasant loan officer on the other line. “And we were wondering when you were going to be paying.”
I was puzzled. The payment was sometimes after the due date because of slow foot traffic, but always it was in during the month. Since it is a business, I like it to make its own payments, just for tax reasons alone. “It’s not thirty days late.” I said. “Is it? Did I miss something?”
“Oh, no,” she said. “We just like to make sure it’s going to come in.”
“Yes,” I said “It’ll be in. I just like to let the business make as much of the payment as it can.” After a few seconds, I asked, “Is there something I should be worried about your bank?”
Startled, the loan officer nervously laughed, “Oh no! Nothing like that.’
This was the first of other conversations that came up within the next thirty days. Both my husband and I had paychecks that were held up due to clerical errors and deadline problems. Last night, our credit card company called and offered to take a payment out of our account. After I explained the situation, she thanked me and hung up. Earlier that morning, another creditor called.
None of these payments are more than a few days pas the due date. I lamented this to a friend who also is paid on a less than consistent basis.
“I know,” she sighed. “We’re getting the calls, too.”
I know that small businesses are hurting. If average people completely stop paying our bills, they can’t afford to get judgments on everyone. Big credit card companies are hurting. They can’t get blood out of a stone.
The good thing is that all of the customer service representatives can relate. One secretary that I talked to dropped her voice quietly and said she totally understood. “We’re taking personal hits on all of our stuff, too,” she said. “I don’t know how we are going to make it.”
In the meantime, beware of sharks lingering in the waters. Last night, for some unknown reason, a company called and asked me if I were either, ‘behind in my mortgage payment and needed help, or in a house that had lost significant value, or was in a mortgage that had escalating payments.” Since none of those applied to me, we almost ended the conversation.
“Who are you?” I asked. She gave an evasive answer. “Are you a non profit organization?”
She assured me that they were for profit. Then she gave the name of a law firm.
Good grief.
