Life on the Run
As we’ve just discussed, many not-so-pleasant things
can happen to you if you don’t pay your student loans.
Here’s what happened to me.
You start getting letters asking you to pay.
When you ignore them, you start getting more letters.
One day a letter comes saying - This is your FINAL notice.
I thought “Good, at least I won’t have to hear from
them anymore” - WRONG! More letters keep coming.
I ignored these letters for a very long time.
Then one day a letter comes telling me…
By the way - We’re keeping your State Tax Refund.
Oh Crap!… I was counting on that money.
Oh well, let me just get on with my life.
Time passes, I forget about it. Life is good.
Then one I go to the bank to withdraw some cash
out of the ATM machine.
“Sorry, that transaction is not available at this time”.
“Stupid ATM machines” I think.
I call customer service to tell them off, and I’m
informed that there is a “Freeze” on my account.
A “freeze” is a banking Black Hole.
You can put money in, but Nothing comes out.
No money, Not even light.
The account is now dead and the money in the account
stays there until the matter is cleared up.
Or so I thought…
Meanwhile, the automatic deductions that I had
previously set up and which had worked fine for a long
time, no longer go through or get paid.
So, what does the bank do?
They charge you with a $30 insufficient fund charge.
“But the money is in the account” I protest.
“Not anymore, deadbeat” is what the banker was
probably thinking.
What they actually say is you have to take the
matter up with the company that froze the account.
“But I don’t even know who froze the account”
I’m thinking. They offer no help.
But Meanwhile, the bank is happy to keep charging you
$30 everytime an auto debit attempts -
until ALL the money is sucked out the account.
And that’s not the end of it! Oh no.
Until you stop the autodebits, they keep charging you.
You had money in the account, the bank takes
ALL OF IT and keeps charging you.
And now you owe the bank money.
And when you try to close the account - You Can’t.
Because it’s still frozen.
And your creditors, which are not NOT getting paid
start slamming you with late fees and start calling on the
phone with some “friendly” reminders that you still owe
them money.
And it doesn’t stop there… No, No, No
All right I think - “Screw Citibank”.
I’ll just open an account elsewhere.
And so I did.
The thing is… Now I’m afraid to leave any money
in the account, wondering when “Big Brother”
will find the account and seize and freeze the money.
Next time
Big Brother Returns or as the Terminator said:
“I’ll be Back!”
TAGS:
State Tax Refund