It wasn't just home mortgages. My problems began when my original credit card company was bought by another. My wife and I each had accounts with this company and I had an account with a second company and she with a third company. The new company sent me a letter that my account would be changed from a fixed rate to a variable rate. I was given the option of closing the account without penalty and paying it off at my original interest and payment rate. A few days later, I received a letter stating I had received the original letter by mistake and there would be no changes to my account. Ninety days later my interest rate tippled and the payment doubled. I attempted to talk to the company and explained that we could not make payments under the new conditions and asked why they would not abide by their original agreement and letters. I was told I had been sent the second letter by mistake and they did not have to abide by the letter. Additionally, I was no longer eligible to close the account without penalty. If I closed the account at this point, the interest rate would go to the penalty rate plus the prime rate. That they had the right to change the conditions of my contract at any time to what ever conditions they desired. I tried to negotiate a lower rate and payments due to hardship and they would not even talk to me. Shortly thereafter interest rates in our other accounts were affected. WE had never missed a payment, yet our interest rates in all four accounts soon exceeded thirty percent. We tried a consolidation company which got our original interest rates reinstated and we were making the payments. We made the payments for eight months, until my wife and I lost hours and pay. To date we have lost approximately twenty-five percent of our income and could no longer make the payments. Those payments would have taken eight years to pay off our original debt and we would have paid double the original debt. Under the new conditions, again we could not get our interest or payments modified. Top it off, our credit rating rating would have still been in the toilet during the eight years of the program and for seven years after. Since they would not deal with us, we switched to a debt settlement company. Within thirty days the amounts we had paid down on the accounts were wiped out with interest rates over thirty percent and penalties. Paying the settlement company about half the amount of our alleged debt, the settlement company estimates we will settle our combined credit company alleged debt within four years and our credit report will be clear. In the mean time, the feds have given the creditors a bailout due to the status of our accounts (so they have already received payment for our debts). The company with two of the accounts, was bought by a third company which is seeking to overturn our contract with the settlement company and reinstate the original contracts with thirty percent plus of interest and penalties.... meaning my wife and I would be in debt to them for the rest of our lives. Can you say slavery.... The second creditor is also trying the same thing and the third creditor has settled. To make life really interesting my wife has asthma and contracted H1N1 which turned into double pneumonia (pneumonia in each lung). Fourteen days in the hospital with twelve days in intensive care. I'm waiting for the insurance company to settle with the hospital. We have lost more than two months of her income and if it wasn't for family I would not have been able to pay more than part of our bills. We will have two other debs payoff in February and March 2010. If the hospital and doctors will not work with me on the remaining debt, I'll have no choice but to try and file for bankruptcy.
Government regulations permitted these abuses, where we bear the onus of being a dishonorable criminal for not paying our "just debts." Additionally , even though we are represented by the settlement company and are making payments into an escrow and service account, we can still be sued by the credit companies for what ever amount they decide to claim.
My wife and I had been paying these credit accounts in full and without problem. When the housing market started coming apart, the credit companies invested in it tried to gouge us to compensate for their bad investments and losses. Additional government regulation have forced increased costs for health care. As a result my company has steadily reduced health insurance benefits. My wife's company doesn't even offer medical insurance. As a result, I have doctor and hospital bills I would not have had to deal with two years ago.
With the Capping Trade Bill, Health Care Reform, the Copenhagen Accord and the U.N. Small Arms Treaty we could be living in the opening chapters of the "Probability Broach" or the closing chapters of "Unintended Consequences" very soon.