Wednesday, March 16, 2011

How the System Works


So my wages are being garnished, starting this paycheck - I'm not sure how much
they'll be taking out, but considering I'm working part-time nights at minimum-wage,
while going to school full-time, you really have to be a total asshole to try and make
me poorer.  But that is the American way, kick you when your down.

It's about a student loan that goes back several years - Great Lakes Higher Education
Guaranty had the loan and I was making payments, and then for some reason they
started asking for two payments a month instead of one. Apparantly someone there
took my promissary note, stuffed it in a Xerox machine and made it into two loans,
that I was supposed to pay on (it's a common practice with student loans - and
obviously, very profitable for the loan originator).

 I was living in St Louis at the time, and there was no way I could pay another $200
per month, so I called to explain this and they basically told me to fuck myself,
Ultimately, my finances collapsed, and I found a lawyer and filed bankruptcy. 
I was working at the time, so I was filing to make payments not to avoid debt,
but when my employer heard this they fired me. 
My lawyer figured out that there was money to be made by running up my debt,
so she made arrangements with Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corp.
to take the original $10,000 loan, which they were trying to make into 2 loans,
each worth $10,000 and made arrangements that the would now file for over
$40,000 in debt, and then conned me into signing the papers without reading
them. 

OK it was stupid, but I show up at her office on time she says we have to get
these papers filed immediately, or I'll lose everything.  She then grabs the papers
and runs out to her car, and I'm trying to read these as I'm signing them in the
car on the way to a Fed Ex drop box.  I sign them, and she makes her bonus
from Great Lakes for screwing me over, because that is how the system works. 

Anyways, time goes by and I try to make arrangements to pay the initial student
loan, but I want Great Lakes to drop the second and third loans - they don't
have to deal with me, they know it - they tell me to go fuck myself, I contact
the Department of Education about this, documenting how I've been scammed,
they tell me to go fuck myself.

I mean let's be honest - the Department of Education is running the scam,
they don't care if the loan ever gets repaid -they know this kind of fraud is
occuring all the time. This is how the system works - the DOE collects
from companies like Great Lakes that it knows are using the documents
for fraudulent purposes, it knows that illegal collection methods are being
used, it knows this, and it encourages even more fraud and abuse - it's a
disgrace, but that is how the system works.

So my position with the DOE is take me to court then, because once they
used the promissory note for Fraud, it's not a legal document, and if they
are not going to pursue documented fraud (and they will not because the
fraud is profitable for the DOE, where as eliminating fraud costs the DOE
money), well they can go fuck themselves.

Naturally, the DOE gave my information to a company called NCO, who took
the loan and doubled it and then some and contacted me and told me to pay off.
This was impossible in my financial situation, and I still want the other claims
dropped, and I'm not paying until I have something in writing that that Great
Lakes and/or the DOE is dropping  these fraudulant claims.

Ultimately, when I found this part time job, they called me at work and I tried
to make some kind of arrangements to make payments, just so that I can keep
this job because I really need the money right now, but they knew they had me
over over a barrel so yeh, they told me that if I didn't pay them $200 a month
(which in my current situation is absurd) they were going to garnish my wages.
$200 a month is basically 50% of my take home pay, so there's no way to
make that work and they know that -but it is fun if you're that mentally
fucked up for work for NCO or the DOE.

So, yeh now my wages are going to be garnished, my employer is going
to treat me like a deadbeat and make life miserable, I can't break even on
what I'm making, so I'm going to try and make it through this month at least
before quitting,  but it's just not worth it, so I'll quit, get another job, some
guy at NCO will laugh about how he fucked me over good then track me
down again and repeat the cycle, because that is how the system works.
This is one Hell of a country isn't it?

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