The James Dicks Blog

It’s time to take back your dignity from the bill collectors.  I live in central Florida and a month or so a tragic story unfolded, centered around a family also from central Florida.  I don’t know all the facts but it was apparently financial in nature.  The family recently filed bankruptcy and was about $85,000 in debt.  The father had lost his job, got another one and then lost that one as well.  The father snapped at some point and shot his wife and two teenage children before shooting himself.  It was heartbreaking to say the least.  But nothing is so bad to end it all.  Financial hard ship can be devastating, and starting over can be overwhelming, but you can still prevail with your faith and hard work.

Bankruptcy will allow you to take control of your finances again.  But the most important thing to do is take control of the creditors calling you.  If you have not taken a few moments you need to read the Fair Debt Collection Practice act. You can find it at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf.

This will give you the ammunition you need to fight back against the creditors who will flat out ignore your rights and lie to you.

Here are a few things that you can do to take control of some of these “blood suckers.” I know that’s strong but what else can you say about some of these collectors. Okay here we go.

(1)  Have fun- you must turn the hardship and situation into something that simply has a little lighter side to it.  I know we have all seen the Seinfeld episode where the telemarketer called Jerry at dinner.  Jerry then said “can I get your home number and call you back?” Exactly, they don’t want to be called at home either much less during dinner.

(2) When the collector calls, put them on hold for a few hours, seriously if you just put the phone down no one else can call.  Try taking the call using a different accent; whatever gives you some joy. Tell the collector to hold for one moment, make some banging clicking noises and then come back on the line and say sorry about that I had to turn on my tape recorder, go ahead what were you saying?  I bet they change their tune. I am not saying that you need to do this to dodge your bill collectors; I am only saying to do this to simply take back your life and work out your debts on your time not theirs. 

(3) Actually, the best thing to do is call your bill collectors every Monday or whatever day works for you each week.  You can give them an update.  Call them before they call you, even if you can’t pay; the communication goes along way.

(4)  Next time they call you, put them on notice.  Tell them to never call you again, then when you hang up send them a “Cease and Desist” letter with certified return receipts, letting them know that you no longer want to be contacted by phone. Tell them you are utilizing the rights afforded you under the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act and that you want all communication as outlined in the act to be by U.S. mail.  Violation of this request can result in possible civil and criminal actions.

(5) Trap Call. This may be over kill but you can get a 30 day free trial by going to trapcall.com.  It cost $25 per month which is a little steep for personal use but the free trial may be all you need for 30 days.  For small business it is sure a great use of $25.  Here is what they do; you sign up then put in your cell phone number.  Trap call will then intercept all phone calls made to your cell phone, I think it has to be a cell phone but you can check.  Since many people today are using a cell phone for their home number I felt this was worthy of discussing.  Once you have set up the service you can manage your calls through the site.  Anyone that calls doesn’t experience anything different.  But it is completely different.  First, if anyone leaves you a message, trap call will transcribe it and send it you via text message which is a cool feature.  If a bill collector calls you that is annoying then you can go to your mange calls and place that number on the “black list” and the next time they call, if you don’t answer, they will get “the number you have dialed is no longer in service please check the number and try again.”  That’s right, it will announce an “out of order” message every time you allow a black list number go to your voice mail.  If someone calls and you press ignore on your phone they will get nothing.  They will actually think that their phone didn’t go through correctly.  You can press ignore every time and they will simply just loose the call.  You can also use the feature to record all your calls, anytime someone calls you, a record option is available.  If you ever have someone call you from a private number you can select ignore, and while the caller hears ringing, you will see the name of the caller.  Never talk to another bill collector again, giving you the ultimate piece of mind.

Remember, you do have rights.  Know your rights and don’t allow any bill collector to intimidate you or abuse your rights.  Stand up for your rights.

All my best,

James

JamesDicks General Bankruptcy, business, Cease and Desist, collectors, constitutional rights, credit, credit cards, crisis, debt, economy, expenses, Fair Debt Colelction Practice, financial responsibility, goals, james dicks, money, personal finance, scams

JamesDicks General 233 years, Afghanistan, Congress, constitutional rights, Fourth of July, Freedom, Independence Day, Marine, military, Obama, Patriotism, sacrifice, troops, USO

You constantly hear the comparisons of today’s tough times to those hideous economic events during the 1930’s Great Depression.  Each day brings more skepticism on my part as I stand in amazement at what is happening today and what happened then (as far as I’ve been told). 

First, although the unemployment rate is close to ten percent today, during the Depression the percentage of the population that was out of work in the United States rose to 25 percent of the workforce at its highest level. This number translated to 15 million Americans being without work in the Depression era. There are far fewer Americans out of work today and that also represents a smaller portion of a much larger 21^st Century workforce which translates to about a 9.4 percent unemployment rate. That, my friend, is quite a difference.  There are also a number of differences as they pertain to the current governmental structure and control today that makes a huge difference between the two economic predicaments. 

But there are a few similarities to the two events too; both were preceded by credit bubbles.  In the 1920’s, we saw the The Roaring Twenties – a period of social, artistic and cultural energy that captured the nation’s hearts and minds – as well as their pocketbooks!  And most recently we created the tech bubble, the housing bubble, and an easy credit bubble that all had a definite influence on what is happening to the global economy today.  Other similarities include governmental use of stimulus packages in both events as well as government interventionist policies; like a ban on short selling both today and then.  That’s about where it ends. 

Recent times have created a global population that generally does not know how to do without.  Since the end of World War II, the American population has been growing beyond its means, while government social programs have been bleeding the nation’s coffers.  The two countries that were defeated in World War II, Germany and Japan, have been doing better than the rest.  The world rebuilt those countries and their innate industriousness has allowed them to expand economically beyond anyone’s wildest imaginations.  In today’s world, all that appears to be over (or at least drastically slowed down) and while we hear about the possibility of an economic turn around at the end of this year, it will definitely be weak and perhaps short-lived.  Some of the world’s preeminent economists are now saying that they now believe massive inflation is on the horizon. 

Another major difference between then and now was the non-existence of deposit insurance at the banks during the 1930’s era depression which makes today’s situation completely different. The U.S. government has assured the value of all U.S. deposits — even those that are over the recently recognized $250,000 limit.  So, because of this important change, no depositor will, theoretically, lose their savings, and none of the VERY large commercial banks will fail.

The current downturn is not expected to result in the double-digit inflation, unemployment or interest rates that crippled the U.S. economy back in the 1970s and early 1980s during the Carter Administration. As bad as the economy appears today, we have experienced much worse.  And remember, our economy not only survived but it flourished in a big way. There is no question it will do so again. I truly believe that.

I’ve watched documentaries about the 1930’s Great Depression and remember seeing thousands of people standing in ‘bread lines” in order to eat.  But just last week, I saw people standing in lines to buy the new iPhone 3G(S).  That picture comparison hit me hard.  A recent report said that 16 percent of teenagers and 30 percent of business people would likely buy the new iPhone model and by Friday night, the shelves were empty.  I have to believe that things just aren’t as bad as the media is trying to portray.  Let me repeat – there is no question that the hard times we face today will improve.  They always have and always will.  I truly believe that. 

JamesDicks General business, constitutional rights, credit cards, crisis, deficit, economy, expenses, financial growth, financial responsibility, government, Great Depression, james dicks, job, market crash, Obama, personal finance, saving money, stimulus, stock market, unemployed

Wow!  That’s all I can say.  This past Saturday I decided to run out to the annual gun show here locally at our fair grounds.  I figured that I would be there for the opening; spend an hour or so and still make an 11 o’clock appointment.

Well, it started off just fine. No traffic and I got there just as the doors opened; but wait – there was one small problem. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was perplexed as to why there were so many cars already in the parking lot.  People were scurrying around with rifles pistols and guns of all types I couldn’t believe how many cars were already there.

So, I squeezed into a spot and walked quickly to the entrance.  Then I saw the LONG line – some 200 people and I was thinking, “Okay, maybe they are running late or something.”

I can say this for sure, you would not want to have an Obama sticker on your car or an Obama shirt on your back.  This was bigger than any anti-Obama crowd and as you could imagine the topic of conversation with everyone in line around me was Obama and our Second Amendment rights.  It seemed a bit weird almost like paranoia all around.

The crowd was made up of all races; mostly men I guess, but lots of elderly women as well I thought that was very interesting.  As I was standing in line a spokesperson was asking if anyone wanted to sign up for the NRA.  It was $10 off and you got one free admission into the gun show which was $35.  Best of all, you could go to the front of the line and they would give you a free NRA hat!  Pretty good deal especially keeping in mind that you could avoid the long wait in line.

Anyway, as I finally got to the front of the line they opened a new line (Doesn’t that always happen? It does to me!).

I finally got in and still had time to browse.  I walked through the door and it was packed shoulder-to-shoulder; people politely making their way through the crowd to look at the tables and most were three people deep.  You could buy anything that had to do with guns and knives.

After getting through the exhibit hall, I headed out the door and realized that the hand stamp I got was to get me in the next building; and when I walked in I couldn’t believe it! The building was huge and packed from one end to the other, probably 500-1,000 people in the place, and it was crazy.  People everywhere – same thing, shoulder-to- shoulder, three deep at the tables, and the vendors were endless… probably several hundred vendors.

The atmosphere was almost like organized panic, certainly filled with anxiety and anti-Obama for sure.  People were buying ammunition by the case full and wheeling it out on dollies.  The ammunition tables were so crowded you couldn’t even get up to them to buy if you wanted.  Guns were selling at every vendor.  I specifically noticed two elderly ladies buying some hand guns at one table.

I think the point here is that we all need to be better informed.  Regardless of whom you voted for, or whether you got the outcome you wanted, we have to deal with what we have today and, in the end, we must protect our Constitutional rights. Once we let someone start messing with our Constitutional rights, everything else will change and probably very quickly. Our Second Amendment allows us the right to bear arms, for your protection and mine.  Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.  Get informed, we can’t have our Constitutional rights amended or changed.

The problem with all of this is that we have some creative legislators, and with many things already drafted.  If you want to keep your Second Amendment right you must speak up!  Registration of all guns, serial numbering ammunition which brings a new tax will affect your true right to keep and bear arms.

For information on your Second Amendment rights go to www.NRA.Org.  If you don’t agree with what I have said or with the Second Amendment, GREAT! You have a constitutional right to think something else; that’s what makes this such a great country!

JamesDicks General ammo, constitutional rights, government, guns, james dicks, nra, Obama, rifles, second amendment