It's been a while since I've posted a diary and the recent happenings in my life have proven to need some sort of outlet. Mainly I want to be understood, because being in the lower class really doesn't have the same advantages. People don't listen to you, because you are just a number in a collection file. You are just a loss in a financial record. You are a debt uncollected. You are just a stepping stool of corporate America.
I'd like to think that I am more than that. No, I am more than that.
Six days before Christmas, my car broke down. I had to make the decision to choose my spring college schedule or work. Because my tuition was already paid for the semester I chose school in hopes that my car situation could be fixed with the money I had left. Unfortunately due to the fact I was supporting my brother and my father, my money quickly evaporated sooner than expected. I face over 500 dollars in overdraft fees from my bank and mounting credit card debt. My grandmother agreed to send me 1000 dollars to help with my dilemma. I set up payments in the month of January to fix my credit card problem and because of their lack of communication with each other they counted my payments but still kept me below zero. I paid them over 100 dollars, yet because of the interest fee charged at the middle of the month they dropped me down to negative $238. Now they call me, every single morning of every single day. They then call me every night to ask why I wont pay them..
I have made the decision after thinking it through for the past two months as the debt has piled up to not pay them. Mainly because I can't pay them... but also, I don't feel I owe them anything. I got a letter in the mail yesterday that stated they were stopping all charges for 3 months so that I can pay them. I called to inquire about this and asked the woman, "So, what you are telling me is that you will no longer be charging me any more invisible money for the next 3 months?" Her answer was brief and quite comical to me, "Yes, Ma'am."
When I first got my credit card my interest rate was 10.99%... after Chase bought it out, my interest rate was 29.99%. My debt is collecting in record numbers now and there isn't a damn thing that I can do about it. Now, that all of my money has run dry I had to drop out of school and yet they still call me every day. I am helpless like many Americans to do anything about this.
I am almost 23 years old now and I guess I don't care anymore. I really don't. I am more than a number on some creditors list. I am a human being. How ridiculous is this society? Honestly... Our entire system is based on imaginary money. My ability to buy a home later on in life is based on the amount I can get into debt and keep my head above water. That is what "credit" is. It is debt. That is all it is. We are force fed this bull our entire lives that we need to have good credit to buy more things so that we can be more into debt. Hell... America itself is in debt. Doesn't them seem like a crazy idea? How did this start? I have decided that I am not going to live my life the way that corporations want me to. That is not who I want to be and I feel like the rest of society is imprisoned by what the wealthy want. We must make the wealthy wealthier.
I thought more about this when I considered my bank overdraft charges. Because the lower class doesn't keep money in the bank, they are not profiting to the banks, so the only way they can make money off of us is to charge us ridiculous amounts of money when we go over. This should not be a necessary action and there are hardly any ways to get around paying them. This is the milestone on the necks of poor people. Only a few of us can break the bonds that hold us down and the rest are destined to live the rest of their lives in poverty. How is it possible that 2 percent of the worlds population own 90% of the wealth? Why would anyone need that kind of money? How did we get here?
Dear Debt Collectors... I will never pay you. You may call me every day if you would like. You may repossess my car that doesn't work. You can take the shirt off my back, the shoes off my feet, and everything else I own. The one thing you will never get is my dignity. I may be in the lower class of the caste system we call Capitalism... but I will be damned if I will let you take what is important to me.
Money is just paper and coin backed by gold and other useless shiny objects that rich men drivel over... yet it makes this world go round.
Not for me
..never again