Financial Woes

A few days ago, I got a strange voicemail. It was from a law office, stating that they needed to get in contact me regarding a US Docket number something.

Scared the heck out of me. I've never been in trouble that seriously before.

Turns out it was a $650 loan I had defaulted on last August. The loan payments were coming out automatically from my checking account in Minnesota, which I closed. It was an honest mistake; I forgot the payment came out. One of my major weaknesses is that I am awful when it comes to budgeting. I used to work for a bank, it used to be my job to help people balance their checkbooks and I used to have to ask people if they had any recurring withdrawals before I could close their accounts. Why I didn't think about it for my own account, I don't know.

So the company I took out this loan through was preparing to sue me. Sue me over $650. Legal fees and costs would have been twice or three times that much. One phone call, and I had it all taken care of and paid in full, thus keeping my name clear of any lawsuits.

Then I started thinking. I have tons of other debts that are in collections. At what point do they decide to sue? Which companies will just write it off, and which will go to the next step?

I think I'm going to need to go over all my bill piles this weekend.