ElementalMom

Because my dental insurance finally agreed to pay up, I had the money, in hand, finally, to pay off one of my seriously delinquent bills. We’re talking, haven’t paid in three months. OK, fine, I’m a bad dog, but if the money isn’t there, it isn’t there, nothing I can do about that. But yesterday, the checks arrived, so today, I decided to give the fine folks at CitiBank a call, and clear up my account problems. There are several messages on my answering machine (sigh. I am a bad dog) from a woman with Collections, listing her number and direct extension. So logically, I’d start there, yeah?

So I call. There is no way to request a direct extension from that 800 number. I get the operator. I give her my social, my account number, mother’s maiden name, address, and phone. She tells me that the extension I’ve given her is for the St. Louis office, and cannot be directly accessed from her switchboard, but she’ll send the woman an email letting her know I am trying to reach her, and in the meantime, transfer me to another department.

I‘m on hold for 9 minutes, when Katrice picks up. I give her my social, my account number, mother’s maiden name, address, and phone. She is satisfied it’s me. Unfortunately, my account is more than 29 days past due, and she can only do those, so she has to transfer me.

I‘m on hold for 8 minutes when Jorge picks up. He’s very perky. I give him my social, my account number, mother’s maiden name, address, and phone. He is satisfied it’s me. I say, immediately “look, I’ve been on hold and bounced around and I just really want to give you guys my money, please!” He laughs. And then cannot get his computer to bring me up. Apparently, his section of the Bad Dog Hasn’t Paid Bills pie doesn’t include me either. I listen to him pound on his keyboard a bit. I offer some suggestions. In complete defeat, he says he has to transfer me. At this point, I’m not terribly surprised. I wish him well, and hear him cussing, in Spanish, at his machine as he transfers me.

Have I mentioned that CitiBank has dreadful hold music? Have I mentioned that at this point, roughly 20 minutes into my adventure, I’ve heard the music track loop twice? Have I mentioned that I’ve heard every ad they have for every financial product, and the irony of advertising investment products when you’re on hold for Collections is just overwhelming?

So I’m taken off hold by Menashi. She’s Indian. I give her my account number, my social, mother’s maiden name, phone number, and address. Just to, you know, change it up a bit. Menashi is far more formal about obtaining my information and hearing my story. But apparently, once I’ve spent two minutes on that, she regrets to inform me (I adore formal Indian phone manners) that she can only deal with people whose accounts are more than 30 but less than 60 days overdue. And that’s not me. So she’s transferring me to Collections (which is where, if you’ll recall, I called in the first place). And sure enough, it’s the same 800 number and extension I tried while making my first call. A total of 27 minutes ago. Menashi is pretty sure she can directly transfer me to the right place, despite my borderline panic at being sent back to where I started. She’s sweetly reassuring, but hits the hold button before I can finish babbling.

Seven minutes after that, Mitch in Collections picks up the phone. Desperate, I blurt out “I really, really, just want to give someone my money. That’s all I want to do. I have been on and off of hold four times, I’ve been transferred around, I’ve been on the phone over 35 minutes, no one can work with me, PLEASE before I rattle off all my numbers, will you PLEASE tell me you’ll take my money?” Mitch is laughing so hard by the time I finish, he can barely choke out a request for my information. I give him my accountnumbersocialsecurityphoneaddressmother’smaiden all in one breath at this stage. I’ve had practice, and it shows. Mitch dissolves into laughter again, and says “yes ma’am, we at CitiBank would be happy to take your money.”

And what followed from there was one of the more pleasant conversations I’ve had in a while. He was funny, he was human, he was understanding. We chatted about why my payment was late, and when I explained the whole thing about having two mortgages and supporting five people on one paycheck, but we had this dream and this boat and blah blah blah, he gave me a really great speech about not letting bills interfere with dreams, and started coming up with ideas to help me out. When I commented on his rare but delightful humanity, he replied “well you know… we’re all just people, and anyone could have a problem at any time, and it’s not that you’re bad, it’s that you’re in a situation. I’d be an ass not to recognize that and work with it.” He also waived my fees, in exchange for my “unusual determination” wading through the phone tree to get my bill paid.

So the lesson here? Even in banking, sometimes you can find a real live thinking human being. And they are blessed amongst bankers, for they still have a soul. And you can bet…they’ll get prioritized in the bill rotation.

Things are incredibly ugly, financially, for my little family right now. Our house is on the market, and isn’t moving. Larry, our agent, tells us that’s not a problem, that we need to be patient, and just to hang on for a while. That despite all the media fearmongering, the market is not so much depressed, as just not insane like it’s been the last few years. That it’s gorgeous, that people are looking, and that in a little time, we’ll be looking at a sale agreement.

Nice, but in the meantime, we’re supporting the house, the boat, and five people, on my one income. Needless to say, the ends are not exactly meeting where they need to. I’m having to do the bill shell game, where you pay these four on time this month and short these four, then switch. And make a lot of grovelling phone calls.

One particular bill I’d been ignoring, started calling. I ignored them. They called four or five times a day. Since I didn’t have the money, I let the phone ring. But there’s the physical, visceral reaction; my heartrate sped up, my shoulders hunched, I blushed.

Classic shame, pure and simple.

I finally got sick and tired of it, and resolved to face the music. So I looked at the account the next paycheck, and you know how much I owed them? $250. You know how late the bill was? Less than 15 days. I called them, to do a pay by phone, and end the madness. The woman I spoke to was incredibly friendly, waived all the fees when I explained why the bill was late, and wished us great luck on the house sale.

The whole drama could have been avoided, had I faced up instead of cringing. I think about the days I spent wincing, and I am chagrined at myself.

I think it’s human nature to feel some degree of shame when you can’t make ends meet. It’s normal to be a little embarassed when you have to say “I just don’t have the money for that right now, can you be patient with me?” It’s not in the nature of creditors to be kind or patient or understanding. But you know, sometimes, creditors are staffed by people, and those people do sometimes have a heart. So here’s my thank you to all of them.