Being poor is very expensive.

[thor66]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

It wouldn't be too hard to eject his head- figure out what he thinks he knows, and then go with it. You just know he's the type where a little knowledge makes him dangerous. He'll screw himself.

rjp

Good Lord, you sound like a crabby old nag woman.

Chill out. Let adults make their own decisions.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

That reminds me of my own HFH experience. It was long before I was in this job, so I think that was probably my first time in a Phoenix ghetto area - Maryvale for those who know the area. Now I'm there several times a week.

Wish I had taken a photo of this one, but it was about a year ago in a very low-income neighborhood, no apts, but rather mostly shacks or trailers on small lots. This guy's trailer had been destroyed in a gas explosion and it looked like it had happened yesterday. He had a feud going on with his neighbor, so he claims his neighbor told the insurance company the explosion had been arson. Insurance co. denied the claim, so the guy rented a chain link fence, enclosed the pile of rubble and STILL LIVED THERE. No exaggeration - this place looked like one of those old film reels of Germany the day after an Allied bombing raid. I couldn't believe the city didn't condemn the place. But this guy was determined to DIY the cleanup and rebuild. He was a no sale, but he was very nice. This was a neighborhood you would never even know was there unless you had business or friends there.

You posted about that one at the time. I remember you describing it.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by thor66

Good Lord, you sound like a crabby old nag woman.

Chill out. Let adults make their own decisions.

Out of ideas, must copy-paste.

Your new thing Webb.

rjp

[Seahawk]

Stupid question, and I know it it a bumper 2002, but any chance...



Again, thanks for the insight, Rick. Which car, probably motorcycle, do you drive to the in person calls?

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Yup, you are a future victim. You deal with sales/middleman all the time and are just to blind to realize it.

Nope.

Used cars from CL
ETFs at Vanguard
Residence purchased with cash.

No salesmen or middleman.
Funny how this angers people like you.

[sugarwood]

Notice how he conveniently ignored this question? Speaks volumes.

Did you ask her why the mailed in a lead card, and why she wanted you to visit her home in the first place? When you asked, "How can I help you?", what did she say ?

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

Notice how he conveniently ignored this question? Speaks volumes.

Cuz you're an idiot.

rjp

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

Notice how he conveniently ignored this question? Speaks volumes.

It does speak volumes! He's a quick learner.

[DonDavis]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Stupid question, and I know it it a bumper 2002, but any chance...

Get out of my head.

If it's a tii, that'd make it a '74. The '74 tii I had came with a manual sunroof. I don't see one in that pic.

Kind of guessing that by '74 all tii came with one. I say that bc it makes feel better and not want to chase it down.

And Rick- did you look?

[Rick Lee]

I did not walk around the car. IIRC, he said it belonged to his brother. But if anyone really wants to go see it, I can put you in touch. I'm guessing he could use the cash.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Again, thanks for the insight, Rick. Which car, probably motorcycle, do you drive to the in person calls?

I drive my white 530i for work. It really doesn't stand out much because so many poor folks drive nicer cars they can barely afford. And I'm often parking a good distance from the apt. I have to visit. If I have an ironclad appt. that's far away and I know I'm going to write an app, like it's 50 miles away, so I make sure it's a done deal before trekking out there, I'll take the bike.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

Notice how he conveniently ignored this question? Speaks volumes.

I didn't ignore the question. I was too busy re-answering other stuff you had re-asked. But since you're so skeptical and I will lose sleep at night, worrying about an Internet troll not approving of my job, here goes.

Again, I set an appt. When I get there, I show them a photocopy of the card they mailed in. 99% of the time they nod and say, "Oh yes, I did mail this in." Just came from one today where the daughter had mailed it in on behalf of her mother, so the mother had no idea what I was talking about. Then I read the post card copy back to them to refresh their memory. Then I tell them we usually get these from folks who 1) have nothing in place for their final expenses, 2) have something but want more or to shop for a better deal or 3) just want to leave something behind for their loved ones. "Now, which of those was your reason for mailing this in?"

When a woman answers, "Well, I already have a policy," I answer, "Oh, great. Which company is that with?" 100% of the time they have no idea what they have, how long they've had it, never read their paperwork, never get the company name right, don't get the face or premium amount right, etc. At that point, I try to get as much info out of them as I can. If they're really motivated, they go get the paperwork, hand it to me and I explain to them what they have and ask what they'd like to do.

The one I just came from had a clean-sheeted policy. She hadn't even opened the policy before I got there. She bought it by phone and I suspect she was coached into answering "no" to all the health questions. She had been diagnosed with dementia on May 26th and filled a script for Donepezil twice since then. Her daughter showed me the paperwork for that. I don't know how the life insurance company didn't catch that on her script check, but that medication is an absolute knock-out for all companies for day one coverage. So I explained to her daughter that that policy was never going to pay, as, upon a death claim, they would review all medical records and see that she was diagnosed with and treated for a knockout condition well before the date of her application. It was a very interesting day. If you guys ever read the old Encyclopedia Brown books, this woman's case was like one of those. But I figured it all out after a while and fixed it.

[sugarwood]

Right, so why are you complaining about CAN'T CLOSE HER, when she didn't even send you a lead card, but her daughter did? She is 100% right to not trust a cold calling door to door salesman middleman living off sales commission, whom she did not solicit. She was already ripped off once by these slimeball insurance leeches. Then you have the gall to call her stupid. No, the stupid ones are those who engage with salesmen and middlemen.

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Ran into a really painful one today. The woman was hard to pin down - either mentally ill or stupid beyond belief. I was starting out from behind when I had to call her to come unlock her front gate. She said she didn't know who I was and might not want to meet.

COULD NOT CLOSE HER. She said I might be trying to scam her. I told her she was already scammed seven yrs ago and I was trying to fix it and save her a ton of money. Could not close her. She has to think about it. This is why she's poor.

[Rick Lee]

Not complaining, because I DID CLOSE HER. Well, it took a second appointment, so the daughter could be there. But I closed her because I established trust when I exposed the fraud on the previous application, but explained that the policy she had gotten before that fraudulent one was all good and she needed to keep it. That made mother and daughter want to get more from me. And now daughter wants me to come write her and her husband next week. Amazing how that works.

[cabmandone]

I might have to take back that you're a quick learner if you keep this up.

[Rick Lee]

Ok, Sugar-can't-read-wood is going off to ignore.

Here's another one I just got off the phone with. Closed these two chain smokers a few months ago. Wife has a heart med (in addition to nitro and insulin) that most companies auto-decline. The cheapest company in AZ will take it, BUT they don't accept credit or debit cards. No prob. He gave me his bank routing and checking acct numbers. He keeps bouncing payments and called to cancel because of the NSF fees. He just told me I used the wrong bank account number. I asked how I could possibly have an acct number of his other than that which he had given me (and signed a form for). Turns out he has two checking accounts at the same bank and gave me the acct. # for the one he rarely has any money in. That's my fault? I even told him the insurance company would reimburse those NSFs, but he's so angry that he wants to cancel, told me he has appts with two other final expense agents next week. I told him he 1) will likely not find a company that will take his wife's heart meds, 2) if he does, they won't take card payments and 3) if they do take card payments, it will be far more expensive than the policy I wrote him. Again, this is why they're poor.

[cabmandone]

Well! If you would have used the right account number! How could you not ask him "Are you sure you don't have accounts with more money than this one"? Ya big scammer!

[thor66]

Rick, do you ever tell these folks they'd be better off with term?

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

The bike shop I worked in paid us on Saturday as when they paid on Friday, people missed worked on Saturday.

I worked i construction for a guy once that paid at noon on Monday. Most of the wives of the marrieds were lined up to collect hubby's check. Otherwise, I was told, they seldom saw any money.

[fintstone]

I used to work with a young woman at one of my part time jobs. She had married her husband when she was 14 (pregnant) and he was 16. They had a child every year afterwards (she had six at the time and still early 20's). She was bright, articulate and had a reasonably good personality. She had never really been allowed out of the house because she had cared for the children and her husband was pretty jealous and kept her barefoot and pregnant...but she looked very young and you would have never guess she had a bunch of kids...so she enjoyed her newfound freedom.
She was friendly and loved meeting people and working outside of the home...and was soon very popular with customers. Most of the men that came in (blue collar) flirted with her which she did seem to enjoy. Her husband had grown up working in his Dad's body shop and was very good...so he made really good money...but they really struggled to pay their bills. Her parents bought them groceries pretty regularly and had arranged for the job where she worked with me (they were the managers)...but they were only lower middle class themselves. Her husband was terrible with money. I remember one time when their rent was due...and his weekly paycheck was not quite enough to cover it. Since he didn't have enough for rent, he cashed it and went to a strip club and spent it all ($100 tips). One day she came in (after they had a fight) and told me that when she went home, he had destroyed everything they owned (cut up her clothes in little pieces and broke all the furniture). She said it had happened before...but she was much less willing to forgive as she had worked hard to earn some of that money. She eventually found a better job (car wash) and left. Pretty soon she dumped him for another loser boyfriend who treated her better. I don't know if that lasted...as I moved away. But, her choices/taste in men was pretty suspect. She may have another dozen kids by now.

She had a twin sister that was enlisted in the military and did quite well. Married to another GI with a good paycheck. She always wished it was her. No kids and good money. Freedom to travel.

She had a brother that was much like her. Young and married with 5 kids. He had some sort of hereditary disease (which was apparently passed down to males) where you die very young. But, that did not slow them down, they just kept chunking out kids. In fact, in the year or so I knew them, he went from seemingly healthy to a point where he was struggling to be coherent and could barely walk. Her parents gave his wife a job working with me for a while. Helped with their expenses as well. She often would bring her kids in to work and they were constantly having close calls (almost injured)..as she did not watch them well. I warned the managers (and her) that someone would get hurt. One day, one tyke was playing around an automatic gate and it appeared that he might get hurt...so she ran out and grabbed the roller/chain which somewhat mangled/crushed her hand. She got a small settlement from the insurance company about the time I left. Apparently claimed that there was no safety device to cut the gate's power off when her hand went through the pulley/gear. She said that they rented a nicer place down near the river. I told her that maybe it was not a good idea with all her kids to be on the water...and she better watch them closely. That was the last time I saw her, but about a week later, I saw on the news that one of their kids drowned during their move in...as they were distracted.