Ok, I've got to get this off my chest. As you guys probably know, I run a small used car finance company. We service the sub-prime market at high interest rates. While I understand and expect that this isn't exactly the "intelligentsia" segment of society, sometimes I'm still blown away by just how dumb some people can be.
Today I had the extreme "pleasure" of dealing with a customer who changed her mind and decided she didn't want the car she'd financed back in late October. She's made two payments and then decided she didn't like it. It's a MY 2000 car with 190K kms (just under 120K miles). Now, this woman is lucky she got a car loan at all. Double bankruptcy (2005 & 2008) and dumb as a sack of hammers. She says she wants something more like an 04 with with under 100K kms on it. She said that's what she asked for at the dealership, and didn't realize she was getting an older car with higher mileage until after she signed the paperwork. I explained to her that the vehicle make, model and year are indicated 7 or 8 times throughout the paperwork, and the odometer is very clearly disclosed on a page with her signature. I explained to her that she's in a legal contract to make the payments until finished, and that under voluntary repossession she'll get sued for the difference and have her bank account and wages garnished. Her response: "Who cares? I'll just go bankrupt again."
ARRGGH!! Where the F*^K do these people get off? I mean, never mind a sense of personal dignity or anything like that, how do people think they can just walk away from this stuff? She's the same age as me (33) and she's been bankrupt twice already, and considering a third?! Man, I hope she likes riding the bus, because NOBODY will touch her with 3 bankruptcies.
Which then leads me to my next rant, bankruptcy trustees. There's a chain of "law firms" in Ontario that all ply their trade under "310-PLAN" (you can dial 310 anywhere without using an area code). Their advertising, website, blog etc all seem to encourage people to declare bankruptcy or at least file a consumer proposal. The whole thing just smacks of trying to get out of debt without actually working to pay it off. They of course are at the front of the line to collect their fee, leaving the creditors holding the bag. I once received a notice from a trustee a few years ago where a current customer was declaring BR (2nd time) with a lousy $10K in liabilities. WTF?
Now don't get me wrong, I fully understand the implications of the sub-prime market and the risk we run of having customers write off debt. In fact, you could even argue that we promote the cycle as we'll accept customers with a BR on their credit report. But we do differentiate (as best as we can) between people who have a legit BR and those that are deadbeats.
My personal belief is that anyone can make a mistake and declare BR to get a fresh start. We try to help those people, and are frequently successful. But a 2nd BR should only be allowed in special circumstances - otherwise you should be held accountable to your creditors. Absolutely no way should a 3rd be allowed. Send them to debtor's prison at that point.
Ok, to lighten things a bit, I present you with one of the funnier moments of my job. This is a real phone conversation I had a few years ago, calling a customer about a bounced car payment:
Me: "Hi, may I speak to so and so please?"
Kid, probably about 14 or 15: "No, she's not home"
Me: "ok, can I leave a message please?"
Kid: "uhh, I don't write too good and s##t" (I swear, that's an exact quote - I'll never forget it)
Me: "ok, do you have an answering machine?"
Kid: "yeah"
Me: "ok, then I'll call back and leave a message"
Kid: "ok, bye"
I call back again immediately.
Kid: "hello?"
where's the "slaps forehead" smiley?