Bills

[organica]

I am wondering what the best thing to do is if you are extremely poor but are facing bills.
My food budget is $35 a week but the phone company wants $60 a month for past bills, & $30 a month to the power company for past bills.
I have heard they will send it to a collection agency but what happens then?

[FalafelsRule]

Your phone and utility service will probably get shut off. After it goes to collections, they will try and obtain the balance from you by sending mailers and phoning you if they have your current phone number.

[organica]

Hmmm, that' won't happen because I no longer have phone or power bills in my name. Power is included in my rent, & bf has phone in his name.
Do collection agencies actually have any power to collect money? I mean, I don't really have any, can they force me to go to the food bank & take my pension away? :(

[FalafelsRule]

They can go to court and request for a judgment to be filed against you. If that happens, they can freeze any of your financial accounts (assuming they know where you bank) and they can have money withheld from your paycheck (assuming they know where you work). If none of the above applies, they will just try and collect the payment and eventually write it off if they are unsuccessful.

[organica]

What would happen if I paid $5 a month or something like that?

[FalafelsRule]

They'd accept that and apply it to your outstanding balance.

[Christy]

I thought that they would have to accept whatever you could give them, and not go to collections as long as you were giving them something. When I was in school I remember giving the phone company whatever I could afford, usually less than was due, and maintaining a balance owed. This is in the states, though. I always paid the power company, though, because I had heard that they didn't mess around.

[organica]

I thought that they would have to accept whatever you could give them, and not go to collections as long as you were giving them something. .

I hope you are right Christy. I am not trying to avoid paying, rather I just have to do it at my own pace because to me eating is more important than the bills, & I have no credit anyway so my rating won't be affected.

[Jes]

Organica, I would call them up and try to negotiate a managable payment plan. Here in America, they will usually let you.

[SeaSiren]

You need to call them to negotiate a payment as stated above. If there is no communication they will assume there is no intention to pay and will sent it to collections. Most companies are more then willing to work with you as it costs them money to go to collections. Also, ask them if they know of any programs to help out with the back payments. In my area we have an energy assitance program to assist low income persons with energy bills.

[beforewisdom]

There are free debt counseling agencies that will negotiate with your creditors for a payment plan you can live with. If your creditors see that you are trying to work with them , they will probably leave you alone.

There are also laws against bill collectors harassing people ( repeatedly calling you, etc

[Qwerks]

I do some collection work in Canada, and the above advice is good.

If you opt to go to a debt counselling service as beforewisdom suggested, noone will be able to call you and the payments you need to make will be very small. I think that's your best option.

[organica]

Thanks for the excellent advice. I will call a credit counselling service in the morning. :)

[Coney]

Do you have anything you could sell on ebay? Any old board games, or video games? What about taking old books you don't want to a used book store for cash? Have any 'vintage' items around? You could have a garage sale (if you live in a warm enough climate), or put up flyers for items you want to unload, like chairs or any small thing around that you don't especially need right now.

Just a thought. You'd be surprised at what people will buy.

[colorful]

Do you have anything you could sell on ebay? Any old board games, or video games? What about taking old books you don't want to a used book store for cash? Have any 'vintage' items around? You could have a garage sale (if you live in a warm enough climate), or put up flyers for items you want to unload, like chairs or any small thing around that you don't especially need right now.

Just a thought. You'd be surprised at what people will buy.

I used to do this all the time when I was in college! I was living on an income of about $600/month, $425 of which went to rent. I remember I would run out of money and I would go sell books to used book stores, CDs to used CD stores, etc. and get that $20 I needed to eat for another week!

[Michael]

Organica - I'd say the most important thing is to discuss your options with them. Most people in this situation avoid communication thinking the problem will somehow go away. It doesn't. If you don't work with them now you'll be stuck paying "reconnect fees" (in addition to what you owe) once you're ready to have service restored. Most places are happy to have some money, even if it's not the full balance, you just need to talk to them (assuming you haven't already) and explain your situation and what you're able to pay.

ETA: Should have read the thread first, I see this has already been suggested several times. :o

[bluegrrrl79]

Hey this is a little OT, but how's the food situation doing? Have you been doing what people suggested? I wonder if you could even lower your food bills more in some way to afford your bills better.