Banks Destroyed My Life

Greetings

This is a post that i wanted to share with you guys. Now i'm around 30 years old and live in Scandinavia. When i was younger around 18 to 19 years old, i took a bank loan of 13.000FIM that is around 2500$ of todays currency, to pay my rent cause i had some problems being unemployed.

Then i got to an car accident and was hospitalized for 6 months, after this i had to lend more to support my self, and the intrest kept growning. I could not work because of the accident for several years, and now that i can it's too late. In reality i own around 12.500$ to bank's, but after all the intrest and payments, it has turned out to be staggering 65000$. Now, if i pay that sum back, i would make 1600$ a month from work. my rent is 600, food is 500 and other bills are 300, i could pay 200$ back each month. Now as the intrest keeps going up, i can never pay it back.

If i pay 3000$ back each year, the damn intrest of it is more, MUCH MORE! Now the repoman has taken everything in my house, in recent years. Maybe worth 6000$, but he sells them for 700$ (real value on market 6000$).

This is horrible... Now if i work the repoman take's most of my paycheck before it ends up in bank, i get 700$ for living each month if i work. If i'm unemployed the social security pay's my rent that is 600$ (in helsinki the rents are very high even for small appartments) and i get 380$ to live each month that the repoman cant take.

So if i work i get 280$ less money, than i would if i'm unemployed HUH? Thats correct, now last week the repoman called me and told me he was going to make a visit, and when he came we had a little chat.

I told him that i refuse all work offers, and i will stay unemployed for the next 10 years. After 20 years, they cannot get it back no more, and i'm free from all credit marks and loans.

So the lesson is, bank's are crooks! They wount get a penny back from me, i rather wait 10 more years, to make the loan old.

After i have been like this, for the last 10 years, it's really starting to affect me. It's hard to get a girl friend when you owe that much and you are unemployed, much of my friends look at me as a looser. They tell me to start studying something that pays really well, but if i do the intrests just keeps growing and it will not help.

This has really destroyed my life, and kind a taken 20 years of my life when it's over.

Each time i get a letter from bank, i reply:

I WILL NEVER PAY BACK! STOP SENDING THE LETTERS!
(ofcourse each letter costs 25$)

I have so much anger inside me, i don't know what to do. I saw another story similar to this in these forums and decided to tell my story. I don't think i'm a loser, i'm just in a bad spot where it's impossible to get out. The whole banking system is criminal, now i know this.

Also, sometimes i take "darkwork" where the boss never pays taxes, and repoman knows nothing. They pay in cash and you are not officially working.... I need to do this few times a year to support my self, if i get caught i might see jail time. So the banking system tryes to make me a criminal in the process too, This is not funny....

So basically, you've stolen 12,500$ from the bank and they are the criminal?

reply to post by FaxMachine


Have you tried to reach a settlement with them?

You have nothing to loose trying to work with the creditor for a smaller pay off. unless you have a judgement filed against you, they should be interested. If not, look into debt relief such as bankruptcy.

Originally posted by WorldShadow
look into debt relief such as bankruptcy.

My suggestion exactly.

Jesus said, give up everything and walk with me.

I'm coming to believe some of what he said and did, was purposefully against the banking system of the time, and future.

I'm here to tell you, the banks will not win.


You, are not alone.

Sorry, banks didn't destroy your life, you did.

You chose to take out the two loans.

You agreed to the terms. If you didn't want to pay back the money with interest, you shouldn't have taken the loans out.

Now it's you that's trying to squirm your way out of it. Do like I did in a similar situation. Get 1 job to pay back what you owe, and one to support yourself. Yea, it'll be hard work, yea, it'll be a miserable life, but it sure as hell beats what you have now.

I work in the Credit / Finance field.

The Bank did not destroy your life. Sorry, but it just doesn't happen that way.

I am truely sorry for your misfortune, the car accident and not being able to work etc. I hope things get better for you.

To simply ignore the letters and requests for repayment is not the thing to do. The bank would have been willing to work with you, all you had to do was be up front with them in the very beginning.

You can't blame the "repo man" either. He was only doing his job. I've been there and done that. I tried to always let the debtor know that it was nothing personal.

It's still not too late to climb out of this. Go to the bank sit down and have a civil conversation with them, lay everything out on the table and try to work this out, they should be willing to do something for you.

As someone else stated, bankruptcy might be a solution for you. I had to do it once, right after a divorce. Honestly it was the best move I made. Yeah for the first 2-3 years after filing, it was tough trying to re-establish my credit, but after 3 years or so, I was able to purchase a new car, got credit cards with good rates and finally was able to purchase a home with a low interest rate.

The key to getting your credit back in good standing is going to be to stand up and take care of the debt that you already have. Then, start slow, get some type of credit card or loan, that you know you can pay back. Make all your monthly payments each and every month and by the due date each month. Do not get over extended and don't open a loan for the entire credit limit that they give you. Small and slow is the key.

Always communicate with your creditors, if something is happening that you might have to be late with a payment, call them or if possible go see them in person. Show them that you want to pay and that you will, as soon as you can.

Again, good luck to you, I truely hope this gets worked out for you.

If the repoman is still taking your possessions, perhaps you could get a friend to buy you the possessions, and you pay him a monthly fee to rent the possessions. Not sure if that could get the repoman from taking your possessions or not, or if it's even legal, but it's just a suggestion.

I'd also suggest you look into learning how to cook if you can't, perhaps you could save yourself some money by preparing your own meals. try looking up some recipes online that are cheap to produce, it could cut down on the money you spend on food.

OK let's do some math here:
The original loan was $12,500. With interest, it became $60,000. That
is more than 500 % INTEREST!!!
No bank should charge that kind of interest, that's usury.
Same exact thing happened with my student loan. When you can't pay the loan back, they sell it to another corporation, who can tack on any amount of fees and interest. That's how it becomes 500% interest.
Something is wrong with the system, when it allows people to become debt slaves like that.

Originally posted by forestlady
OK let's do some math here:
The original loan was $12,500. With interest, it became $60,000. That
is more than 500 % INTEREST!!!

No. Read the OP. He took out the loan just over TEN YEARS AGO. The convention in calculating interest rates is annual.

I’m not in the mood to do the math right now, but your 500% interest claim is waaay off.

Same exact thing happened with my student loan. When you can't pay the loan back, they sell it to another corporation, who can tack on any amount of fees and interest.

But not ones that constitute usury.

That's how it becomes 500% interest.

And because interest is compounded.

Something is wrong with the system, when it allows people to become debt slaves like that.

No, something’s wrong with somebody who lets himself suffer for a decade without looking for a way out.

[edit on 23-10-2007 by NRen2k5]

Sounds like a whole lot of sour grapes to me.

Agree with above, the BANK did not destroy your life!

Many years ago I was in a position where I had several debts and creditors calling me all the time..miserable. I did not go the bankruptcy route tho. I took advantage of the law here that says in seven years they wipe out all the past and start over. It took seven years but all debts were wiped out. Here in the USA they cannot hold financial grudges for more than seven years, and the file gets cleaned out after that period of time.

So at the end of the seven year period, I started over and now have cards and am doing fine, a home, etc. But if the law in your nation allows for debts to be held over tens years, or indefinitely, then that is a problem.Sometimes sending them a token amount, 5 or 10 bucks a month, will keep them off your back. But in the worst case scenario, you still are faced with some hard choices.

I say keep working dark jobs, since your credit is gone..and do not get a job. Working will never solve the issue for you...you could work three jobs and kill yourself in a few years from overwork, and would still owe the banks money. You can never escape now other than a legal way or avoiding them altogether. An attorney would help you a lot, but are expensive; do they have any free legal services there? usually you can find a lawyer that will give you a few minutes for a small fee or free.

Good luck.

Here in the US you can declare bankrupcy. I don't know if you have that option where you live but I think that you should look into your options rather than just not working.

i would definately look into bankruptcy.
my wife and i had to file and it absolutely got us back on track.

we really didn't have credit card bills we couldn't handle. it was medical bills from my back surgery.
i didn't have insurance when i had it and it was an insane amount.
60k

we had a few credit cards but we had to surrender one of our cars. it was auctioned off and we were responsible for the rest and we started to get behind.

my medicine started to become a priority and we just started falling.

we got a lawyer and it took more than a year just to pay his fee till we could even file.
we filed and it was after the new laws but it was not bad.
we reafirmed our car so we could keep it.
had to do an online debt management course and go to court.
they recorded what we said and it took about 10 minutes.
that was it.

it was discharged a couple months after.
we have since bought a car and have also purchased a house.

we could have went to debt management or credit counceling but for us, it was the best option.

a lot of people absolutely refuse to file bk's but sometimes, it is the only option.


now there are people that work it.

say you own a house and a car...meaning you still pay the bank. pick a car. with the new laws, depending on how many are in your family, if your income is below a certain number, you will have to pay nothing back, and you can keep your house and car.
if you have to cars, you lose one.
if you make above the limit, you can still file and still keep those things but you have to pay back a certain amount.

that is legit there.

when we were in court, ther was a guy that kept his house and his lincoln navigator. his house was 180k.

there are others though that will do something like get a mastercard with a fat limit, max it out and then maybe do it with others and file.
that is why you have to go to court...so your debtor have a right to be there.

in your situation, they're not gonna be there.

it's not dusputed unless you knowingly try and take someone down like that.

when i worked at the dealer, my master tech had filed chapter 7. it was discharges and then about a year later, 911 hit and the interest rates went to 0%.
he bought two monte carlo ss's @ invoice cause of his gms and them trying to move cars, plus he got zero financing. one car went into his name and one into hsi wifes name.

about a year after that, he filed chapter 7 for the SECOND time and they kept their house and both cars.

this guy was an amazing tech and did work on the side too. he would easily make more money weekly on the side than he did at the shop and of course it was cash and tax free.
he took em down.

thats not cooll.

sometimes you gotta do it

reply to post by NRen2k5


Could you explain more about what you're saying? I'd appreciate it am having trouble understanding what you're saying.
I do know, though, that what I described is exactly what happened with my student loan and there is no way out, you can't declare bankruptcy with a student loan. They've sold it like 3 times and each time tacked on about $20,000 extra.
If you figure 10% interest per year, you shouldn't come out with $60,000 after 10 years, though. And i you're saying it wasn't thru fines being tacked on, then it's only interest accrued - which comes out to your debt being increased by 500% from the original figure. See what I mean?

It's not the banks fault that you had an accident and it's not their fault that you agreed to their terms. Now granted banks are sometimes not the most honest institutions to deal with, but they did give you a loan when you applied. I had a run in with my bank recently, I had requested a release of funds from my 401k, so when I recieved my verifiable check from this company my bank told me that I could be trying to pass off a bogus check and held my money for 2 weeks. Of course it was cashed right away but they thought they had the right to make interest off of my money. What a bunch of a-holes. If there was a way around not using our banking system then I would certainly do it.

reply to post by forestlady

I’m no accountant, but the way I understand it, there’s interest in a certain amount even when you’re paying the instalments all on time, meaning you may have borrowed $10,000 but you’re paying back something like $13,000. And then there’s interest on late/missed payments. And then, yes, there are other fees.

Remember, interest is calculated per year, and is usually “compounded,” meaning that if left alone the sum owed increases exponentially.

But $12,500 over 10 years shouldn't add up to $60,000, no way, take 30 seconds and do some simple math. The interest rate would have to be ungodly to make it that high. Yes, I am taking into account that interest keeps accruing until the loan is paid off. But really, do some quick math and you will find that it is an outrageous sum; it's usury.