What can I do?

13 thoughts on “What can I do?”

1. Communicate

   First, I’s say call the company right away and explain the situation. State that you understand the charges are legit and you want to repay, but you just had a baby and finances are slim. Will they allow you to pay it back over time?

   Remember that if you get one of their operators who’s not helpful, you can hang up and call back to get another one, or even ask for the supervisor. I imagine a supervisor would be more helpful in this situation.

   And if you do work out a plan, make sure you write down all the details and get the plan details in writing. Nothing’s worse that getting it all taken care of with one operator, then still getting slammed with fees and no other operator having any idea of this “plan” you came up with.

   Another thing you can do is look at your junk mail. If you get a credit card app that has a 0% rate on transferred balances for 6 months/1 year, apply for it and have the phone bill transferred to it. Then it’s like a free loan. Even 1 or 2% rates on transferred balances aren’t bad.

   Final thing, are you one of those who get tax refunds back? If so, get your taxes done ASAP and use your refund to pay this off.

   There are other options, but these seemed the best ones to come to my mind first.

   Good luck, and when you get this paid, get a new plan! Cingular’s got roll-over minutes, which are nice in these situations.

   My $.02 Weed

   My $.02 Weed

   1. My opinion on 0% APR credit cards…

      0% APR credit cards seem like a good option at first, but they will kill your credit and your finances. My opinion regarding this horrible type of loan is here: http://barnson.org/node/1016

      That said, what I would do follows along with Sammy’s advice, and do some combination of the following.

      First, see if there is any way in your budget that you can afford to pay for the charges immediately and shift other expenses elsewhere temporarily. We don’t have $1500 to play with in our monthly budget, but we do have a few hundred, and shifting expenses around can yield surprising results.

      Second, visit your local mobile store or contact their customer service over the phone. Indicate that the charges were legitimate, but unexpected, and work out a payment plan. They’ll be able to spread the costs out, perhaps even over a year, and be reasonable about it. It’s a common problem.

      Third, see if your existing credit cards can accommodate the debt. If your provider isn’t willing to dicker over a payment plan, this is your primary option. You may need to contact your credit card company to ask for a higher limit; they will usually give it right away. They’re eager for you to do so, actually 🙂

      Lastly — and I hesitate to mention it, but here it is — set up something like “PayJustinsBill.com” and solicit for donations of any amount to cover your bill. Sure, it’s begging, but it’s online begging, and I’d throw a small amount of cash into the pot to help 😉

      (OK, the last one’s kind of a joke, but people have made a million dollars asking for $1 donations on the Internet before…)

      —
      Matthew P. Barnson

2. Weed’s plus some more

   Weed’s solutions are pretty good.

   I’ve been in Sprint stores and watched people work out payment plans. You may want to try this as your first option before applying for a new credit card, as every new card issued is a ding on a credit report (not that a credit report ding matters much, as you already have a mortgage in place, and the whole consumer credit industry cares only about signing you up for the next card, anyway). I’ve seen people spread payment over several couple months without interest accrual.

   You may want to check the local actor’s guild to see if they have a loan assistance program. Beyond the actors guild, I know churches offer loan assistance plans.

   There’s always the option to borrow the bucks from friends or family…

3. Have you tried the obvious?

   Before working out payment plans and such, try to work the balance down.

   How long have you had that cell company service. You could talk to customer service and try to get the total amount reduced. For example, the most expensive verizon wireless plan is $200. That is a 6000 minute plan.

   I would say before you pay through the nose, you try the sympathy approach and talk to the customer service people. A supervisor is going to be your best bet since there is quite a bit to “forgive”.I would call them rather then go to a store. The customer service in the call center has more power to do business and is more concerned with keeping business then the store personel (I found this out when we were going through some issues with upgrading our phones).

   Hopefully you can get things worked out.

   1. You guys are great..

      Barnsonians unite!! Heh. The good news is that we have the money cash on hand in savings. A buffer for unexpecteds. although this liquidates that. SO.. I can pay it. I just don’t want to.

      I’m willing to reup my contract at a higher rate.. and Ive been a local customer for years. Still. the guy today said there wasnt much he could do.

      ALL that being said.. theres gotta be an issue.. cuz we never used it THAT much before. We used it more.. but not THAT much more. I have to do a little research.

      Thanks for the fast responses guys.. appreciate it.

      Visit the Official Justin Timpane Website Music, Acting, and More! http://www.timpane.com

      1. The worst we’ve had…

         The worst we ever had was $200 one month and $300 the next. That was the month I came out for the job interview in DC a couple of years ago, then the next month when Christy went on vacation to New Hampshire.

         We were on a regional plan with Sprint, and didn’t realize what that actually meant 🙂 We went to their nationwide “fair and flexible” program, and never looked back. We actually pay less, and get nationwide coverage. Pretty cool.

         I know some folks who are on an un-metered plan: talk as long as you want to anybody anywhere in the 50 states. It’s a bit expensive, but they like it.

         —
         Matthew P. Barnson

      2. When talking with the phone

         When talking with the phone company, always escalate to a supervisor. Frequently, I’ve found that just requesting to be put through to the Cancellation department yields great results. People in Cancellation have a lot more leeway to make deals and such if it means maintaining you as a customer. Though I’m not sure that would apply in this particular case.

         Some phone companies also offer daily/weekly email notifications of your minutes used and how much are remaining.

      3. Don’t burn your reserve

         Justin,

         Don’t burn all the cash in your emergency fund for paying the cell phone bill. As we wrote, it’s likely you can work out a payment plan without interest penalty. Try this option first. Without knowing anything about your personal financial affairs, I would prioritize this situation as undeserved for exhausting all emergency cash, given options are available.

         On a totally unrelated note, major kudos to Matt for getting a spell-checker into the blog.

         1. Firefox 2

            Actually, Sam, I think it was the Firefox 2 upgrade you probably did that put a spell-checker into the blog 🙂 I realized after using it that I have spelled “paralleled” and “maneuvers” wrong for my entire life!

            The spell-checker is one of my favorite features about the Firefox update from 1.5.x.

            —
            Matthew P. Barnson

            1. Correction

               Correction: major kudos to Matt for getting a spell-checker into Firefox 2. Way to go, dude! 🙂

4. Money

   The worst cell bill we have had is along the same lines as Matt, around $200 or so. This was usually caused by me not paying attention to our minutes and chatting too much on long commutes.

   I would hope that your cell company would be willing to work out a compromise with you all. Offering to pay up $500 ($500 just being a random number that is a lot higher then most cell company’s max rate) is a lot better then $1500.

   Hope it all works out for you.

5. and then…

   If you don’t mind me asking, what ever happened?

   1. Had to..

      I spent a lot of time on hold, getting shunted to supervisors and being told I would receive callbacks.. and just got more and more disenchanted with Nextel’s service.

      So.. I ponied up the dough, paid it outright.. then paid the early termination fee and ended my relationship with Nextel. I got cingular, so did my wife, and 3 of the people I clal the most are on that network.. free mobile to mobile.. so.. yeah – a solution.. not my fave way for it to end.. but I did get a cool new phone with a camera and mp3 player on it.

      Visit the Official Justin Timpane Website Music, Acting, and More! http://www.timpane.com

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