Almost all the banks call their programs for debt restructuring "amnesty programs". So I looked up the word amnesty.
Dictionary.com defines the word amnesty as...
Noun:
1. a general pardon for offenses, esp. political offenses, against a government, often granted before any trial or conviction.
2. Law. an act of forgiveness for past offenses, esp. to a class of persons as a whole.
3. a forgetting or overlooking of any past offense.
Given this definition, I'd say banks shouldn't use the word amnesty in naming these programs. It isn't accurate :)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Citibank Restructuring
After many days and many, many different phone numbers I finally have a pretty clear idea about how to restructure my debt with Citibank.
Basically, per Citibank policies, I am not qualified for any more restructuring of my debt with them. The main reasons seem to be:
1. They only allow 2 restructurings
I was aware of only one re-structuring since entering Citibank's amnesty program, so I thought my request would be the second restructuring. But it turns out that Citibank counts your first entry into their amnesty program as the first restructuring. Since I had one restructuring so far, they therefore count my latest request as the third.
2. You have to be in their program with not more than 2 months arrears
I was just over 2 months in arrears, so they would not entertain a request for restructuring.
Well it was worth a try. It ended with me letting them know that I will stand by my commitments and they let me know that I am out of their amnesty program and another collection group will take over (still inside Citibank; they don't use external agencies daw).
Basically, per Citibank policies, I am not qualified for any more restructuring of my debt with them. The main reasons seem to be:
1. They only allow 2 restructurings
I was aware of only one re-structuring since entering Citibank's amnesty program, so I thought my request would be the second restructuring. But it turns out that Citibank counts your first entry into their amnesty program as the first restructuring. Since I had one restructuring so far, they therefore count my latest request as the third.
2. You have to be in their program with not more than 2 months arrears
I was just over 2 months in arrears, so they would not entertain a request for restructuring.
Well it was worth a try. It ended with me letting them know that I will stand by my commitments and they let me know that I am out of their amnesty program and another collection group will take over (still inside Citibank; they don't use external agencies daw).
Thank you BPI!
Talk about an early Christmas gift! Today we received in the mail a Statement of Account from BPI for my credit card account. My wife almost just filed it away without looking at it (we're so used to depressing news from these SOAs).
But when she looked at it more closely she saw that BPI had reversed all of the remaining balance, all of the penalty charges and all of the interest charges! It clearly says "remaining balance: P0.00". Woohoo!
Thank you so very, very much BPI! I do not know what your decision process was, but your generosity and big-heartedness could not have come at a better time. I really needed this. You guys are - Wonderful!
For all my other creditors, this frees-up the amount of the token payment that I was making to BPI (I was paying P1,000) at this time that I'm still unemployed. That isn't much so I'll probably give it whole to one of you.
Oh what a relief! Thank God and thank you BPI!
But when she looked at it more closely she saw that BPI had reversed all of the remaining balance, all of the penalty charges and all of the interest charges! It clearly says "remaining balance: P0.00". Woohoo!
Thank you so very, very much BPI! I do not know what your decision process was, but your generosity and big-heartedness could not have come at a better time. I really needed this. You guys are - Wonderful!
For all my other creditors, this frees-up the amount of the token payment that I was making to BPI (I was paying P1,000) at this time that I'm still unemployed. That isn't much so I'll probably give it whole to one of you.
Oh what a relief! Thank God and thank you BPI!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Commitments
At one time or another, I've told each of you what you can expect from me as far as how I will settle my debt. Though I probably used different words at the time, I've always meant to communicate the same set of commitments to each of you.
So I decided to post them here - my commitments to you, as clear and public as I can make it.
1. I will never renege on my obligation to any of my creditors;
2. Much as I would like to I cannot, at this time, commit exactly when I will finish paying the loan because of my on-off / employed-unemployed status since April 2009;
3. But I give my assurance to all my creditors that I continue to find new work constantly, because my "jobless status" MUST BE temporary. Otherise how will I ever fulfill commitment no.1!
4. Nevertheless, for as long as I have even a little income, I will make payments to each of my creditors. Lately however these have been only "token" payments because of my severe shortage of income. But these token payments are the tangible sign of my good faith, with regard to my first commitment above.
This is my current situation, and it is under the conditions above that I have been asking each of you to please extend your patience and allow me to make the payments at the pace that I can manage.
And for all the patience you have extended me so far, I am truly grateful.
So I decided to post them here - my commitments to you, as clear and public as I can make it.
1. I will never renege on my obligation to any of my creditors;
2. Much as I would like to I cannot, at this time, commit exactly when I will finish paying the loan because of my on-off / employed-unemployed status since April 2009;
3. But I give my assurance to all my creditors that I continue to find new work constantly, because my "jobless status" MUST BE temporary. Otherise how will I ever fulfill commitment no.1!
4. Nevertheless, for as long as I have even a little income, I will make payments to each of my creditors. Lately however these have been only "token" payments because of my severe shortage of income. But these token payments are the tangible sign of my good faith, with regard to my first commitment above.
This is my current situation, and it is under the conditions above that I have been asking each of you to please extend your patience and allow me to make the payments at the pace that I can manage.
And for all the patience you have extended me so far, I am truly grateful.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
October 23, 2009 Token Payments
Hello everyone! I was able to make token payments last Thursday, October 23, 2009.
Below are the scanned images of the various deposit slips. You can left-click them to view an enlarged version, or right-click them and select "save link as" to download them instead.
Universal LMS Finance & Leasing
BPI Credit Card
Binan Rural Bank
Chnatrust Banking
Citibank Mastercard
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Made some token payments!
Welcome back! As mentioned in the last post, I made "token payments" to each of you creditors. The percentage of these payments vs. the regular monthly amount is about 10%.
Sorry but these are really token payments - what I can afford at this time, para lang masabi natin gumalaw yung account (just to be able to say that the account did move).
Following are the scans of these token payments. The greyed-out portions are either my name or signature or both. But I'll be sending the un-covered images to those of you who have actually given me email addresses!
Click on the pics for a larger view.
BPI Credit Card
Binan Rural Bank
Chinatrust
Citibank Mastercard
Universal LMS Finance & Leasing Corp.
Sorry but these are really token payments - what I can afford at this time, para lang masabi natin gumalaw yung account (just to be able to say that the account did move).
Following are the scans of these token payments. The greyed-out portions are either my name or signature or both. But I'll be sending the un-covered images to those of you who have actually given me email addresses!
Click on the pics for a larger view.
BPI Credit Card
Binan Rural Bank
Chinatrust
Citibank Mastercard
Universal LMS Finance & Leasing Corp.
God bless!
2-way communication
Remember I mentioned that this blog is to ensure 2-way communication between myself and my creditors? So how come I'm the only only talking here?
Well the standard mode of interaction between a collection department and their debtors is 1-way communication : they talk, you listen. They insist and demand, you get all anxious. You put down the phone, you try to do what they told you. You want to let them know that you're done, or that you had problems and... oops! how do i contact them back?!
So you get more anxious. Then they call again. Did you do it na? You did? Very good, keep that up. You didn't do it?! Oh, I have to penalize you unless you do...
And the cycle goes on. There is an active effort to limit communication to 1 direction only, because communication, being heard, is a form of power or at least an equalizer. Without any way for you to contact them, they have taken away your voice. They have taken your power, to ensure you are not on even ground with them.
But like I said, that's the old traditional way of doing it. More banks seem to relaize that the job of their collection groups is to collect, and that threatening and berating your debtors is actually not an effective way to get that done (not to mention all the ill-will it generates for the bank).
I guess it depends on your paradigm of the debtor. If you believe that your debtor is a criminal who will screw you the first chance he/she gets, then I guess you will naturally tend towards the old "I am powerful, you are powerless" model.
I'm sure a certain percentage of your debtors are actually like that. But if you believe that those who are criminals are fewer than the debtors who want to pay to clear their names, then you will approach it more as a problem to be solved along with the debtor, which involves dialogue.
Yes there's a risk - the guy who says all you want to hear but actually does nothing. Aba, when you find out his/her game, dapat lang ipa-sherrif nyo na yan!
But the change is happening quite slowly. So far the collection group that seems to have come the farthest has been Citibank's. When they call nowadays I can sense that they are instructed to help not to hurt. But I still don't have anyone's email from there, only phone numbers. And it's still impossible for me to ge the last name of anyone who works there.
Well the standard mode of interaction between a collection department and their debtors is 1-way communication : they talk, you listen. They insist and demand, you get all anxious. You put down the phone, you try to do what they told you. You want to let them know that you're done, or that you had problems and... oops! how do i contact them back?!
So you get more anxious. Then they call again. Did you do it na? You did? Very good, keep that up. You didn't do it?! Oh, I have to penalize you unless you do...
And the cycle goes on. There is an active effort to limit communication to 1 direction only, because communication, being heard, is a form of power or at least an equalizer. Without any way for you to contact them, they have taken away your voice. They have taken your power, to ensure you are not on even ground with them.
But like I said, that's the old traditional way of doing it. More banks seem to relaize that the job of their collection groups is to collect, and that threatening and berating your debtors is actually not an effective way to get that done (not to mention all the ill-will it generates for the bank).
I guess it depends on your paradigm of the debtor. If you believe that your debtor is a criminal who will screw you the first chance he/she gets, then I guess you will naturally tend towards the old "I am powerful, you are powerless" model.
I'm sure a certain percentage of your debtors are actually like that. But if you believe that those who are criminals are fewer than the debtors who want to pay to clear their names, then you will approach it more as a problem to be solved along with the debtor, which involves dialogue.
Yes there's a risk - the guy who says all you want to hear but actually does nothing. Aba, when you find out his/her game, dapat lang ipa-sherrif nyo na yan!
But the change is happening quite slowly. So far the collection group that seems to have come the farthest has been Citibank's. When they call nowadays I can sense that they are instructed to help not to hurt. But I still don't have anyone's email from there, only phone numbers. And it's still impossible for me to ge the last name of anyone who works there.
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