{"id":282811,"date":"2018-09-27T01:02:38","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T01:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2018\/09\/27\/finnglas-im-going-to-give-you-the-best-piece-of\/"},"modified":"2018-09-27T01:02:38","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T01:02:38","slug":"finnglas-im-going-to-give-you-the-best-piece-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2018\/09\/27\/finnglas-im-going-to-give-you-the-best-piece-of\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

finnglas<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019m going to give you the best piece of Adult Life Is Hard advice I\u2019ve ever learned:<\/p>\n

Talk to people when things go to shit.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t just mean get it off your chest, although that\u2019s good. I mean: Something\u2019s wrong with your paycheck\/you lost your job\/you had unexpected emergency car repairs and now you\u2019re broke so your credit card payment is late. Like, not just 15 days late. We\u2019re talking, shit got crazy and now you\u2019re 90 days late with compounded interest and late fees and the Minimum Payment Due is, like, $390, and you\u2019ve got about $3.90 in your bank account. Call the credit card company<\/i>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I know it\u2019s scary. I know you feel like you\u2019re going to get in trouble, like you\u2019re gong to get yelled at or scolded for not having your life together. But the credit card company isn\u2019t your parents; they\u2019re just interested in getting money from you. And you can\u2019t squeeze blood from a stone or money from someone who doesn\u2019t have any. So what you do is you call them. You explain you\u2019re experiencing temporary financial hardships, and you\u2019re currently unable to bring your account up to date, but you don\u2019t want to just let it get worse. Can you maybe talk to someone about a payment plan so you can work something out? Nine times out of ten you\u2019ll be able to negotiate something so that at least it\u2019s not just taking a constant, giant shit on your credit score.<\/p>\n

– Can\u2019t pay your power bill? Call the power company.<\/p>\n

– Can\u2019t pay your full rent? Talk to your landlord.<\/p>\n

– Had to go to the hospital without insurance and have giant medical bills looming in your place? Call the hospital and ask if they have someone who helps people with financial hardships. Many do.<\/p>\n

– Got super sick and missed half a semester of class because flu\/pneumonia\/auto-immune problems\/depressive episode? Talk to your professor. If that doesn\u2019t help, talk to your advisor.<\/p>\n

You may not be able to fix everything, but you\u2019ll likely be able to make improvements. At the very least, it\u2019s possible that they have a list of people you can contact to help you with things. (Also, don\u2019t be afraid to google things like,\u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t pay my power bill [state you live in]\u201d because you\u2019d be surprised at what turns up on Google!) But the thing is, people in these positions gain nothing if you fail. There\u2019s no emotional satisfaction for them if your attempts at having your life together completely bite the dust. In fact, they stand to benefit if things work out for you! And chances are, they\u2019ll be completely happy to take $20 a month from you over getting $0 a month from you, your account will be considered current because you\u2019ve talked to them and made an agreement, you won\u2019t get reported to a collections agency, and your credit score won\u2019t completely tank.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some helpful tips to keep in mind:<\/p>\n

1. Be polite. Don\u2019t demand<\/i>\u00a0things; request them. Let me tell you about how customer service people hold your life in their hands and how many extra miles they\u2019ll go for someone who is nice to them.<\/p>\n

2. Stick to the facts, and keep them minimal unless asked for them. Chances are they\u2019re not really interested in the details.\u00a0\u201cWe had several family emergencies in a row, and now I\u2019m having trouble making the payments\u201d is better than\u00a0\u201cWell, two months ago my husband wrecked his bike, and then he had a reaction to the muscle relaxer they gave him, and then our dog swallowed a shoestring and we had to take him to the emergency clinic, and just last week MY car broke down, and now my account\u2019s in the negatives and I don\u2019t know how I\u2019m gonna get it back out.\u201d The person you\u2019re talking to is aware shit happens to everyone; they don\u2019t need the details to prove you\u2019re somehow\u00a0\u201cworthy\u201d of being helped. They may ask you for details at a certain point if they have to fill out any kind of request form, but let them do that.<\/p>\n

3. Ask questions.\u00a0\u201cIs there anything we can do about X?\u201d\u00a0\u201cWould it be possible to move my payment date to Y day instead so it\u2019s not coming out of the same paycheck as my rent?\u201d The answer may be\u00a0\u201cno.\u201d That\u2019s not a failure on your part. But a good customer service person may have an alternate solution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyway! I hope that helps! Don\u2019t just assume the answer is\u00a0\u201cno\u201d before you\u2019ve even begun. There is more help out there than you ever imagined.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

finnglas: I\u2019m going to give you the best piece of Adult Life Is Hard advice I\u2019ve ever learned: Talk to people when things go to shit. I don\u2019t just mean get it off your chest, although that\u2019s good. I mean: Something\u2019s wrong with your paycheck\/you lost your job\/you had unexpected emergency car repairs and now … <\/p>\n

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