GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - CNN Money says; It's expensive to be poor

kane · 04-24-2015, 03:00 PM

One thing that always stands out to me is how various companies are allowed to bill the poor for being poor. For example, the local utility company in my city. If you get a shut off notice on your light bill they will hang the notice on your door. They will also charge you $25 for that door hanger notice and you must pay that in addition to your bill to keep the lights on. Credit card companies do it all the time. If you are late with a payment they increase your rates or charge late fees. A friend of mine that lives in an apartment showed me the sign that hangs over the rent payment drop on the office. It says if you pay after 5pm on the 5th of the month you must include $100 late fee. His rent is $690 a month so they are basically hitting you with a 14% late fee even if you are just a few hours late.

I understand that they supposedly do this as a way to encourage people to pay their bills on time, but all it does is make it more difficult for people to pay future bills. Once you get into debt and start that debt spiral, unless you find a way to increase your income you are slowly going to drown in it.

04-24-2015, 03:00 PM
kane Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: portland, OR Posts: 20,684	One thing that always stands out to me is how various companies are allowed to bill the poor for being poor. For example, the local utility company in my city. If you get a shut off notice on your light bill they will hang the notice on your door. They will also charge you $25 for that door hanger notice and you must pay that in addition to your bill to keep the lights on. Credit card companies do it all the time. If you are late with a payment they increase your rates or charge late fees. A friend of mine that lives in an apartment showed me the sign that hangs over the rent payment drop on the office. It says if you pay after 5pm on the 5th of the month you must include $100 late fee. His rent is $690 a month so they are basically hitting you with a 14% late fee even if you are just a few hours late. I understand that they supposedly do this as a way to encourage people to pay their bills on time, but all it does is make it more difficult for people to pay future bills. Once you get into debt and start that debt spiral, unless you find a way to increase your income you are slowly going to drown in it.