In other words: Don’t Ever Be Threatened
Pondering the enormous credit card bills coming into our house, my husband and I were working out how we could reduce or even eliminate this monkey on our backs.
Not that we are not grateful for having had what we called our ‘Plan B’ in that when times were lean, we had the credit cards to lean on. Then we realised that there is a whole insidious organisation dedicated to luring vulnerable people into its clutches. Credit cards got us out of trouble and helped us to pay for things when my husband’s business was in its fledgling state, and now we have money coming in and are able to fly on our own, the credit card debt is weighing us down.
Now, neither of us has any qualms about paying for the things we’ve had. What is crippling for us and for many others in the same position, is the enormous amount of interest that goes on at the end of the month. When we thought about that and looked at what this interest actually is, we realised that it is, in effect, non-money. It is an amount that they company has decided they will make you pay for the privilege of having given you their ‘help’. When you look into the ways in which the financial systems are run, you begin to realise you are dealing with no less than financial paedophiles!
These people groom their victims into a false sense of security and when the chips are down, they pull the rug from under you. They make out like they are your friend and then they play ‘good cop, bad cop’. I call these parasites Financial Paedophiles. I do not think this is too strong a description when you look at how these people operate. A paedophile will groom vulnerable people into taking rewards and nice things in order that they can have their needs met, and get you to do what they want you to do. When you try to say ‘no’ or to express your inability to do what they want you to do, they tell you that you are bad, dirty, disgusting, etc, and they threaten your safety and livelihood. The Financial and Banking System grooms vulnerable people into taking rewards and nice things in order that they can have their needs met, and get you to do what they want you to do. Then, when they have you in their clutches, and you begin to feel uncomfortable and don’t want to do what they want you to do anymore, and in fact you can’t afford to carry on paying the price, they tell you that you are a bad person and they threaten your safety and your livelihood.
Not a lot of difference there then, eh?
Being a good person means having a lot of credit, paying massive amounts of interest and owning a home and mortgage (more credit). You are even better if you have a car on HP, and your home is filled with all the latest technology – paid for by credit cards and loans.
You are a bad person if you default on any of these so-called credit agreements. You are not allowed to change the rules, but they are. You cannot charge them interest if they accidentally get it wrong sometimes, which they do. But if you overstep your mark, you bet they will make you pay big time. And they do!
Just this week I have had another example of the Financial Paedophile in action. I decided after some stressful communications with Paypal, to just ignore them and not use them again. The attempts to get to a human being with any sense and with any authority rendered me a gibbering wreck, and in an attempt to save my sanity, I decided to just let it all go and find another provider of the service. I buy and sell things on Ebay, and so far at least that outlet has proven reliable. I had a look round and found something called ‘Nochex’ – an international merchant service.
I spoke to a very nice young man called Liam who proceeded to stroke my ego, soothe my wounded pride and generally tell me he would go away and speak to his ‘line manager’ and get back to me if I qualified for an account with them. Guess what? I qualified. A day later, the same young man with the demeanour of a friendly puppy, called me personally to joyfully inform me that I’d been honoured with an account. And then came the punch in the nose… ‘the setup fee is just £50 and once we receive that we can get you up and running, Mrs A’…
I gasped and told the young man I couldn’t afford the fee right now, as Paypal had stuffed me and not paid me my fees, and also because at the moment I just do not have £50 to throw at something I consider should be free (at least in their favour Paypal don’t charge a startup fee). He seemed a little perturbed at this but he did accept that I would need a couple of days to think about it. I wondered why this hadn’t been mentioned in our original conversation but didn’t ask at the time.
The next day, an email arrived from my (by now, somewhat less friendly) friend Liam offering me a one-off, goodwill gesture discount of half price setup fee for £25. He seemed to be entirely missing the point that my reason for not wanting to deal with Paypal was not simply that I couldn’t speak to a human being unless I’d negotiated the labyrinthine automated switchboard, but that they had been unfair in my dealings with me. I was not about to embark upon the same journey, albeit in a different vehicle, with another Rip-Off Merchant!
He was upset by my questioning, for example, “Why didn’t you simply offer me the setup fee of £25 in the first place? I was honest with you. Could you not have exercised the same courtesy?”
His answer was to send me an email, listing all the other providers and their fees and it felt, to me, objectionable. Here is the answer:
Hi Jay
Every other provider will charge a start up fee.
For example, WorldPay charge £200 and the monthly fees of £20 plus 4.5% per transaction.
Netbank charge £100 and monthly fees of £20.
PayPoint/SecPay/Metacharge go in at £125!
Protx/SagePay is a payment gateway and requires you to have a bank merchant account (with monthly fees).
We charge a one-off fee with a gesture of goodwill discount – has anyone else been as generous?
We are the most competitive by some distance. I’ll leave it with you.
Kind Regards
Liam
The bit that wrinkled my nose was the ‘has anyone else been as generous?’ bit. Now, this lad cannot have been more than about 25-30 (my estimation, based on the fact that they like to get ‘em young). He is being groomed himself, into becoming his own worst nightmare. And he’s good at it. But not THAT good. He didn’t hook ME in!
It is more and more evident to me that these people are no different in their dealings than paedophiles. The reason I use the term is because when you think of the word PAEDOPHILE it disgusts you. It does me anyway. It is a term for something nasty. My grandfather was one, so I know first hand how they operate.
And I already know that when I begin complaining about the financial system and its behaviours, some clever old Richard Cranium out there will piously point out to me the error of my ways. ‘If you didn’t do this, that or t’other, you would be like me. A fine, upstanding citizen who never puts a foot wrong. Never been in debt in my life (oh? I own my house? A mortgage… well, that’s acceptable debt… blah de blah)
Nah you’re probably right mate. And you’re probably one of them there paedophiles – they often love to be seen as pillars of the community and above all blame and wrongdoing.
I haven’t finished my rant, and fully intend to do something positive about it. I am hosting a Wholistic Festival in Llangollen (with my friend and co-organiser, Karen) in September (19th and 20th if you’re interested!) and I want to get people together to sign some sort of petition that we can use as the basis for even bigger action. Not simply to get something done, as I don’t think we will at this stage, but simply to make me (and them) feel better. If you feel more empowered, then you won’t ever allow this piss-potical, Financial Paedophile system to abuse you any further.
Anyone who is interested in getting together with me on this, please contact me. I need your support!
Thanks for listening… Jay xxx