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prosper.com, or, my left foot

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by writing irish, Dec 10, 2007.

  1. writing irish

    writing irish Active Member

    Well, Scrooge, in the form of the student loan gods, is coming to fuck with Christmas (and life in general) 'round these parts.

    This past summer, I had to have an operation on my foot. An old injury to a tendon was creating problems and the docs had to bust out the Ginsutm knives on the doral aspect of my left hoof. At the same time, a physician's assistant made an error when doing an EKG as part of the pre-op exam. The error resulted in my having to go for some very expensive tests that I didn't need.

    Problem was, before the operation, I was just barely squeaking by financially. My net income's $1900 monthly- really not all that bad considering that I live in a small-ish city in a rural part of the country. Still, once you add up rent, utilities, car payments, gasoline and car maintenance, insurance, cell phone, the occasional household item and the occasional clothing item, plus food and maybe a night out once or twice a month, well, that's your $1900. I don't have cable and I don't have internet at home...I feel that my expenses are pretty damn close to as low as I can get them and still have a humble, but decent, life.

    So, to at least make a dent in the medical expenses, I quit paying the student loan wolves. Now they're howling at the door...threatening to take my wages, etc. And the medical bills remain. My expenses and debts dwarf my income. What to do?

    Well, if I can pay off the medical bills and catch up on the student loans, I can get back to where I was before...treading water, but at least not sinking. In fact, take away the medical bills and get back to my normal schedule with student loan payments, and I'd have about $100/month discretionary income. Woo hoo!

    So, I need a loan. No way a bank would lend me shit...I own nothing that you'd call collateral. But I've heard of prosper.com, the peer-to-peer lending site, where people (I've heard, anyway) who might get turned down at a bank are more likely to find a lender, and at an interest rate better than one would get at a bank.

    I'm a little miffed at all this. I make $28k gross annually and live in a city where living expenses are average. I work my ass off at a decent professional job and am a responsible member of society. I never ran up a credit card bill buying a bunch of shit I didn't need. My only stupidity was going to a college neither my parents nor I have/had the ability to pay for. And that's pretty much had me fucked, financially, my whole adult life.

    Anyway, anyone know anything about prosper.com? I've already created a profile, but I haven't placed a listing for a loan yet. Are there any "must dos" or "must nots" one should follow when creating a listing?

    By the way, I have health insurance. Blue Cross Blue Shield. Obviously, there was quite a bit for which they didn't pay. Also, if you're one of these people who thinks that our glorious for-profit health care system isn't broke and doesn't need fixing, please, fuck off. You are not among my favorite people these days. There's no good reason that my life should be sent spiraling down into everlasting shit because I needed to have one not-particularly-major surgery and a physician's assistant fucked up the intake exam before the surgery.

    Advice appreciated.

    EDIT: My largest medical debt is to the hospital where I had the unnecessary tests done. The CEO of that fine institution earns over $2.4 million annually. I'm sure this gentleman earns every penny.
     
  2. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    Why would the employer of that physician's assistant not be held responsible for the extra and unnecessary costs you incurred? I'd pursue that angle.
     
  3. I'm somewhat familiar with Prosper. That could be a worthwhile option. But you might give a site like LendingTree a try, just to see what's out there. The worst they can say is no.
     
  4. writing irish

    writing irish Active Member

    Wish I could prove liability with the PA, but I can't. Here's the deal: I'd never had an EKG, but they decided to give me one before the surgery as a precaution. My chest hair is like the body hair equivalent of a primeval forest. The PA should have shaved me but did not. I thought maybe something was wrong as I looked down at the little sensor devices floating a good 1/2-3/4 inch above my skin, but I foolishly said nothing...in the tradition of the bovine passivity that so many people adopt when at the doctor.

    When I went to the hospital for the radiocative imaging and stress tests, of course they did another EKG, and the real-life EKG tech there was shocked, shocked that I was sporting a full mat of fur. "Didn't they shave you?" "No, should they have?" "Yeah, that's probably why your test came back abnormal." "Could I prove that?" "No, EKGs on those kind of machines give weird results all the time. Couldn't prove that it was the not shaving that skewed the test, but I bet that was it."
     
  5. joe

    joe Active Member

    Tell the hospital you'll pay them $25 a month, not a penny more. And if they give you shit about it, tell them they can deal with your lawyer. With all the deadbeats who never pay their bills, they'll be happy just to keep some money rolling in. Then pay your student loan bill.
     
  6. kokane_muthashed

    kokane_muthashed Active Member

    Can you defer your student loan payments? I know some school loan programs do this. It may only be for 3 months, but that's 3 months you can focus on hospital bills. Some car finance places do this as well. I recently deferred one car payment when I had surgery recently. Just call them and ask them. I didn't even have to provide proof of said surgery. I just asked, they faxed me some paperwork and viola.

    Also, I agree with Joe, send the hospital $25 to show that you're not trying to escape payment. At least show you're making an effort to pay it down.
     
  7. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    And I'm sure they're devastated that those abnormal results provide them the opportunity to weasel more money out of you. Where's hondo to remind us what a great system this is?
     
  8. imjustagirl2

    imjustagirl2 New Member

    wi, I say this to you with all love: for god's sake man, get a deferment on your student loans. I've done it for the past, well, 12 years. I just log onto the student loan Web site, click on 'deferments,' say I've had financial problems, and they OK me, no questions asked. You can defer for up to a year.

    The interest will still accrue, but if it's not coming out of your paycheck, then an extra couple hun won't hurt that badly.
     
  9. writing irish

    writing irish Active Member

    Just giving this one a bump in case any of the responsible, practical folks on the day crew might have an insight.
     
  10. Dyno

    Dyno Well-Known Member

    Considering the grief this is causing you, I think it would be worth it to have a forceful conversation or two with the doctor's office. Seriously. It's not right that you're on the hook to pay for the PA's mistake.
     
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