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I put my foot down with my wh yesterday. Felt good. But in the end we will lose out and it's pissing me off.

The in laws are still apart of the cell plan. The cell company can't take them off without charging a ton of fees including paying of their phones. The bill is HUGE! More than what we pay in rent. The company has been great reducing the bill and holding off suspending all of them but the fact is we just can't pay it right now.

I wanted to get my in laws attention so I suspended one of their phones. Sure enough wh got a text from the other telling (TELLING) him to call the cell company. Wh explained we can't pay this bill alone. They said they would help...crickets followed. I have blocked Internet so all they can do is text and call.

So yesterday the cell company informed me that unless a minimum payment was made the phone service would be suspended on all phones. I didn't expect to have service this morning.

I told wh who wasn't happy one bit but I told him food, gas and rent was more important and if his parents weren't going to get off their butts to help they would just have to deal with no phones like we will.

Priorities right!!! I wish I had the money up front to cancel, pay off and remove their phones. Then again we need a car so any money we would have would go towards that. The truck is great but it's hard on gas and without my parents dd would be stuck at school.

On Sunday wh dropped off a card for his mother on his way home from his overnight shift. She text him later saying thank you then said she missed the kids. Ya ok....

When wh told them about the phone bill they offered to help then nothing. when he told them we were losing the phones his mother gave him a sap story about how his dad ran out of gas and last night text him that his brother had another "spell" and was in hospital. suddenly a lot of communication. All they want is to appear nice so we keep their phones going...!

Frankly I'll be happy when the service is gone. Then maybe they'll fork over some damn money...

So if I disappear you'll all know why. It's sad that we will all lose but in the end might be the only way to get these people to wake up!

Let them turn off the phones, and then tell the cell company that you will not be renewing the contract.

Here's the harder part....

If you can get nice person to pay on a payment plan to pay off the cancelled plan, then do it. If not, then pay what you can a month ONLY what you can, and when it gets to collections, tell them that you have been paying So and So X a month, and that you will continue to do the same with them.

"usually" collection places will agree to this, and not bother you.

My mother in law has the Walmart brand cell plan. Its unlimited everything for 45 a month, the phones are a bit much up front, but you can keep your current number.

You will probably save money in the long run, there's no contract, so if you want to go back to a phone company you can.

ETA, my thoughts were not working with my typing. The phones were kind of expensive up front, but the monthly plan is only 45.

[This message edited by Undefinabl3 at 2:38 PM, May 14th (Tuesday)]

That is a messed up situation. I'm so sorry they're doing all of this to you.

If you let the phones cancel and it goes to collections won't that hurt you trying to a get car? I believe that will go on your credit report.

Is there a way that you can work it out with the phone company to just cancel their lines and leave yours open and still work on the bill. I know it won't be the same has having them pay, which they should, but I would hate it to hit your credit report.

Good Luck

(((HUGS)))

Maybe I'm missing something, but if they arent paying their portion of the bill, I dont understand why you dont just suspend service on their phones. Dont cancel the phones, just basically put a block on them so they cant use any services.

ETA:

Its a sucky situation for you, but your WH needs to get on board. The bill isnt getting any SMALLER and you two will be left holding the bill. Literally.

[This message edited by GabyBaby at 2:41 PM, May 14th (Tuesday)]

If you let the phones cancel and it goes to collections won't that hurt you trying to a get car? I believe that will go on your credit report.

Yes, but depending on how much a month you are paying, they may not put you to collections for a while.

If they are already late on the payments, their credit has already been dinged, so they have already took a hit there.

DH and I have had to pull ourselves out of a HUGE mess, its taken 5 years, but we just got our scores 2 weeks ago and DH's went from below 400 to 633 and mine went from 600 to 723.

DH's credit was connected to someone elses, we have had to fight every year to get things off his report that isnt his, plus get the stuff that is his cleaned up.

We were actually told to let things go to collections because most of the time, they were easier to make payment arrangements with then the actual company.

It will look ugly before it gets pretty again.

Yes our credit has been affected.

It won't affect getting a car because we already got a loan forthe truck (before this crap) an are maxed out there. They wot extend the loan. So another car is going to be second hand from a private sale. When we can afford it.

I can suspend ALL service to their phones but it's a feature in case your phone goes missing/stolen. I did that to mil phone to get their attention. That's when FIL text wh telling him to all the cell company. I have NO

Problem texting the both of them saying I will suspend both phones until they pay up but wh doesn't want that in case of an emergency. BIL still passes out (reasons unknown) and ends up in hospital. We have free calling and texting. Even with the phones suspended they still charge $70/month for them (to pay off the phones) so it doesn't do anything except piss them off. Also, they can't be removed to do a transfer of responsibility on their lines until the bill is paid up. We are stuck. I don't want to extra cost of cancellation fees plus paying off their phones if I cancel. That's well over $1000. I want them to take responsibility for their phones on their own plan. Once we get the bill down they will be given 24 hours to make the call and do that or I will suspend all service until They do.

We do pay what we can on the bill. We always have. It always came out of our pockets and we always made sure to get it paid ASAP. It's just that with rent and extra on gas I can't pay the larger amount they want right now.

Once this is all sorted out I am going Pay as you go with our phones. Once the data is used up its done. Wh and I have to keep the priorities in order. Phones and Internet are not top on the list.

I also have put a lot of stuff up for sale. I wanted to do a huge yard sale this summer but we can't wait.

You can still dial 911 on a phone with no service, in the event of an emergency. I say cut off the phones and go the prepaid (Straight Talk or similar) route.

Ditto on the 911 or they can get a pay as you go phone on their freaking own. Period. Suspend their service. I would have told the phone company that I think their phones had been stolen or something to get those #'s suspended.

The parents are using, and abusing, you guys.

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