For those that don't know, this is a legal firm heavily involved with credit unions. When my whole…read morelife fell apart, I defaulted on a credit card I had with UFCU, and this is who they sent after me. As crazy as it sounds, the whole experience has been positive.
One day I got a call from a number I didn't recognize, and before I called back, I looked it up online. What I saw scared the hell out of me. Several people who'd made similar financial mistakes had ignored B&Ws calls and letters, and things had escalated. According to a number of online complaints, B&W had sued to collect, and people had their bank accounts frozen and money taken from them to satisfy the judgement that had been won against them. I figured I was screwed either way, but I decided to call B&W back, hoping that by doing so, they'd work with me instead of taking my rent money out of my bank account.
I was initially contacted by Victoria, who I swear is the nicest collections person I have ever spoken with in my life. My finances were still in ruin, and the best I could do was make a pitifully small payment every month. At that rate, it would take me years and years to pay it off, and I was certain they wouldn't accept that. But Victoria was fine with it, and so the saga began.
I usually called in my payment every month, and on the odd month when I wasn't paying attention to the date, Victoria called and reminded me. She was always polite and friendly, and she even let me skip a couple of months or pay late when I had unexpected car repairs to take care of or just a shortage of cash that month. Eventually, I started using my bank's bill payment feature, and that's run very smoothly as well.
After several years of this, I called them up and asked for my remaining balance, and it turns out I owed less than $200. I paid right then on the phone, using my debit card, and they mailed me a final statement showing every single measly payment I'd made over the years. I was finally done! And through it all, I hadn't had one negative experience with Blalack & Wililams.
I'm sure I look completely nuts leaving a 5-star review for a legal firm that came after me for collections, but the truth is that Blalack and Williams (and especially Victoria) have made an embarrassing, scary, seemingly impossible situation not just bearable, but actually easy. They could have threatened me or sued me or made things so much harder for me, but instead they worked with me, giving me a chance to pay back the money I owed without making my financial situation any worse.
I'm sure people will continue to ignore calls and letter from them, just like we do with most collectors, and I'm sure that as a result, a lot of people will deal with legal judgement and frozen bank accounts. But I hope some might read this and just call B&W back. I owed thousands, and they let me pay just $50/month for years until it was paid off -- and they never charged a penny in interest or additional fees. Honestly, I wish other debt collectors were as easy to work with as these guys are. It would have been much easier to get back on my feet if they'd all been as understanding and kind as Blalack & Williams was.