After making $8,000 in payments on a $30,000 loan and seeing the principal drop by only $1,500, Ben Frasier decided that he had enough and made an offer to Bank of America: He would pay a lump sum of $23,000 and settle the loan.
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The offer, made via phone, likely got a cackle from Bank of America. But the Douglas, Oregon native seems to have gotten the last laugh after taking his troubles with BOA to the ‘net. Frasier posted a YouTube clip declaring that he wouldn’t make any more payments on the loan.
I personally, would be petrified to make such a demand. I could see a bank putting a root on my credit report and see to it that I couldn’t get enough credit to buy a free donation from Goodwill for at least 14 years. But maybe the tide is turning in favor of the borrower.
Frasier’s video, which has netted less than 10,000 views, still managed to catch the attention of the press. It didn’t take long for Bank of America to contact him and after negotiations via email Frasier managed to score a deal more to his liking.
The latest winner in the debtor’s revolt told the Huffington Post:
"In terms of YouTube, it was a very effective mode of communicating with them. You have to go someplace unsecure to tell your story where everybody knows pretty much who you are, everybody knows the details.”
It’s obvious there’s a power in speaking out, but why am I only hearing about a certain faction of the population doing so?
Upon surveying the list of those who have posted videos under “debtor’s revolt” I don’t see many naturally tanned faces. What’s the problem? I know white people aren’t the only ones having problems keeping up payments.
You can buy a Web cam for $20. Time to join the complaining, black people.
I'm about to go put a script together for my video about my plight with student loans. Any idea on when I should incorporate tears into the clip? And more importantly, are you ready to take on your lender?
Michael Arceneaux hails from Houston, lives in Harlem and praises Beyoncé’s name wherever he goes. Follow him on Twitter.
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