What does one person do when they’re stuck in a corporation’s process that’s designed to disenfranchise the individual’s success?

I’m trying to do a little thing: get a $120 monthly fee removed from my mortgage since I’ve paid off a certain percentage of my principal early.

But it’s January, and I’ve been working on this since last August. Based on my last call, I’m thinking it won’t be resolved this year.

I’m bright, pretty savvy financially and patient, yet persistent. So how come I can’t make any headway?

I think plenty of Americans are in this position: We’re hardworking, proactive and responsible. And yet all too often we are subjected to labyrinthine processes with insurance companies, banks and government agencies.

These organizations hold all the cards. They subject us to murky processes, beleaguered with jargon and passivity. Never-ending phone trees and hold music; dropped calls; unintelligible call center workers – sound familiar?

What makes matters worse is I didn’t choose this mortgage company. I chose a well-respected local bank, Northeast, to provide my mortgage; but within days my mortgage, like most, was sold to another entity – in my case, Nationstar Mortgage. So even if I paid to refinance, it could get resold back to Nationstar. There’s no escape!

But you know what? I’m not giving up. They’re not beating me. I’m going to keep calling. Each dropped call, I’m calling back. I’m going to be the squeakiest wheel since the Rebel Alliance took on the Death Star.

And I hope whatever process you’re stuck in, you stay in it. Sure, we may collectively be wasting millions of hours on hold, hours that could be contributing to the nation’s gross domestic product, but if that’s the game to play, then fine. We’ll play it. And plenty of us will win.

Margaret Myall

Topsham

 

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