1-Cent Debt Paid In Full, Threat Of Lien Dropped

ATTLEBORO, Mass. — A 74-year-old blind woman's 1 cent debt to a Massachusetts city has been settled. People from across the country called Attleboro City Hall on Tuesday offering to pay the 1 cent balance owed by Eileen Wilbur for an overdue water and sewer bill.

Antonio Viveiros, a former city councilor who does not know Wilbur, wrote a check for one penny. He says he was "irked" by the fact that the federal government can spend billions for bailouts, yet a senior citizen was threatened with a lien on her home over 1 cent.

Wilbur's daughter first noticed the letter that warned of a lien and a $48 penalty if the overdue bill was not paid by Dec. 10.

Mayor Kevin Dumas says the whole situation was blown out of proportion.

Comments

[sonoffestus]

I use to live near Attleboro. They need every cent they can get.

[LMPE]

This idea doesn't make cents.

[randeg]

How inappropriate is that! Giving billions to AIG who turned around and spent quite a bit of money in a luxury hotel and here comes Ms Wilbur owing just a penny and threatened to put a lien in her home! Maybe the government should threaten AIG executives they will lose their jobs if they pull the same kind of spending again. The mayor is probably right though that this situation has been blown out of proportion.

Evelyn Guzman
http://www.debtchallenges.com (If you want to visit, just click but if it doesn"t work, copy and paste it onto your browser.)

[AllenD]

I'd say Mayor Dumass is aptly named.

[ObamaSheeple]

I know right? You made me laugh.

[CR46]

I wonder how much time and money it cost them to collect that penny?

[RoloTomassi]

Hell, the paper they printed it on [and the ink] were valued higher than what they were asking for...my god what idiocy!

[Emlyn]

I had a doctor bill me for $102.01 for two years. I notified the doctor's office that I had paid the bill by credit card. They acknowledged that it was paid but kept sending me past due, (turning over for collection) statements for two years. I got to the point of not answering their letters. Finally, I wrote to the doctor and got an answer. It seemed that they had two accounting firms - one doing debits and one doing credits. Neither one of them ever got together. It was finally resolved. They thought it was funny. I didn't.

[bellabeach]

Had the same thing happen to me and the people in the accounting dept for the doctor thought it was funny too!!! I am with you it wasn't funny, it was just cheap doctors not paying people well enough to get someone with intelligence to handle their billing!

[carrieanna]

What's especially funny is when you consider that a penny isn't even worth the material it's made out of.

[Shinto]

This where our gov. fails compared to the private sector. No private business would pay 38 cents for postage for a bill of 1 cent.

[TheVicar]

Um, there are numerous instances of private businesses doing just that. It's just part of making billing an automated process.

[Skepticat]

Over the years I have received several bills where the charge was less than the cost of postage and all from private companies. In an age where huge PRIVATE investment houses, and PRIVATE auto industries are teetering on the brink of collapse I don't share your faith in the wisdom of the private sector.

[JBS]

No, private business would just tack on a $25 late fee, and charge you another $15 to take your check over the phone, so you'd end up paying $40.39.

[truthyguy]

"Mayor Kevin Dumas says the whole situation was blown out of proportion."

Yes - by the city government.

[huffyISaHottie]

local talk radio host Howie Carr must be having some real fun with this one

[edg1]

Thank goodness for all the nice comments here. I read about this on another, shall remain nameless, blog where all the posters were criticizing the blind lady for trying to cheat the government of its penny. Nobody seemed to know or care that the shortage was likely either the result of the city's data entry person recording the payment incorrectly or else and innocent mistake by the person who assists the blind lady in bill payment.

[sandiegoconservative]

Please tell us. Not that I don't believe you, but I would love to ridicule someone who would actually say that, and I need to know where to direct my comments.

[AswanHDam]

I can top that. As a lawyer I once represented the Executor of an estate. The estate got a form notice from the IRS threatening a lien and all sorts of trouble if the estate did not immediately send the IRS the sum of $0.00.

I was tempted to write a check in that amount from estate funds and send it to them, but I sent a nice letter instead suggesting that they read their own notice and cancel it. It took them about a year to stop sending the notices but they finally gave up.

[RightWingMarine]

computers are taking over the world. The computer doesn't understand the value of $.01 it is simply a figure that auto generates a letter.

[CaptainVideo]

The problem is not computers. It is incompetent computer programmers who fail to include an instruction to write off an amount smaller than a certain value. A properly programmed computer "understands" that $.01 is not worth bothering with.

[MrWampler]

It's not incompetent computer programmers. They do their job as told. It's icompentent business analysts who design the software.

[ILikeH00ters]

You obviously don't know the difference between programming logic and business logic.

[WarrenPeace]

A brief vent. The bank that owns my house recently misinterpreted my monthly mortgage check, reading a six in the cents column as a five. In other words, I was one cent short -- based on their error. They then placed my account in default, hired a collection agency to make harrassing calls day and night, and refused to discuss the matter when I tried to reason with them on the phone.

One cent. Threatened foreclosure.

[rf-hawaii]

Take it to the local media and bring them the shame they deserve.

[ohmetoo]

These are tactics to panic people into paralysis and inaction. It is criminal in my opinion and it happens every day business as usual.

[Zeje]

Incredible!!

[Chanel05]

Happens in Delaware and particularly in Pennsylvania as well. Only New Jersey seems to have an oversight team.

[bellabeach]

It does happen in Delaware, their educational system is rated one of the worst!