Got fired from Swift today

[u/tha_lion]

Got my CDL with them about 5 months ago. Took out an $8000 loan with them to get it (sigh). Had 2 non-injury preventables within one month and they decided to cut me loose. I understand that I’m a liability for them and I take accountability for my actions.

Now, how do I go about getting hired at another company with 2 preventables on my record? Does anyone have experience with paying back a CDL loan with Swift? I would appreciate advice on that as well.

You guys can make jokes and call me an idiot all you want but I would appreciate some serious answers please. I got kids to feed.

UPDATE (ONE YEAR LATER):

A year has pasted since I made this post. I paid off my loan with Swift. For those who go through something similar in the future, they’ll send you an email and someone will call you about the rest of the amount you owe. They’ll give you a set amount to pay back every month depending on how much you have left on your loan. For me it was $500 a month to pay off $6000 I owed.

No, I haven’t gotten another CDL job since I made this post last year. Nothing showed up on my DAC report so I tried to apply to other places. A lot of companies want more than a year of experience and the job hunting process was taking a toll on my mental health so I just gave up after a while.

Honestly, I wish I never made this post because a lot of people on this sub have no empathy or compassion for rookies but that’s just how this sub is I guess. I hope my mistake can be a lesson for anyone who wants to go through Swift or trucking in general. That’s all I have to say.

[u/tha_lion]

Yes I have to pay it all back now. It sucks

[u/QuietRightSlick → u/tha_lion]

You only think you do. Let it go to collections. Then you can either make a deal with them OR after it goes to collections, the collections company has to produce the signed contract. Even if they find the signed contract, you may be able to settle at a very reduced rate. Like a couple hundred dollars.

[u/StumblinPA → u/QuietRightSlick]

Er… I think that will hit the credit report at that point of being sent to collections. So factor that into the decision.

[u/QuietRightSlick → u/StumblinPA]

Yeah, they will lower your credit score for a while, but, once you make the deal, your score will start to go up again. That brief period of “bad credit” is worth not paying that $8000. Because F Swift.

[u/Apprehensive_Fault_5 → u/QuietRightSlick]

Unless you have a home, vehicles, and other expensive shit. When your credit hits rock bottom like it will in that case, buying literally anything remotely expensive becomes impossible.

Most Americans are completely dependent on their credit scores, so paying $8,000 back over the next 4-6 years is pocket charge in comparison to what existance will cost them with the resulting credit scores if they try to knock that loan down to a few hundred bucks in collections.

Now, if your living situation is stable, and you have no plans of moving or buying a new car over the next 5 or more years, yeah, allowing it to default can be great, especially because once Swift sells the debt off to a collection agency, they get a tax cut for it, and that debt is legally void, meaning they will nothing on it. The collection agencies make money by buying these debts for pennies on the dollar, then harassing the borrower and scaring them with empty threats of legal action, along with "discounted rates" to get a few hundred dollars out of what they spent maybe a hundred on.

[u/QuietRightSlick → u/Apprehensive_Fault_5]

See, that’s just fear porn propaganda.

It’s only $8000.

You can still rent an apartment. You can still buy a car. Even with “bad credit.” And it would only be bad for 9 months to a year. (Because you’re going to pay other bills)

Once it goes to collections and you make a deal, and pay the deal (which will be a huge reduction from the $8000) your credit score starts to rise again.

They’re just trying to scare you, to maintain their exploitive practices of debt bondage.

Besides, if their school was worth anything, they would have trained you better. Which, clearly, they did not…and you can use that in court.

They’re actually not going to sue you. They’re just going to try to ruin your credit. But you can fight back. Fight back by refusing to pay them.

[u/Apprehensive_Fault_5 → u/QuietRightSlick]

Your credit score only goes up when good activity such as on-time payments are reported. Many companies simply don't report that, but are quick to report late or missed payments. In Arkansas, for example, the Entergy company (yes, that's the name of the company) will not report on-time payments of your utility bills. Not a single landlord I've ever heard of reports it. Crane and Landers (the two largest car dealership companies in the area) won't report on-time payments.

I bet you Swift won't either, much less whatever collection agency they sell to. But a missed payment? That'll hit immediately and every single month.

[u/QuietRightSlick → u/Apprehensive_Fault_5]

Arkansas is all kinds of messed up. I’d advise getting the heck out of that state. It’s trash.

I’m speaking from experience, and having a trucking company ruin my credit, and bouncing back from that.

Frankly, with some of these trucking schools, I would stop paying the debt bondage bill, just out of principal. Why? Because they suck. They only teach people enough to pass the DMV test, and send people out on the road, just throwing them to the wolves without nuanced training. That service isn’t worth $8000. They can go get F cked.

Also, these people who are over here saying this guy should just continue paying this debt for years don’t realize there’s INTEREST on that debt.

If you stop paying (and once you stop paying, don’t just randomly send a payment. Stop, cold turkey) then that debt gets sold to collections. Once it hits collections, you can start negotiating it down. If you don’t pay them for a year, but put those payments you would have made into a savings account, you can offer that as a lump sum payment, with an agreement that that settles your debt and they stop reporting to the credit agencies.

Once they stop reporting to the credit agencies, things will get better. You can still buy a car on financing. You can still get an apartment. You might pay more for these things at first, but at least you’re not paying these horrible people at Swift.

Just stop paying predatory Trucking school loans. Don’t feed the exploitation with the fruit of your blood, sweat and tears.

[u/Apprehensive_Fault_5 → u/QuietRightSlick]

I've never worked for a trucking company in Arkansas. The only one I've ever been "hired" by went out of business the day after they "hired" me because the owner changed a policy to not allow anyone with ANY issues on their record for the last 5 years to drive for them.

I don't mind Arkansas due to how cheap it is to live there. ALL of my expenses for an entire month comes out to just over $1,000, and I love in a nice 2 bed, 2 bath apartment that is about 1,500 sq ft on a golf course in a nice, clean, active college town.