Time To Tell My Story

Dear Barack Obama, 

My name is Jackie Lane. Today I feel inspired. Today is the day for my story. I am a 26 year old Cosmetologist from Toms River New Jersey. My Son was born 2 weeks after my 21st birthday. My mother has owned Abraxas Hair Salon for 22 years and so I have seen the struggles of small business for exactly as long as I can remember. I am proud to say I finally finished my vocational license last June. I started school in September as my mom's partner of 21 years, finally after an 8 year battle with colon cancer, took a turn for the worse. Gabriel Martino died on September 28th of 2010, 2 weeks before my wedding. I had known him my whole life. My mom had been paying insurance premiums over $800 a month even though she has never been to the Dr. and has taken approximately 10 sick days in 21 years, so that Gabe could keep his insurance since they were the entire "group", none of the other stylists could afford the premiums. I bought my husbands wedding band that month, I was at Zales. The woman insisted on looking up my Zales Account to sell me insurance for the ring, even though I knew we couldn't afford it. I gave her my information including my new address since I had moved. After she asked if I wanted to put it on my Zales account even though I didn't have the card on me I told her no and gave her my Mastercard because I knew the Zales card had a 22% interest rate. 6 months later I am trying to get a loan for my mom, the successful business owner of 22 years, to open a Deli.  I get my credit report and find out that Zales had charged that $100 on their credit account after all. They charged the account and they continued to send the bills to the old address I had told the store clerk to update in the system, later over the phone they told me the store system is not connected to the credit system and they never got the new address. So now the bill is $280 for a $100 ring. My credit which was in the 780s, because I had been working on it since I was 18 when my mother taught me how to act responsibly with my credit, has dropped 100-150 points. Now the $2000 engagement ring my husband and I paid off together, even though we had the money saved, to build our credit in the first place means nothing because for 6 months I have had a delinquent charge account. Zales started calling my work, suddenly they had access to all my information and could reach me about this $280. But at no time in those 6 months did they ever call the secondary number on the account (my cell phone) or email me which would have gone directly to my blackberry. Why didn't they get in touch with me the first month I didn't pay and they got no response and save my credit? The loan process was becoming more delayed and my mom worked 50-60 hours a week behind the chair and watching my 5 year old son 20 hours a week, so that the Salon would stay afloat and I could finish school and the Deli would still open until we got a loan. My mom has always taught me that if you play by the rules and work hard and you will be rewarded but she hasn't been. Her taxes climb higher and she can't hire new stylists. She pays very high insurance premiums for herself but does not offer it to the other 4 of us because we couldn't afford it out of our pay, and it would cost her more than we bring in to pay for it. I got a home equity loan with my 630-680 credit score, over a hundred points drop for 1 $100 purchase, and the Deli has opened. My uncle, step dad, 2 of my cousins, and my mom are all working 50-70 hour weeks to run the deli in the small town of Island Heights, and I think we will all survive. But good hardworking people are not being rewarded and someone who has the history of paying back her debts for 30 years like my mom should be a trusted patron of the banks. But at her bank she can't even get them to remember who she is, because she doesn't have enough money to be respected. And they are supposedly one of the "small" banks with only 15 branches. She deserves the American Jobs Act, and larger reforms. Someone has to stand up for people like us. Everyone I talk to has stories like this. Today I think it can happen because I know the American people will not bow down, we are a nation of hard workers and people who want desperately for their system to work for them.


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