"Post-Dated Check Credit Plan"

     The "PDC credit plan" (in addition to the "sliding scale") 
is my attempt to make this program affordable and available to 
anyone who needs it, regardless of their ability to pay; while 
insuring that I'm able to continue making this program available.  
There is no interest rate applied to it, even though I'm told 
that there should be. (I've got enough to do without bothering 
with percentage rates...) It is also a means of guaranteeing 
community service "trade-offs" which have not been completed 
prior to arrival; and/or, community service which is assigned 
as a secondary part of part of the sentence.

     If a person is single, they usually just use their regular 
checking account.  If a person is married and prefers that their 
spouse does not know about all of this, they often choose to open 
a separate account, with the statement sent to somewhere other 
than their home.  

     Prior to your arrival, we mutually determine your rate, an 
estimate of the time we'll actually be working while you're here 
("guest days" will continue to be free for the forseeable future) 
and a general idea of what sort of payments are practical for you.  
When you arrive, instead of paying the full bill, you pay what you 
are able and break the balance down into increments which will not 
pose a real hardship for you.  These can be weekly, bi-weekly, 1st 
and 15th, monthly, or whatever works the best for you...  The amount 
can be any reasonable amount (there are some people who are paying 
it out at $20 per month, since that's what their income will allow 
without cutting into any essentials...)  We sit down with your 
checkbook and a calender; and, you post-date the checks for their 
corresponding payment dates, paying with those instead of a lump 
sum payment.  We then start our work together as though it was 
already paid for...  If a guest day turns out to be needed as a 
working day or community service hours are imposed, you can write 
those after we inventory you back out.

     If you have a change of circumstances, let me know at least 10 
days in advance and I'll hold these checks up to an additional 80 
days. (Most checks are only valid for 90 days after the listed date.) 
If you are going to need for me to hold one longer than 80 days after 
the date you wrote on it, provide me with a substitute check, written 
for a later date; and, I'll either return the expiring one to you or 
destroy it (at your discretion.)

     If checks are being held as collateral on community service; we 
mutually decide upon a realistic schedule for you completing the 
community service, basing the pay-out upon that schedule.  As you 
provide me documentation that you've completed the hours; I either 
return your corresponding checks to you or destroy them (again, at 
your discretion.)  I do ask that, if you want these checks physically 
returned to you, you provide me with self-addressed stamped envelopes, 
for me to mail them back to you.

     If you are trading out community service, I still need the $100 
deposit; but, you may date it for the day you are due to arrive; and, 
when you show up, I return it to you.  If you no-show me, I cash it...

     How can I offer this option to those who need it???  Because: 
1) The people who get to this point have already reached at least 
a certain level of ethics (otherwise, they wouldn't be showing up 
to go through this process...) 
2) The process I provide is effective; so, I don't run into a problem 
with people feeling as though they didn't "get what they paid for." 
(Actually, people routinely tell me that the progress they made was 
worth far MORE to them than what it cost them...) 
3) In spite of any surface appearances, I do this "for" the people who 
come here, rather than "to" them.  By the time they leave, we tend to 
be on good terms and it's important to them that they live up to the 
trust I'm placing in them, since I've gone to a lot of effort to live 
up to the trust which they've placed in me. 
4) With the need to self-sabotage behind them, they tend to do better 
financially than they were formerly able to allow themselves. 
5) On my own end, it gives me a certain amount of a "base" which I can 
count on for helping to pay utility bills, the mortgage on the Seminole 
location, etc.
     To date, I have yet to ever have one of these checks "bounce..." 
If it ever becomes a problem, I might have to rethink this policy; but,
that's hopefully a problem which I won't ever have to contend with.

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E-mail: Kathy (Renbarger) at:  fedup@okplus.com