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John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

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Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#11

Post by GreaterFool »

nickysielicki wrote: post #6
desigooner wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the debt collectors somehow manage to trick the debtors into acknowledging the debt, the debt clock is reset & it goes back on to your credit report.

What constitutes acknowledgement?

I think the options are two: bully and harass the debtors until they pay or go to courts and try to get the default judgement.

As the program points out what they buy is name and number. So I suppose if the person involved showed up in court and demanded any sort of confirmation of debt (like original bills perhaps?) then the case would be dismissed. After all the company needs some proof. But they overload the courts and if no one shows up to defend then the default judgement goes in favor of the debt collector.

And then they go and collect with the power of law behind them.

This is crazy but that's how they roll in the land of the free :)

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#12

Post by ceejayoz »

nickysielicki wrote: post #6
desigooner wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the debt collectors somehow manage to trick the debtors into acknowledging the debt, the debt clock is reset & it goes back on to your credit report.

What constitutes acknowledgement?

Any amount of payment, I believe, so they're likely offering seemingly generous "settlements" with tiny monthly payments.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#13

Post by dogma1138 »

nickysielicki wrote: post #6
desigooner wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the debt collectors somehow manage to trick the debtors into acknowledging the debt, the debt clock is reset & it goes back on to your credit report.

What constitutes acknowledgement?

Apparently pretty much anything including answering a phone call under some jurisdictions.

Pretty much they can hook you in by calling you and saying "Good day Mr. Smith you have a debt for 50$ to Acme Medical do you want to hear about our debt relief plan with payments as low as 1$ a month". If at any point you seem to show any response to it they can use it to prove that you've acknowledged the debt at which point they can go to court and force you to pay.

The laws should be made that way that debt that has expunged is not tradeable or actionable in any way period.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#14

Post by johnpowell »

brianwawok wrote: post #8
wjnc wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would mean he could probably pay it off at a discount?

He probably bought 15 million in uncollectible debt for like $1500

He says what he paid. It was 60K.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#15

Post by ben1040 »

GreaterFool wrote: post #11
nickysielicki wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What constitutes acknowledgement?

I think the options are two: bully and harass the debtors until they pay or go to courts and try to get the default judgement. As the program points out what they buy is name and number. So I suppose if the person involved showed up in court and demanded any sort of confirmation of debt (like original bills perhaps?) then the case would be dismissed. After all the company needs some proof. But they overload the court…

The statute of limitations applies to whether the creditor can go to court. Since these debts we're talking about are older than that, getting a judgment is off the table.

That's also why they were sold for a fraction of a penny on the dollar -- the only way you could collect on them is to call the debtors and hassle them. At this point those debtors are probably also wise to the fact that you have no legal power to enforce.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#16

Post by Siecje »

desigooner wrote: post #5
dvcc wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still debt, it's not as if the money is not owed it's just debt that has no legal repercussions for not paying. From my understanding at least. So really he saved them from harassing phone calls, not really the money itself.

If the debt collectors somehow manage to trick the debtors into acknowledging the debt, the debt clock is reset & it goes back on to your credit report.

Wouldn't it still be outstanding on your credit report. It's debt that you didn't pay.

How long does it stay on your credit report?

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#17

Post by acveilleux »

neiled wrote: post #10

As has been mentioned elsewhere, it seems the real 'value' of this debt to people buying it, is not the debt itself because it can't legally be enforced, but the personal information that goes along with it.

At the price they paid, it's around $6.66 per person. They'd have paid a lot less for a lot more debt if they hadn't bought medical debt. And that's not even resorting to illegal means.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#18

Post by sethbannon »

I'm not aware of any other show that so seamlessly combines rip-roaringly funny comedy with essential insight into the way our society and system of government is deeply flawed. And on top of that, he even manages to direct action to fix the issues he draws attention to -- taking down the FCC website being one example[1].

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/03/john-oliv...

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#20

Post by rev_null »

sethbannon wrote: post #18

I'm not aware of any other show that so seamlessly combines rip-roaringly funny comedy with essential insight into the way our society and system of government is deeply flawed. And on top of that, he even manages to direct action to fix the issues he draws attention to -- taking down the FCC website being one example[1]. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/03/john-oliv...

The only other show that comes to mind is The Daily Show, of which John Oliver is an alumnus.
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