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How to become a debt buyer

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Re: How to become a debt buyer

#31

Post by alexb_ »

pc86 wrote: post #25
alexb_ wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be interested if they at least said "Yeah, we're shitbags, but that's just how it is, and someone's gotta collect delinquent debt". What I'm not okay with is putting in shit like this: > The Debt Buying and Debt Collection industries can be a very rewarding career if it's right for you. It is also a risky business to be in and has a somewhat negative connotation among some groups because of a few people/compa…

I certainly wouldn't call it noble, but neither are 95% of other professions. If you say you'll pay a debt, you should pay it. A necessary and IMO objectively good consequence of that is if you try to shirk that responsibility, someone somewhere is going to try to find you and try to collect. That doesn't by definition make anyone (including the person with delinquent debt) a bad person.

I would agree with you, except that people who sell debt at these crazy low rates are doing so because the person with delinquent debt is so destitute they've given up trying to collect. They sell to people who will go to every single length allowed by the law to harass people with absolutely nothing to their name until they squeeze the last bit of water from the stone of poverty.

This debt doesn't come from people like you and me. They come from people who literally don't understand what debt is and have been fooled into a life of poverty. That's who's being targeted here.

Re: How to become a debt buyer

#33

Post by philipkglass »

BobJS wrote: post #29

I wrote this article years ago. I can't believe it's on HN today. As someone who spent almost a decade trying to run as ethical an agency as possible, I realized that there's no room for people who want to operate the right way. I could go on for days about all of the crazy stuff I saw while I was involved but leaving the debt industry was the best decision I ever made. Terrible industry, terrible people.

I'm upvoting this short comment in hopes that you'll share a somewhat longer story about what you tried to do and why it didn't work. Thanks!

Re: How to become a debt buyer

#34

Post by cameronh90 »

alexb_ wrote: post #16
tptacek wrote: post #12

This is currently, and for obvious reasons, trending towards a thread about how evil the debt collection industry is. That's a shame, because there's a lot of interesting stuff to learn from the mechanics of the debt collection business, and it's stuff you can put to use to protect yourself (and others) from its worst abuses. There are "is" arguments and there are "oughts". We probably all agree on the "oughts", at l…

I would be interested if they at least said "Yeah, we're shitbags, but that's just how it is, and someone's gotta collect delinquent debt". What I'm not okay with is putting in shit like this: > The Debt Buying and Debt Collection industries can be a very rewarding career if it's right for you. It is also a risky business to be in and has a somewhat negative connotation among some groups because of a few people/compa…

Is there anything inherently shitbag about collecting debts? As long as you’re professional, follow the regulations and treat the debtor fairly, I’m not sure what the problem is. The debtor presumably agreed to take on the debt and still owes the money until either it’s discharged or they’ve paid what they owe.

There are obviously a load of shitbags in the debt collection industry, but the only way to change that is for non-shitbags to get into the industry and replace them.

Re: How to become a debt buyer

#36

Post by bombcar »

alexb_ wrote: post #31
pc86 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I certainly wouldn't call it noble, but neither are 95% of other professions. If you say you'll pay a debt, you should pay it. A necessary and IMO objectively good consequence of that is if you try to shirk that responsibility, someone somewhere is going to try to find you and try to collect. That doesn't by definition make anyone (including the person with delinquent debt) a bad person.

I would agree with you, except that people who sell debt at these crazy low rates are doing so because the person with delinquent debt is so destitute they've given up trying to collect. They sell to people who will go to every single length allowed by the law to harass people with absolutely nothing to their name until they squeeze the last bit of water from the stone of poverty. This debt doesn't come from people l…

Recourse debt and its consequences have been a disaster.

We can do better but there’s not much will.

Re: How to become a debt buyer

#38

Post by bombcar »

BobJS wrote: post #29

I wrote this article years ago. I can't believe it's on HN today. As someone who spent almost a decade trying to run as ethical an agency as possible, I realized that there's no room for people who want to operate the right way. I could go on for days about all of the crazy stuff I saw while I was involved but leaving the debt industry was the best decision I ever made. Terrible industry, terrible people.

I would highly recommend writing some articles, and going on for days. Light is a good disinfectant.

Re: How to become a debt buyer

#39

Post by tptacek »

p0pcult wrote: post #19
tptacek wrote: post #12

This is currently, and for obvious reasons, trending towards a thread about how evil the debt collection industry is. That's a shame, because there's a lot of interesting stuff to learn from the mechanics of the debt collection business, and it's stuff you can put to use to protect yourself (and others) from its worst abuses. There are "is" arguments and there are "oughts". We probably all agree on the "oughts", at l…

>That's a shame Is it a shame? Could the guy instead have written an article entitled, "How to Protect Yourself (and Others) From the Worst Abuses of Debt Collectors"?

A thread on Hacker News isn't usually a referendum on the author; it's a discussion in its own right.

Re: How to become a debt buyer

#40

Post by lbrito »

BobJS wrote: post #29

I wrote this article years ago. I can't believe it's on HN today. As someone who spent almost a decade trying to run as ethical an agency as possible, I realized that there's no room for people who want to operate the right way. I could go on for days about all of the crazy stuff I saw while I was involved but leaving the debt industry was the best decision I ever made. Terrible industry, terrible people.

Kudos for showing up and recognizing that the industry is terrible.

The other commenters in this thread should read your post.

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