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Inside the Dark, Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection

nytimes.com

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Re: Inside the Dark, Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection

#11

Post by innguest »

enraged_camel wrote: post #6

I find it very scary that huge portions of our economy are basically houses of cards built upon more houses of cards. We're so desperate to generate circulation for money that we've invented an intricate set of rules where it's OK to pretend that you have money, as long as you promise to actually have it at some point in the future. And then of course another set of rules has to be invented to manage the risk of that…

Watch "The Century of the self".

It makes the point that it's necessary because the government wants to control people's subconscious behavior through consumerism, which necessitates (I guess?) this skew in currency that you pointed out.

Re: Inside the Dark, Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection

#12

Post by a8da6b0c91d »

delinka wrote: post #4
yonran wrote: post #2

When the collectors call the debtors, can the debtor demand a paper trail to prove that the collector is the actual owner of the debt? Why should a debtor pay any amount of money to a random person who calls them and says they bought an old debt?

In the USA: Yes, the alleged debtor can insist on proof. The bad news: If collector mails the debtor, and the debtor doesn't respond for 30 days, the collector can report the debt to the credit reporting agencies. And we all know what a pain it is to get anything corrected on a credit report.

I don't understand why people freak out so much about their credit reports. I have no idea what my credit score is and don't care. I guess it's poor people who need credit to scrape by on a regular basis? If you have a lot of cash it seems like a completely empty threat. The bank is not going to care about your $400 unpaid comcast bill when writing you a mortgage. People who have declared bankruptcy twice are getting low rates. Tell the collectors to fuck off and go ahead and tell experian.

I got a $1200 medical bill, about half of which was BS. I sent a certified letter disputing the invalid charges. I never got a reply, so I never paid. I started getting calls from a collector. I blocked the numbers, end of story. I similarly never paid some bullshit charge from a landlord. These unpaid "debts" have never impacted me in the slightest.

If someone is trying to screw you, just don't pay. I don't understand why people are such cowards about it.

Re: Inside the Dark, Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection

#13

Post by res0nat0r »

nostromo wrote: post #10

I think that borrowers should have the right of first refusal when their debt is sold. For example, if you're about to sell $1.00 worth of my debt to someone for $0.10, first you must offer it to me at the same cost: $0.10.

Then why would anyone pay their bills if they can buy their debt back for 1/10th of what they owe?

Re: Inside the Dark, Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection

#14

Post by ahh »

res0nat0r wrote: post #13
nostromo wrote: post #10

I think that borrowers should have the right of first refusal when their debt is sold. For example, if you're about to sell $1.00 worth of my debt to someone for $0.10, first you must offer it to me at the same cost: $0.10.

Then why would anyone pay their bills if they can buy their debt back for 1/10th of what they owe?

Well, at a bare minimum, credit scores.

Re: Inside the Dark, Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection

#15

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

Advice from someone who works on debt collection software for a living: never, ever let a check bounce. Returned checks operate in a legal loophole that circumvents most of the consumer protection afforded to regular debt. Collection agencies can begin pursuing it immediately, can begin reporting it to the credit bureaus immediately, and the interest rate they're allowed to charge on it is ridiculous.

Re: Inside the Dark, Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection

#16

Post by rondon2 »

yonran wrote: post #2

When the collectors call the debtors, can the debtor demand a paper trail to prove that the collector is the actual owner of the debt? Why should a debtor pay any amount of money to a random person who calls them and says they bought an old debt?

Yes, and you can tell them to never contact you again in any way. Tell them that you refute all of the debt and will sue them if they file inaccurate information with a credit agency. I did that two years ago when a debt was incorrectly reported against me and I never heard from anyone again and it never showed up on my credit report. I'm not sure what would happen if they could prove the debt was accurate.

Re: Inside the Dark, Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection

#17

Post by qq66 »

enraged_camel wrote: post #6

I find it very scary that huge portions of our economy are basically houses of cards built upon more houses of cards. We're so desperate to generate circulation for money that we've invented an intricate set of rules where it's OK to pretend that you have money, as long as you promise to actually have it at some point in the future. And then of course another set of rules has to be invented to manage the risk of that…

Well, lending is a very important function in an economy. Without lending, you could never invest more capital than you had on hand... If you had a handmade widget that you were producing for $10, and could only sell for $5, but a million-dollar factory would let you produce 100,000 widgets a day for $2 each, lending is the only way to get into business.

It's not the use of debt that's a problem, it's the misuse of debt.

Re: Inside the Dark, Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection

#18

Post by [deleted] »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #15

Advice from someone who works on debt collection software for a living: never, ever let a check bounce. Returned checks operate in a legal loophole that circumvents most of the consumer protection afforded to regular debt. Collection agencies can begin pursuing it immediately, can begin reporting it to the credit bureaus immediately, and the interest rate they're allowed to charge on it is ridiculous.

[deleted]

Re: Inside the Dark, Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection

#19

Post by pavel_lishin »

res0nat0r wrote: post #13
nostromo wrote: post #10

I think that borrowers should have the right of first refusal when their debt is sold. For example, if you're about to sell $1.00 worth of my debt to someone for $0.10, first you must offer it to me at the same cost: $0.10.

Then why would anyone pay their bills if they can buy their debt back for 1/10th of what they owe?

I can also just wait out the debt period, until it passes the statute of limitations, and not pay anything at all - but I don't, because I prefer having a decent credit score and businesses who will do business with me.

Re: Inside the Dark, Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection

#20

Post by Iftheshoefits »

res0nat0r wrote: post #13
nostromo wrote: post #10

I think that borrowers should have the right of first refusal when their debt is sold. For example, if you're about to sell $1.00 worth of my debt to someone for $0.10, first you must offer it to me at the same cost: $0.10.

Then why would anyone pay their bills if they can buy their debt back for 1/10th of what they owe?

In addition to the credit issues the other commenters noted, there is the issue of taxes in the case of "chargeoffs." One will get an income statement from the credit issuer for the fraction of the debt they write off.

Odds are if one is in the position of having debt collectors come after them they'll be unlikely to afford the taxes on the "income."

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