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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

#261

Post by lawnchair_larry »

wtbob wrote: post #253
forca wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Medical debt rankles me like nothing else. The US, supposedly the most advanced nation on Earth has the worst notion of all: health care for profit. Simply evil. Health care is a basic human right. Full stop. Health care should never be based on one's ability to pay. Never. I pray I see socialised medicine in the US in my lifetime. If Hilary Clinton gets elected, the push for this will be stronger than the thin edge…

> The US, supposedly the most advanced nation on Earth has the worst notion of all: health care for profit. I presume that in your socialist medical system doctors, nurses, drug chemists, medical feathers and so forth would still get paid, right? Guess what? That's profit. There's plenty wrong with our health care system. Much of it is due to the insurance idea. Much of it is regulatory. Much of it is structural. Sin…

No, it doesn't. That's been proven wrong by the entire developed world.

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

#262

Post by scott_karana »

nerfhammer wrote: post #254
danboarder wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your observation reminds me of the http://rollingjubilee.org project that buys up consumer debt for pennies on the dollar and then simply cancels it.

Does the debtor owe taxes on amount cancelled?

From the page:

> Will the Rolling Jubilee have to file a 1099-C Cancellation of Debt form with the IRS? No. The Rolling Jubilee will earn no income from the lending of money and is therefore exempt from filing a Form 1099-C under the Internal Revenue Code Section 6050P.

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

#263

Post by nerfhammer »

scott_karana wrote: post #262
nerfhammer wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the debtor owe taxes on amount cancelled?

From the page: > Will the Rolling Jubilee have to file a 1099-C Cancellation of Debt form with the IRS? No. The Rolling Jubilee will earn no income from the lending of money and is therefore exempt from filing a Form 1099-C under the Internal Revenue Code Section 6050P.

That doesn't necessarily mean you aren't supposed to report it as income when you file for your tax returns even if they don't file a 1099 for you

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

#264

Post by forca »

wtbob wrote: post #253
forca wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Medical debt rankles me like nothing else. The US, supposedly the most advanced nation on Earth has the worst notion of all: health care for profit. Simply evil. Health care is a basic human right. Full stop. Health care should never be based on one's ability to pay. Never. I pray I see socialised medicine in the US in my lifetime. If Hilary Clinton gets elected, the push for this will be stronger than the thin edge…

> The US, supposedly the most advanced nation on Earth has the worst notion of all: health care for profit. I presume that in your socialist medical system doctors, nurses, drug chemists, medical feathers and so forth would still get paid, right? Guess what? That's profit. There's plenty wrong with our health care system. Much of it is due to the insurance idea. Much of it is regulatory. Much of it is structural. Sin…

Easy. Set limits on salaries. All medical schools become government owned and run. Doctors graduate with no debt and they agree to serve the system for 10 years. If you bail before 10, you pay the debt of schooling you. Salaries would be reasonable and capped. You don't become a doctor to become wealthy -- you do so to serve.

Have for-profit clinics for stupid things like breast implants and other things that insurance should never be paying for -- like optional stuff.

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

#265

Post by sanderjd »

ohitsdom wrote: post #258
sanderjd wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me a lot of when the department of education sold my student loans to a couple private firms. Out of the blue, I just received a couple emails from a couple companies I've never heard of asking me to give them all my information (including my SSN) in order to create an account. I deleted them immediately, assuming there was a new phishing scheme in vogue, and didn't realize what had happened until I chec…

Curious, what did you end up doing? Did you pay the firm who bought your debt?

Yep, just had to re-set-up all my direct deposit stuff. To summarize, the owner of my debt was allowed to sell it to a third party, with non-existent or at least extremely poor notification, in a way that required extra effort on my part to avoid accidental default! Not a great system in my opinion, but perhaps being at the mercy of those you have borrowed from is a disincentive to borrowing that is quite properly built into the system.

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

#266

Post by forca »

kefka wrote: post #101
forca wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Medical debt rankles me like nothing else. The US, supposedly the most advanced nation on Earth has the worst notion of all: health care for profit. Simply evil. Health care is a basic human right. Full stop. Health care should never be based on one's ability to pay. Never. I pray I see socialised medicine in the US in my lifetime. If Hilary Clinton gets elected, the push for this will be stronger than the thin edge…

>Medical debt rankles me like nothing else. The US, supposedly the most advanced nation on Earth has the worst notion of all: health care for profit. Simply evil. Health care is a basic human right. Full stop. Health care should never be based on one's ability to pay. Never. An injured person has no capitalistic value. They are injured, and can either work limitedly or not at all. Therefore, they are worth little to…

You sound like a Nazi...

I pray you never experience a major medical issue whereby you are "useless" to society.

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

#267

Post by BallinBige »

Swannie wrote: post #260
mthoms wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... Being sold (and stolen by) a largely unregulated industry consisting mostly of ex-felons and thugs who do their deals in parking lots on a no-questions asked basis. We're talking about very sensitive info like SSN's, DOB's, home address, work history and so on. There's nothing shocking about that at all? Honestly, did you read the article?

Nothing shocking - a little surprising, definitely disturbing. The lack of regulation is the most surprising thing, and the lack of interest from the US federal government to do much about it is disturbing.

It's a heavily regulated space, nowadays.

Dodd-Frank changed it all and spawned many other regs + groups

"Passed as a response to the Great Recession, it brought the most significant changes to financial regulation in the United States since the regulatory reform that followed the Great Depression"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodd%E2%80%93Frank_Wall_Street_...

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

#268

Post by mthoms »

Swannie wrote: post #260
mthoms wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... Being sold (and stolen by) a largely unregulated industry consisting mostly of ex-felons and thugs who do their deals in parking lots on a no-questions asked basis. We're talking about very sensitive info like SSN's, DOB's, home address, work history and so on. There's nothing shocking about that at all? Honestly, did you read the article?

Nothing shocking - a little surprising, definitely disturbing. The lack of regulation is the most surprising thing, and the lack of interest from the US federal government to do much about it is disturbing.

Isn't surprising + disturbing pretty much the very definition of shocking? Can we agree on mildly shocking? :-)

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

#269

Post by kefka »

forca wrote: post #266
kefka wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Medical debt rankles me like nothing else. The US, supposedly the most advanced nation on Earth has the worst notion of all: health care for profit. Simply evil. Health care is a basic human right. Full stop. Health care should never be based on one's ability to pay. Never. An injured person has no capitalistic value. They are injured, and can either work limitedly or not at all. Therefore, they are worth little to…

You sound like a Nazi... I pray you never experience a major medical issue whereby you are "useless" to society.

Actually, I'm much more a socialist. I believe that All people have a right to health. And I also think that introducing large swaths of cash like we do in the USA enables horrible perverse goals.
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