People don't wake up one day and find their wages garnished. They must have a lawsuit filed against them, be served with a summons, get a judgment against them, and finally have their wages garnished. And the money that is being garnished is to pay back the creditor for the money and/or services that the debtor received. It's called justice.
Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt
21–30 of 96 posts
Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt
#22The more I learn about what happens to people who are in debt and fall into hard times, the less I want to buy anything with credit.
Well credit cards are a pretty recent development. The first general purpose card wasn't created until 1966. Sure, you can trace different forms of credit all the way back to the Crusades and the Knights Templar, but credit cards are a recent invention. If you think it about this way, the greatest generation never used credit. They saved until they had the money to buy stuff. My grandparents never had credit cards, a…
> If anything, you should use them only to maintain your credit rating. Keep a small balance (under $100) and use them to make small purchases. That way, you can reap the benefits to your credit score, without putting yourself in a huge hole.
Don't leave the balance, pay it off every month. It doesn't benefit your credit score.
From a Bank of America FAQ [0]:
Fiction: You must carry a balance on your credit cards to build a credit history.
Fact: You do need to use your credit cards to build a credit history, but that doesn't mean you must carry an unpaid balance. In fact, your best strategy is to use your credit cards and pay off the bill in full each month so you keep your overall debt-to-credit limit low.
[0] https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/education/5-facts...
Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt
#23It's hard to see these "millions of americans" as victims in this matter. It's almost always possible to just _not buy_ something if you can't afford it.
Just like millions of Americans conscientiously choose to not buy food and life-saving medical care each day!
Life isn't always as simple as "don't buy more things".
Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt
#24Reading the responses here, I think you guys are completely disconnected from the reality, because you (like me) are lucky to have a high-paid high-in-demand profession! There are people in America who go to bed hungry - and not because they overspend or manage finances poorly. Just go over at http://www.feedingamerica.org/ as starters!
"overspend or manage finances poorly"
The sort of debt that you're talking about goes way further than the narrow perspective that most take on it. It begins before you are even born, and I think we should all ruminate on that.
Let me elaborate a bit, despite consistently getting down mods for expressing this point of view before. The debt begins with the parents that choose to have kids when they are unsure of their financial wellness and security for the years to come of their child's growth to adulthood. i.e. People shouldn't be having kids unless they're damn sure they can take care of them till they're adults and able to take care of themselves.
Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well credit cards are a pretty recent development. The first general purpose card wasn't created until 1966. Sure, you can trace different forms of credit all the way back to the Crusades and the Knights Templar, but credit cards are a recent invention. If you think it about this way, the greatest generation never used credit. They saved until they had the money to buy stuff. My grandparents never had credit cards, a…
And even the relevance of the credit score depends on where you are and what you're planning to do with it. Where I live you can get mortgages without a credit history as they value more that you can live within your means than having a history of going over it.
Lenders do rely on a variety of factors when deciding who to lend money to but the credit score (as in FICO in the US) doesn't depend "on where you are and what you're planning to do with it".
Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt
#26People don't wake up one day and find their wages garnished. They must have a lawsuit filed against them, be served with a summons, get a judgment against them, and finally have their wages garnished. And the money that is being garnished is to pay back the creditor for the money and/or services that the debtor received. It's called justice.
Charging constant percentage on the debt is not called justice. It's a rip off.
Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt
#27It's hard to see these "millions of americans" as victims in this matter. It's almost always possible to just _not buy_ something if you can't afford it.
That depends what the something is. Of course you don't need a 42" TV when you can't afford it, but whether you have money in the bank or not you'll still need to eat, and travel to work.
Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt
#28It's hard to see these "millions of americans" as victims in this matter. It's almost always possible to just _not buy_ something if you can't afford it.
Well, sure getting into debt to begin with doesn't make you a victim ... but there's definitely some opportunity for victimization once they go into default; it's an opaque process that most people don't know enough about up front. Think 30% penalty-APRs on your credit cards or five-figure collection fees tacked onto student loan debts. To what extent is this the real price of the risk and prices you're exposing the lenders to, and to what extent is it simply exploitation? A clear answer is hard to come by.
Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt
#29People don't wake up one day and find their wages garnished. They must have a lawsuit filed against them, be served with a summons, get a judgment against them, and finally have their wages garnished. And the money that is being garnished is to pay back the creditor for the money and/or services that the debtor received. It's called justice.
>>And the money that is being garnished is to pay back the creditor for the money and/or services that the debtor received. It's called justice.
I wouldn't describe a big CC corp bringing a citizen to near-financial-ruin as "justice". While you are probably factually right and all the legal procedures more or less followed, this article still highlights a problem with our current system. That it drains people who are already weak. Kicks 'em when they're down.
Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt
#30It's hard to see these "millions of americans" as victims in this matter. It's almost always possible to just _not buy_ something if you can't afford it.
Just like millions of Americans conscientiously choose to not buy food and life-saving medical care each day! Life isn't always as simple as "don't buy more things".
Don't forget these two: "Save when you can, instead of spending". And "don't have kids you can't take care of, so they don't end up starving and unable to pay for 'life-saving medical care' when they're older."