Debt Collectors Are Transforming the Business of State Courts

Post by rayhendricks » Fri, May 08, 2020, 5:24 AM UTC

peterangular wrote: post #70

rayhendricks wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely agree. The whole “college experience” from overpriced textbooks to overpriced dorms is a huge racket. The covid pandemic might really shake things up though if there’s no school starting in the fall though.

I've advised a couple of people looking to go to school to take a gap-year to hedge risk of the schools having their stuff together. If there's anything I've noticed about higher education after working in/with it, its that they're constantly behind the curve in just about everything that's not sports/research related. I would be very scared of having a second-rate experience due to a college (and professors) not bei…

Post by lainga » Fri, May 08, 2020, 6:09 AM UTC

cwhiz wrote: post #93

Aloha wrote: post #20

The single largest thing we can do is undo the changes to bankruptcy law signed in 2005, it removed bankruptcy as a tool of the poor to discharge excess debt. It's caused there to be very little downside to lending, and lead to an explosion of debt.

The outcome of that will be that lending standards go up substantially. Significantly higher interest rates and required collateral. The eventual end result is fewer people able to qualify to buy a car, buy a house, get a credit card, or go to college. These are significant drivers of economic activity. It's hard to put the genie back in the bottle.

Post by FireBeyond » Fri, May 08, 2020, 6:17 AM UTC

netcan wrote: post #71

chrisseaton wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty fundamental in our society that the court looks at the arguments presented before it. If the claimants make a reasonable case and you have nothing to say about it as the defendant then the court will act on that. The idea is that it stops people coming into the court prejudiced.

This isn't a case where a guy didn't pay his builder and then no-shows at court. These are debts sold at >10% of face, often smallish debts that have accrued massive interest. Some agencies specialise in persistent calling. Some specialise in deal-making. Some specialise in legal proceedings. These are the ones we are talking about. To work, they need to keep legal costs low. They often don't bother to have a case, b…

Post by pmiller2 » Fri, May 08, 2020, 6:42 AM UTC

refurb wrote: post #137

pmiller2 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forget mortgage interest deductions. Take a look at cash back rewards cards. Cash-using households ultimately end up transferring money to card-using households this way, because merchants don't usually set higher prices for card users to compensate for fees. See https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/public-policy-discuss... I get an average of 1-2% off of almost everything I buy simply because I can use a cash back…

Is there something stopping poor people from getting these cards? I mean sure, if they have bad credit they can't, but I know plenty of poor people with good credit.

Post by mannanj » Fri, May 08, 2020, 6:53 AM UTC

1-more wrote: post #62

Aloha wrote: post #20

The single largest thing we can do is undo the changes to bankruptcy law signed in 2005, it removed bankruptcy as a tool of the poor to discharge excess debt. It's caused there to be very little downside to lending, and lead to an explosion of debt.

I'm begging on hands and knees for everyone in this thread to read Graeber's "Debt: the first 5,000 years." The notion that debts have to be paid is very odd. If I went to a bank and asked for a loan to bet on a horse, they'd laugh me out of the building. But if they knew that no matter what they could get the money back from me, they'd cut the check. That's where we are right now with non-dischargeable debts. Who ho…