61–70 of 96 posts
This is a serious enough issue without misleading headlines.
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.
>>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…
It's a little bit on me that I didn't say "this is evil" and walk out, but I was much younger then and the job market for developers wasn't anywhere near as good as it is today.
- Option 1: Avoid getting into debt - Option 2: Pay your bills on time - Option 3: File Bankruptcy If you haven't taken option 1 or option 2 and you start getting court notices - then it's time to start talking to someone about option 3.
Reading 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!
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>>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…
Almost 20 years ago I interviewed with Capital One. They were drawing graphs of people's debts like it was calculus class, and asking me to come up with strategies to maximize consumer debt. It's a little bit on me that I didn't say "this is evil" and walk out, but I was much younger then and the job market for developers wasn't anywhere near as good as it is today.
Consumers don't understand that this is what they are signing up for, and the c-card companies certainly don't make it clear that defaults are a key contributor to their profitability.
There's at least one UK c-card company that charges interest rates of up 99.9% to high-risk customers. They know damn well that with a rate like that even a tiny debt is going to explode within a few months and give them the option to get a charge on someone's home, force them to sell, and pocket the original value of the debt, plus interest, plus legal costs.
Aren't there bankruptcy protections?
There are none for student loans. If you file bankruptcy they're the only kind of debt that you can't discharge.
ADD: From the horses mouth: "However, certain circumstances might lead to your loans being forgiven, canceled, or discharged." ( https://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellati... )
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"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…
Huh? How many people in their 20s know for sure that they're going to be financially well off for the rest of their lives and there isn't going to be a stock market crash or some tragic event that substantially changes the economy? I have friends who were commercial airline captains in 2000. Then 9/11 happened, and they went on furlough for a number of years and had to work places like Best Buy. You're saying they sh…
Those are the types of people that need to watch their actions, and count their beans carefully. They're the ones I was speaking of specifically.
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>>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…
Of course the option is to not extend them credit at all so they avoid these Faustian deals. Of course, denying poor people access to credit is going to be politically unpopular.
The real problem is that denying poor people decent wages has been popular for too long - which is why they're poor.
You can't run a sane, stable society by economically disenfranchising most of the population.
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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."
Don't forget to fully anticipate the future with perfect accuracy so you can be sure that you'll be certain of your ability to afford kids. Life is uncertain and variable. Demanding that people make choices based on unknowable futures is a bit silly.
You are 100% correct, life is uncertain and variable. And there is no way for anyone to fully anticipate the future with perfect accuracy. However, that right there is the most powerful reason that should be compelling individuals to be more careful and risk-averse. Especially when it comes to family, kids and health.
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> 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…
It's hard to know exactly goes into the credit score calculation since the algorithm is proprietary but, anecdotally, you can carry a small balance (e.g. <10% of your credit line) without it having a negative impact on your credit score.