71–80 of 116 posts
Isn't there like a credit score system in the US that companies can check? In Mexico there's something called the Credit Office (buró de crédito) that banks can check if you've paid all your debts.
There is, and a good rule of thumb is that if it's a bad trait of your government... Most likely learned it from the US.
Wrong on both counts.
You can believe that collection agencies behave illegally and also think that is unethical not to pay your debts to the best of your ability. Even if paying consumer debts is optional, not being able to get credit in the future, especially a home mortgage, is an incentive to pay. Some employers check the credit scores of applicants, and such scores probably are a decent indicator of whether someone has their life in…
Once the debt has been sold off, it's very likely that your credit score has already been impacted. On the ethics front: let's say I owe money to a credit card company. They sell it off to EZ-Sleez, the debt collection company. What do I owe to them? I certainly didn't borrow money from them. We have no particular relationship. They have one with the credit card company, but that's none of my business, from an ethics…
Wife and I tried to start a business a couple years ago; ran onto circumstances that made it difficult, went bankrupt. We talked to all our credit card issuers about our troubles beforehand, trying to get some better option than "just stop paying"; they were not interested. Discover actually laughed at my wife when she asked about it: "you're not even delinquent yet!" We were going to be the next day, and would've li…
you dealt with your creditors in a way that a responsible business owner (or farmer) would do it -- like adults dealing with bad news in a long-term relationship. A difference though, is that in consumer credit cards, the scale of the offering made it a whole-new situation. The people you talked to are low-training cogs, and there is almost zero sense of relationship at the scale of consumer credit like that. The peo…
Lovely folks there, I fear the day they get bought up and turn bad.
When creditors sell debt to collections they should be required to allow the debtor to buy their debt back at that price. Of course they'll never actually do that. Usurers are unreceptive to any notion that you won't pay every last extortionate penny. They'd rather sell it to collections for 5 cents on the dollar than let you settle for 50 in a straightforward conversation.
But I wonder if it could be possible to crowd fund something like this, or have a non-profit that just buys cheap debts like this and forgives them all? Idk what that would cost, but it could help shrink the shady debt collector industry a little.
One reason to pay is because you plan to borrow again But if its already reached collections then it doesn’t really make a difference to your credit eligibility for the next X many years
I thought once you paid the debt the credit score should improve, no?
The score almost means nothing with them present.
From the linked piece: > Well, not all of it. I didn’t inherit the assets. She didn’t leave a will, which meant the state of Tennessee inherited her house. What I inherited was her debt. Wait, is this right?! In Ireland, and I thought most common-law places, if someone dies intestate, an administrator is appointed, in practice generally the next of kin. Any assets go in the estate, the administrator pays any debts ou…
That's how it pretty much works in the whole United States. This isn't the first article I've seen where the author passes on the notion that debts are inherited. You would think an author would have a duty to their audience that they should inform them about the truth and help prevent them from falling into this trap, but instead we get stories about people working to pay off inherited debts, normalizing it.
One reason to pay is because you plan to borrow again But if its already reached collections then it doesn’t really make a difference to your credit eligibility for the next X many years
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I thought once you paid the debt the credit score should improve, no?
It improves but collections are an adverse notice on your credit report that stay for 7 years. Its different from just holding a high balance on the card. The score almost means nothing with them present.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm guessing you agreed that the CC company could sell your debt when you signed up for the card.
Could be! But I'm not sure that a coerced choice - "if you don't pay us exactly on time, we'll sell your information to criminals who'll harass your family" - is itself ethical. And yes, it is a coerced choice. It's difficult to live in modern American society without a credit card, or a credit score which is very difficult to keep high without a credit card.