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Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt

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Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt

#91

Post by gretful »

sjg007 wrote: post #88
morganvachon wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does happen out of the blue like that sometimes, though. A little over a decade ago, my biological father who lived in another state had died suddenly. Because I had been covered under his social security plan when I was a minor and had battled cancer into adulthood (resulting in a $400,000 bill), the remaining debt of nearly $100,000 ended up in my lap. The only way I found out was when my wages began to be garni…

Why were you responsible for his debt?

state laws sometimes pass the debt of a parent along to children who can pay it.

Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt

#92

Post by zo1 »

Do you not have something like this in America:

http://www.liberty.co.za/our-products/protecting-your-income...

It's pretty much a sort of "insurance" that then pays out your salary for X amount of time if you become unable to work for whatever reason. There are many different types/kinds of this type of thing here...

Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt

#93

Post by jschwartzi »

jrs235 wrote: post #66
jschwartzi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are none for student loans. If you file bankruptcy they're the only kind of debt that you can't discharge.

You can get student loans discharged. It's a misconception that many believe, even lawyers. It's just very, no, extremely, difficult to do so. 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... )

Huh. That contradicts what I remember from my exit counseling. Perhaps it's a useful misconception?

Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt

#94

Post by morganvachon »

sjg007 wrote: post #88
morganvachon wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does happen out of the blue like that sometimes, though. A little over a decade ago, my biological father who lived in another state had died suddenly. Because I had been covered under his social security plan when I was a minor and had battled cancer into adulthood (resulting in a $400,000 bill), the remaining debt of nearly $100,000 ended up in my lap. The only way I found out was when my wages began to be garni…

Why were you responsible for his debt?

Technically it was my debt, but as a minor starting out it wasn't my legal responsibility. I went into the remission phase as an adult, and soon after all benefits stopped. A few years after that he passed away, and they came after me to recoup the balance due.

Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt

#95

Post by Jtsummers »

misaelm wrote: post #89
Jtsummers wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but you're paying interest. Again, anecdotally, I've never carried a balance. I've had two loans (student loans, paid off; auto loan, almost paid off) and never carried a balance on my CCs, my credit scores (across all three) are fine. It doesn't make sense, to me, to pay more interest than you have to on something you can afford to pay off (the auto loan is only still around because I'll lose another $100 to in…

Not necessarily. For FICO scoring purposes, you may carry a balance and still never pay a dime in interest: FICO considers your balance at the end your cycle, not the balance after your due date. For example, if I have a balance of $800 when my statement was generated, my bank is going to report that $800 to the credit bureaus and FICO will calculate my credit score accordingly. So, for this cycle at least, it doesn'…

I think there may have been some confusion on my part. When I hear "carrying a balance" I think "not paying the bill in full each month". From what you just wrote I don't think you're talking about what I imagined. If that's the case then my apologies. I just meant that you shouldn't carry a balance over each billing cycle (which would accrue some interest) which is advice that I've seen people give before.

Re: Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt

#96

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #65
danielweber wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This. The c-card companies have actuarial/mathematical models that make it possible to estimate the profitability of the debt/default/lawsuit process from start to finish - where finish can mean bankruptcy, a lien on property, or garnished wages. 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 pro…

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