The Dark Underbelly of Debt Collection

[LiviaOlivia]

The Dark Underbelly of Debt Collection
By Elizabeth Warren
http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/warrenreports/2006/aug/02/the_dark_underbelly_of_debt_collection

The Boston Globe has just laid out a one-two-three-four-part series that both politicians and Pulitzer Prize panels should be carefully studying. The Globe team wrote about what happens when someone falls behind on a credit card. The stories are shocking: People have been sent to jail over credit card debts. People have been bullied and threatened and treated like dirt. People who needed their cars to get to work were forced to pay ransoms of thousands of dollars more than the original debt just to get their cars back after a collection agent wrongfully seized it. The stories show how hard-working people hanging on to the fragile edge of the middle class had their lives turned upside down by a credit card bill they couldn’t repay.

But the part of the story that really tore at me was the regulatory angle. The Globe articles are replete with stories of courts that rubber-stamping creditors’ claims—even when creditors list false address so the debtor never even gets notice of the court hearing. Read about collection agents who run the show at small claims courts. Read about constables with criminal records for assault who are given the right to arrest people for non-payment of debts. Read about attorneys general who don’t care what goes on.

It isn’t just the debt collection agents who get a black eye in this series; it is the government officials who are charged with the responsibility to watch out for the public and who instead made themselves the dupes of out-of-control debt collectors.

...read the series..drop an email to the Globe to tell them what you thought—this makes a huge difference on the amount of follow-up reporting.

~snip~

[ThomCat]

1. Being poor has always been a crime.

For a while it wasn't an official one, but I think that is coming back again. :(

[NMDemDist2]

2. we said this would happen when they put through the Bankruptcy Bill

a couple years ago.

:cry:

[Faygo Kid]

4. You are right about bankruptcy bill. That was the whole point, wasn't it?

When will people wake up and realize gay marriage is not the biggest issue in their lives? I was almost there on debt, then landed a good job. I am one of the lucky ones, and I know it.

[barb162]

8. That bill never should have been passed

[depakid]

11. Tell that to all the Dems who voted for it

as well as all the people on DU that whine about the Greens.

[liberalhistorian]

3. That's nothing to what medical debt collectrolls subject

people to, and what people have suffered for the crime of being sick. Truly sickening, so to speak.

[rubberducky]

5. Anyone who has not dealt with these "people",

has NO idea of how far they can go!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was 31 days late on my payment to Ford Credit,because I was on medical leave, when I recieved a nasty letter. So, I called them , they told me to overnight the past month plus the next months . Put it in the mail that day, need my car. The next day the tow truck arrived and hooked up my car, while I was on the phone to FMC. I was told that once your car is hooked to the truck, it belongs to FMC. They took the car, sold it at a loss of $2800 and garnished my wages for thier $2800. My car was 6 months old. Think it can`t happen to you?? Think again!!!

[JPZenger]

9. Repossessed for One Month's Payment?

Your new vehicle was repossessed for being late on only one or two month's payment? That doesn't make sense - the costs of going through repossession should have made them give you at least another month.

[LiviaOlivia]

6. A reminder

House Dems who voted for the bankruptcy bill:
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/004141.php

Senate Dems who voted for bill:
On March 11, the U.S. Senate passed the bankruptcy bill that will fill the coffers of the credit card companies while bleeding consumers dry.

The bill passed by a whopping 74 to 25 margin, with eighteen Democratic Senators going over to the dark side.

Here are the spineless 18:

Max Baucus, Montana.

Evan Bayh, Indiana.

Joe Biden, Delaware.

Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico.

Robert Byrd, West Virginia.

Thomas Carper, Delaware.

Kent Conrad, North Dakota.

Daniel Inouye, Hawaii.

Tim Johnson, South Dakota.

Herb Kohl, Wisconsin.

Mary Landrieu, Louisiana.

Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas

Bill Nelson, Florida.

Ben Nelson, Nebraska.

Mark Pryor, Arkansas.

Harry Reid, Nevada, Senate Minority Leader!

Ken Salazar, Colorado.

Debbie Stabenow, Michigan.

"This is not where we as Democrats ought to be, for crying out loud," as Senator Tom Harkin noted. "We are making a terrible mistake by thinking that we can have it both ways. We have to remember where our base is."

The bill is a fantasy come true for credit card companies, which have been pushing it for years. But it's not as though they're suffering. They made $30 billion in profits last year.

~snip~

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0313-31.htm

[undergroundpanther]

7. I wrote about this

http://www.unknownnews.org/050607a-Panther.html
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/?az=archives&j=917&page=2

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Dang, too late to rec. This should have made the Greatest page.

Please repost when drunken actors aren't dominating the news -- priorities, ya know.