Study: 35 percent in US facing debt collectors

[villager]

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 35 percent of Americans have debts and unpaid bills that have been reported to collection agencies, according to a study released Tuesday by the Urban Institute.

These consumers fall behind on credit cards or hospital bills. Their mortgages, auto loans or student debt pile up, unpaid. Even past-due gym membership fees or cellphone contracts can end up with a collection agency, potentially hurting credit scores and job prospects, said Caroline Ratcliffe, a senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank.

"Roughly, every third person you pass on the street is going to have debt in collections," Ratcliffe said. "It can tip employers' hiring decisions, or whether or not you get that apartment."

The study found that 35.1 percent of people with credit records had been reported to collections for debt that averaged $5,178, based on September 2013 records. The study points to a disturbing trend: The share of Americans in collections has remained relatively constant, even as the country as a whole has whittled down the size of its credit card debt since the official end of the Great Recession in the middle of 2009.

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All of this has reshaped the economy. The collections industry employs 140,000 workers who recover $50 billion each year, according to a separate study published this year by the Fed's Philadelphia bank branch.

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http://bigstory.ap.org/article/study-35-percent-us-facing-debt-collectors

[Warpy]

1. Debt with duns and no way out

because a few rich parasites have looted the economy has been the start of many a revolution.

Let's hope ours is another peaceful one.

[villager]

2. Let us indeed "hope" that some of that "change" we need is actually headed our way...

The peaceful, paradigm-shifting kind...

Otherwise, the other kind will eventually roll around...

[Warpy]

3. Yes, it's one of those lessons of history

that ignorant men who spend their lives allowing parasites to steal more didn't have time to bother with in school. It's one of those lessons of history that will bite them, hard, even in a peaceful revolution.

[ColesCountyDem]

4. Some are too poor to even declare bankruptcy.

In a Chapter 7 (no asset) bankruptcy, the bankrupt person is generally required to pay between $1000-1500, up front, and in a Chapter 13 (wage earner) bankruptcy, the initial cost is about $150, up front, plus $100 minimum/month for 36 months.

The above are due to bankruptcy 'reforms' rammed through Congress by the credit-card and banking industries, making the U.S. the only Western nation where one can be too poor to file for bankruptcy protection.

'murika!

[villager]

5. Yes, bankruptcy "reform" as done in a "two" party system

When all we have, really, are two versions of a bankers' party -- one for crazy people, and one for apologists...

[JEB]

6. Neo-liberal jobs program: hire more debt collectors.

[conservaphobe]

7. Just make sure to file a response if they sue you.

Or the court will automatically rule in their favor.

Every time I have filed a response, the case was dismissed.

Automatic judgments are 99% of their bottom line.

[villager]

9. That's true -- they count on no response

And the paperwork trail for the debt collectors is often as hazy and specious as that of mortgage brokers...

[Zorra]

8. Credit Cards are a deadly trap set by the 1% to hold us in bondage. CUT. THEM. UP.

Even if you use credit cards wisely, CUT. THEM. UP. Do it for your family, your friends, your neighbors, your country.

Credit Cards are a main weapon of mass destruction used by Banksters to make indentured servants of people, and as insurance against revolution as well.

[villager]

10. Debt is definitely one of the internalized policemen

...for the 1%