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Debt Collectors Have Figured Out A Way To Seize Your Wages And Savings

Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

Debt collectors are allowed to do all sorts of shady crap. And the laws are written heavily in their favor, even when they're in error.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

Kinda lopsided they can take something 100 times valued more than what is owed.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

In many cases that law allows the case to be "advertised" in a local newspaper of record when the address of the party is "not known". Your debt may be held in South Dakota yet you reside in New York making it very unlikely that you get wind of an ad in a SD newspaper.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

The lopsidedness of the credit system really ticks me off. Credit reporting agencies should be sued for libel when they spread false information about someone. You should have to be fairly certain that something is true before you spread it around and damage a person's reputation. So many people simply pay off debts they do not owe, just to get credit reporting agencies to stop spreading lies about them.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

The lopsidedness of the credit system really ticks me off. Credit reporting agencies should be sued for libel when they spread false information about someone. You should have to be fairly certain that something is true before you spread it around and damage a person's reputation. So many people simply pay off debts they do not owe, just to get credit reporting agencies to stop spreading lies about them.

Much worse is that the three credit reporting agencies keep their rating methods confidential, resulting in everybody going off an understanding of the methodology that is ultimately inaccurate in so many ways. This includes what is counted against your credit score right down to how often and how quickly actions are reported to them. We mere mortals attempting to understand their system is little different than ancient Mesopotamians understanding the weather through trial and error. Sometime we get it right, but a lot of times we don't. I can't believe this crap is legal.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

Debt Collectors Have Figured Out A Way To Seize Your Wages And Savings

So...if a debt collector says you owe them 2500 bucks on a mastercard you don't own, they can take your house that is worth 60,000? Is that the new thang going on?

Debts should be paid, I would have thought. If you take more debt than you can handle from cash flow, you have to sell assets. If you are unwilling, then a court does it.
Where is the problem?
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

Debts should be paid, I would have thought. If you take more debt than you can handle from cash flow, you have to sell assets. If you are unwilling, then a court does it.
Where is the problem?

Of course they should be paid. But when you can be sued without notification; when you can be sued and judged against without the chance to defend yourself; when you can be erroneously sued without notification and be held liable for the money you don't owe; and when you can have wages and/or property taken without due process, THERE'S A BIG ****ING PROBLEM.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

I daresay this should be an issue that would be bipartisan ... I don't think anyone, left or right, thinks this is OK. But there's always gotta be THAT GUY.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

Of course they should be paid. But when you can be sued without notification; when you can be sued and judged against without the chance to defend yourself; when you can be erroneously sued without notification and be held liable for the money you don't owe; and when you can have wages and/or property taken without due process, THERE'S A BIG ****ING PROBLEM.

It does seem like undue process for the court not to require proof of prior demands made to and received by the debtor.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

It does seem like undue process for the court not to require proof of prior demands made to and received by the debtor.

Precisely my point. I have no problem with people trying to get their money, nor with them farming it out to third parties to do so. What I do have a problem with, even more than the borderline harrassment debt collectors engage in, is the justice system so skewed in the favor of the collector with little regard for ... well, pretty much anything regarding the debtor.

We can thank Joe Biden for this, by the way. As a Senator from Delaware, which is home to most of the major credit card companies in the U.S. (an old joke was to refer to him as "Sen. Biden D-MBNA") he advocated tirelessly in favor of the CC companies. He, like any pol, knows on which side his bread is buttered.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

Precisely my point. I have no problem with people trying to get their money, nor with them farming it out to third parties to do so. What I do have a problem with, even more than the borderline harrassment debt collectors engage in, is the justice system so skewed in the favor of the collector with little regard for ... well, pretty much anything regarding the debtor.

We can thank Joe Biden for this, by the way. As a Senator from Delaware, which is home to most of the major credit card companies in the U.S. (an old joke was to refer to him as "Sen. Biden D-MBNA") he advocated tirelessly in favor of the CC companies. He, like any pol, knows on which side his bread is buttered.

I agree with all of that. But I do want to mention two things. Firstly, this is not news. It has been going on for a long time. Secondly, there are debtor protection laws governing what lenders can and cannot do in the pursuit of collecting debts. If there are shady practices then the job of dealing with them is the judge hearing the case. If it is reasonable to assume that the debtor was unaware of the lawsuit, then the judge should reschedule the hearing until that is corrected. The problem may not be the debt collectors who will do what they can to get paid but rather the judges who need treat people fairly and legally. The legal system is certainly imperfect but those imperfections are normally caused by people rather than the law itself.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

It does seem like undue process for the court not to require proof of prior demands made to and received by the debtor.

I think it's tough. Send a Certified Letter and the receiver refuses it. Maybe writes on it "no such person at this address". Process server serves it in person. Or does he just say he did?? IMO, credit card companies ought to be held to a high standard to collect their debt. Thirty days late with a payment? Credit card's shut off. Card limits kept much lower than they are. My card limit is $30,000 on several. What's that about?

Like everything else in life, people learn how to work the system. And the rest of us pay for it.

As to the house being taken, apparently in NY State, if it's not your principle residence, a house can be taken for payment. It was his mom's house; she had passed away. It was his mom's debt. What do you want to bet he knew about and figured, "She's dead; I don't have to pay it"?

I have no confidence in the American people at large to do the right thing where money's concerned.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

I have an A hole dentist that just took my bill to a collection agency. My insurance did not cover a crown because he took no X ray of the tooth for documentation so I refused to pay for his mistake. I intend to take him to court over this but it sounds like I better hurry before I get taken to court but am never notified about it.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

Debt Collectors Have Figured Out A Way To Seize Your Wages And Savings

So...if a debt collector says you owe them 2500 bucks on a mastercard you don't own, they can take your house that is worth 60,000? Is that the new thang going on?

Firstly, it's not debt collectors who determine you owe money, it is the institution they work for or who contracts them that determines you owe money and are seriously in default. No institution, to my knowledge, lets bills go without any attention prior to forwarding the account to collection. Therefore, in effect, the debtor has likely been notified numerous times by the institution that they are in default of the terms of their credit issuance and they need to attend to it NOW before it goes to collection. So if you're not defrauding the institution, you're aware you owe money. A simple call or communication with the institution can usually result in a compromise that will assist the debtor in making good on their debt, if they really want to.

Secondly, collections are different in the US than in Canada - here, a collection agency has no such right of seizure without a court order and they may not call your place of employment to hassle you nor may they leave messages saying who they are in order to embarrass you at your place of work. They can, through a court, garnishee your wages in order to make you make good on your debt unless you get a court order, in the form of bankruptcy protection, to prohibit such.

All that said, there are occasions where bad stuff happens - we've had situations where unsuspecting people have had mortgages taken out on their homes by people who don't own the home and then the lender comes after the homeowner for the debt while the fraudster has left the scene with the cash. Remarkably, courts have sided with the banks often in such cases.

Bottom line, if you're in the credit and banking world, which most people are, you should be diligent in keeping your payments up to date and you should at least yearly monitor your credit reports through the government sponsored entities to ensure nothing is wrong. And above all, if you have a debt with someone don't just ignore them when you have trouble paying and hope they'll go away - they never do.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

At the risk of going a little off topic... As much as the scales are tilted in favor of the debt collectors it is nothing compared to how far they are tilted in favor of the IRS.

With the IRS you are guilty, period. You owe them right fricking now and the penalties and garnishments start immediately. You will need to pay for representation and if you manage to prove that, in fact, it was the IRS in error and you never did owe them what they claimed... oh well. They refund what they've basically stolen from you but you're still stuck with the legal fees.

I have never understood how or why this agency is able to operate without due process.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

Like everything else in life, people learn how to work the system. And the rest of us pay for it.

That is about it and why so many well meant systems fail.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

I think it's tough. Send a Certified Letter and the receiver refuses it. Maybe writes on it "no such person at this address". Process server serves it in person. Or does he just say he did?? IMO, credit card companies ought to be held to a high standard to collect their debt. Thirty days late with a payment? Credit card's shut off. Card limits kept much lower than they are. My card limit is $30,000 on several. What's that about?

Like everything else in life, people learn how to work the system. And the rest of us pay for it.

As to the house being taken, apparently in NY State, if it's not your principle residence, a house can be taken for payment. It was his mom's house; she had passed away. It was his mom's debt. What do you want to bet he knew about and figured, "She's dead; I don't have to pay it"?

I have no confidence in the American people at large to do the right thing where money's concerned.

Are you serious? Do you know how ultra-liberal that sounds? The "at large" part adds or subtracts nothing from your statement.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

Are you serious? Do you know how ultra-liberal that sounds? The "at large" part adds or subtracts nothing from your statement.

First, why does it sound ultra-liberal?

Second, I added "at large" because I think most people can trust their inner circle. *shrug*
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

Everyone needs to check your state laws regarding collections. There is a lot of laws regarding debt collections of what they can and cannot do.
This is why it is a good idea to pull your credit report every year to see if there is anything on there that shouldn't be.

as far as i know these companies have to give notice of suit about a debt.

I had an issue with salliemae. I was a day late and forgot about it but i paid it that night in full.
the next day they called me back. i basically told the guy that i had paid it and any more calls from sallie mae about a paid debt would be considered harassment.
he was like well i didn't see. i said that is not my problem that he needs to read the law before contacting someone over a paid debt.

i never heard another word after that.

don't back down from these creeps. if you do not own the debt and they call tell them the debt is not yours and that you are not responsible for the debt. that if they call again about it that it is harassment and punishable by law and hang up.

if they are calling about someone else's debt inform them that you have nothing to do with it and that further calls is harassment.

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act | Federal Trade Commission

here is the FTC link for all the rights you have against debt collection agencies.
 
Re: Yeowch! Scarey stuff! Debt collectors new methods.

As someone who has 1. Successfully sued the AG of Canada and her Majesty the Queen and won, and two, successfully sued a third party collection agency and won, I can tell you that knowledge is tremendous power when it comes to debt and debt collection. Both in Canada, and the USA the "laws" are NOT skewed in favor of banks or debt collectors, in fact the reverse is true.


Tim-
 
Debt Collectors Have Figured Out A Way To Seize Your Wages And Savings

So...if a debt collector says you owe them 2500 bucks on a mastercard you don't own, they can take your house that is worth 60,000? Is that the new thang going on?

They cant legally do that. At the very most they could put a lien against your house.

Now the government on the other hand - they will take whatever the hell they want if you owe them a dollar.

Either way, the best thing to do is NOT get into debt.
 
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