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Subscribe to RSSLONDON -- Irresponsible lending and intimidating debt collectors are pushing thousands of people in Britain into depression and suicide, a report said Wednesday. Separate data showed more people are taking their own lives.
Many, already struggling with the economic slowdown, wage freezes and benefit cuts, were overwhelmed by tactics used by some money lenders, including persistent phone calls and threatening letters, the report by researchers at England's University of Brighton found.
"Debt clients frequently feel humiliated, disconnected and entrapped, with the process of debt collection having a clear impact on people's mental health," the report said.
"The government must take urgent action to tackle the problem of irresponsible lending and intimidatory collection tactics which has left thousands of people trapped in a spiral of debt and at risk of depression and even suicide," it said.
Separately, figures from the Office for National Statistics released on Tuesday showed a "significant" rise in suicides in 2012.
The Brighton report, launched on Wednesday by British parliamentarian Molly Meacher, said there were cases of individuals not eating properly and asking their young children for money to tide them over.
One individual who owed money described the effect of his wife's credit card lapsing.
"I was very close to calling the doctor to her because she is that close to breaking because of ... these continual phone calls," the man was quoted as saying.
The total number of suicides in the U.K. hit 6,045 in 2011, a 7.8 percent increase over 2010 with deaths among men accounting for the largest proportion, according to figures from the national statistics office.
A total of 4,552 men took their own lives in 2011 compared with 1,493 women.
British mental health charity SANE said the downturn in Britain, which is struggling to maintain economic growth, was behind a "significant" rise in the number of suicides, reflecting a trend seen in other Western countries.
"These figures ... reveal the profound human consequences of the economic downturn, in which unemployment, debt and the relationship breakdowns that often follow can push people who may be already vulnerable to take their own lives," said Marjorie Wallace, SANE's chief executive.
Suicide rates in the United States have also risen more steeply in recent years.
"It is also worrying that the group most at risk should be middle-aged men, who are not usually perceived to be at risk," said Wallace, commenting on the statistics office figures.
Among men aged between 45 and 59 years old, the suicide rate increased significantly between 2007 and 2011 to 22.2 deaths per 100,000 people, the statistics office said.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
It needs to be made illegal to sell a debt to a collection company. This is the root of the problem, and the people behind these awful tactics. Your contract is with the person you made it with, they should not be able to sell it.
So what should that person you made the contract with be able to do to get their owed debt repaid? Send in la eme? Indentured servitude? Just eat the loss?
I hope people realize the importance of living within their means and putting some money away for a rainy day, however, none of this will truly get better untill the economy improves. I really don't see that happening with Barack Obama as president. As far as business goes, he is doing the exact opposite of what should be done. Business will continue to struggle and so will the masses.
Why? Should it be illegal?
Sue the company for harassment and be done with it.
My old apartment scammed me of 3200 in cleaning bill and they have been doing it for years. I recently receive letter from collection agency that said if I don't pay, they will "take money out of my bank, sell my car, take all money out of my pay check and tell my company to fire me if I don't pay".
If it ever come to it, I'll sue them in court. The apartment is Poplar Apartment and their Westlakes Apartment, both from the same owner and both using scamming tactics for more than 5 years.
Q Tip Assassin,
Selling the debt to a collection agency, which then tacks on another 18% interest, with no chance of reducing the interest at any time is certainly not the answer. If one is having trouble paying the original debt, the unrelenting additional 18% almost guarantees that there is no chance of the debt ever being repaid.
Many times the debtor can't make the steep payments that the original debt owner demanded, or that the original debt holder refused to lighten the load for a bit, having the debt extended out.
Where there is no mercy, even to allow partial monthly payments, there is no hope of ever repaying.
Sometimes the debt is not the fault of the debtor. I was paying a bill at a collection agency and overheard half of a phone conversation of a daughter whose mother had died, and left a debt that the daughter was unaware of, and the interest had accumulated for a couple of years. Was the agency going to work with her on the debt, forgive the interest?? Hell, no. They waited months before my assigned agent started working with me, even though I had contacted them earlier about making arrangements.
My debt? Medical expenses that went beyond what my health insurance paid. $13K. I had a job at the time, too, and now I'm trying to pay it while on unemployment.
People should learn from what the Corporations do when they can't (or don't) want to pay their debts: file for Bankruptcy. Start fresh.
Many people lost jobs and used up all their savings on the hope that they'd get another job at the same pay. That didn't happen. And corporations--with the help of their Republican bribees--quickly took advantage by cutting jobs, pensions, and lowering pay. If you are middle aged, chances are you are screwed.
I don't know if this still goes on in the U.S., but about 10 years ago, some U.S. debt collection companies were actually using inmates in prisons to make debt collection calls. So, it was legally-enslaved criminals calling the legally-enslaved non-criminals.
Q-tip--the party with whom the contract was made writes it off as a loss and gets the tax credit. The party who can't pay their debt has ruined credit for 10 years. The person to whom anyone owes the debt rarely loses (i.e. credit card companies who write off the debt and then sell the same debt to collection agencies).
More people should realize that these agencies are pretty much powerless. Ask them to send certified mail of the original debt that you owe THEM and they can't do it. I've had 2 friends who have first suffered this only to find soon enough that these debt collectors are just a nuisance and nothing more.
Agreed, CA made a nice law that prevents medical debt from being collected except by the Dr. or Hospital that performed the treatment.
That is a step in the right direction!!
Why do you see a difference between going to a professional to incur a debt as opposed to going to a professional to collect it? Would you expect a doctor to refuse to treat you if you couldn't pay in advance?
I have an uncle who had been resting in a hospital after his surgery. He had decent medical insurance, and he was in the habit of carefully looking over each hospital bill that he got. On one bill, he saw that the hospital was charging him $5 for each aspirin that he was given. So, he then asked his wife to bring a bottle of aspirin from home and give it to him. From then on, he would refuse every aspirin offered to him by medical staff, and then he would take one from his own bottle. I think he may have also asked his wife to bring band aids from home, just in case he needed one.
The health care system in California is weird. I'm a veteran and go to the V.A. for my health care, but once while working a civilian job on a TV show (background/extra work), I was rushed to a hospital emergency room. Now, bear in mind--this incident took place under Workers' Compensation, and the WC health company was very responsive and provided all the documentation that I needed... but the hospital ignored the letters that I sent to them about who to bill. For almost an entire year, I was being hit up by phone and letter to pay for everything from the ambulance to the x-rays.
In the end, they used my social security number to "track me down" and charge the V.A. system about $240 of the debt that the WC company should have covered (and, indeed, told the hospital that they would cover)! I've never understood that.
Another time, I was at a hospital for a clinical trial and passed out for about a minute after being given a steroid. It took 30 minutes to get a LA County fire department ambulance there, to drive me basically around the block (total cost: $1,300); had I been permitted to walk, I'd have been at the ER in less than two minutes. And even though I went in to the ER with the clinical trials doctor, and everything was repeatedly explained that this was under the clinical trial, and that the trial was part of the hospital system, and thus I wasn't to be billed, I was still getting bullied for my address and billing information! Indeed, over the next six months, both the emergency room and the fire department mailed me a couple of bills and made phone calls before everything finally got taken care of through the right department... and that was within their own system, they couldn't get it right.
First response: bill the patient, ask questions later.
@denver bill 2--
"Why do you see a difference between going to a professional to incur a debt as opposed to going to a professional to collect it? Would you expect a doctor to refuse to treat you if you couldn't pay in advance?"
Are you serious? If you don't have insurance or cash, they refuse treatments all the time. I've had it happen to me. Sent me down the road with a tubal pregnancy. And that was my regular doctor! Not after that.
@ Roosterboy
I got charged $5 for a toothbrush that was so flimsy it didn't even make it for my one week stay. And the basin and other plastic items that they send you home with. I don't remember how much it all came to but it was significant.
I'm surprised student debtors in the states haven't been pushed to this level yet. At least there are bankruptcy and collection protections with most debt. Student loans have none of these.
Also, debt collectors truly are scum of the earth. When I say I hope they die the most painful and horrible deaths imaginable, I really mean it.
Yeah... In six games...
Why are the debt collectors scum of the earth? They're trying to get back something that was promised to them or their clients'.
The scum of the earth are the people who borrow and can't pay back!
Ranman87 I think the people who don't pay back their debt are truly the scum of the earth. Just remember if you pay your debt back you won't see a debt collector.
You make a debt you owe it. Borrow the old fashioned way.....PAY IT BACK!!!!!! Especially student loans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have no sympathy for these people who get on an emotional rollercoaster ride financialy and say "woe is me". Medical, is different, no one asks to be ill.
Meh, No one asks to get sick, but medical treatment isn't a right either.
Government forces hospitals to treat cases anyway. Then Hospitals get stiffed to the tune of 7-17 million a month in services. You wonder why medical treatment costs so much, there's your answer. Why pay for it, when you can get it for free.
Got no sympathy for medical bill dodgers either.
Debt collectors should not be harassing. I had a hospital call me at 5:00 a.m. for a bill I did not even owe after I was up all night with my sick child. Several people got an earful from me. They did make a mistake. I owed nothing but who the heck calls at 5 a.m. ? I hear it goes way further than this. I don't know if they do insurance payments to the patient anymore but I remember hearing about several instances some years back where the insurance company paid patients and the patients wouldn't pay their medical bills with it.
Nobody pushed them into debt .... they flew. Freely and by choice.
Thank the government for that. The difference is that private debt isn't guaranteed by the taxpayers.
Fair enough. It you didn't owe, you're right.
Medical Billers are retarded. They do mess up a lot. That should be fixed.
A person on Medicare goes to the Dr. and most GPs get reimbursed 49 dollars and a private pay person goes to the same doctor and pays 136 dollars for the same amount of time. Did the person ask to be stiffed this way? Student loan collectors can be brutal from what I have heard and it is not always easy to get a job that helps make ends meet let alone get ahead. I don't think most people want to be dead beats and not pay any bill but I do know some people who do bill collecting and they are brutal and pushy, it takes a special kind of person to be able to be a bill collector because they can be a cold hearted bunch. Hang up the phone, blow a whistle in their ear, scream into the phone or just don't answer the phone but no jerk or bill is worth killing yourself over.
Do you even know how debt collectors work? Most debt collectors are not tied to the original loan or amount of money given out. They buy up debt from other corporations or companies for pennies on the dollar, and then jack up the amounts in an attempt to make a profit on it. They will call and harass you constantly within their legal parameters, and more often than not, will do so outside of it as well. They rely on your ignorance of debt collection laws to do what they want.
It's been beaten into kids' heads that they must go to college or uni to be successful. Do you really think 17 and 18-year-olds have the faintest ideas about money management and paying back loans, as well as the interest that's tacked on? On top of this, students are NEVER educated on what terms come with student loan debt. Companies that own student loan debt have powers that would make a mob boss jealous. I never said they shouldn't pay it back, but they should be educated and taught about what they're getting themselves into. Also, the same bankruptcy protections that are applied to other forms of debt should be reinstated to student loans as well.
Yeah, because you've never got into a situation where you weren't able to pay back something at a specific time, correct?
The economy's hit a bunch of people hard. Apparently you haven't noticed.
Read it before you sign it.
How bout asking for advice about a contract before you sign it.
How bout majoring in something that is useful and not art appreciation.
How bout picking a cheaper school instead of one that costs 30k or more a year.
How bout only taking enough to cover tuition and get a part time job instead of taking the max allowable and using it on ipads and bar hopping trips.
It's a series of poor decisions by 18 and 19 year olds. Many of those kids never belonged in college to begin with. Don't have the money to go? Do 3 years in the military. Get free schooling and probably a job when you're done in the private sector. Maybe we need to get high school consolers that actually console.
Kinda makes you pine for the good old days, when they only heard "Get a job and don't make a girl pregnant until you're married" doesn't it?
If they can't read what they are signing, they shouoldn't be going to college.
I agree, so long as taxpayer dollars are not being used to guarantee the loans.
@ Udasai
I sincerely hope you would not be the one writing the contracts. What is a consolers job anyway?
Right. If you get sick without insurance, just do the right thing and die. That way the rest of us can feel superior.
I know about threatening phone calls, especially during dinner hours. They are all vultures. I finally realized you could blow them off. They can't take from you what you don't have. Tell them to suck eggs!
Really? You're the scum. Don't borrow what you can't pay back!
Lakerfan, Yet it's OK if you can write a check your a$$ cant cash, Oh wait what's that? bring, bring__bring,bring.. for whom the bell tolls? No wonder Jack Nicholson walked out!
Have you ever lost a job or were you born with a silver spoon in your mouth? Does your mommy and/daddy own a business so you are guaranteed a job? Or are you one of those people who kiss backside to get ahead which is the most despicable type of person.
He lacks an emotional aspect called "empathy." He won't truly understand it until it happens to him.
Why of why should I give a damn about another country, where they are having suicides????? Here is flash news for you. We have suicides too
oh, outdoors***, you're a fine one aren't you. All up in the lord's arse and don't give a days wages about your fellow human being living or starving or bleeding to death. Yeah, right you're just the kind of guy that'll get into heaven, twit!
When you say 'we' do you mean the empirical 'we' or are you only blowing smoke out your bum to make you mum proud of her little excrement?
My god but you're an ignorant lot. But, I'm sure you've heard that before, haven't you, outdoorsman - oooh all burly and knuckledragging in a hunter-gatherer sorta way. hahaha
Do you have indoor toilets, outdoorsman?? Does your lady, if you have one, have to shat in the outdoors, man?
hahahahha
Because they are human beings just like "we" are??
The USA currently has over 110 gun related suicides EVERY DAY. These makeup over 50% of the TOTAL suicides...
These numbers have increased after the 2007 melt-down and just like Japan & the UK, they are mainly 45 & older males. Though Japan has now experienced increases in their younger males, usually connected to the loss of their job...
Older white males have been the MAJORITY of gun related suicides in the USA for DECADES. The highest suicide rate is among men over 85 years old: 65 per 100,000 persons...
According to the Violent Death Reporting System, in 2004 - 73% of suicides also tested positive for at least one substance (alcohol, cocaine, heroin or marijuana)...
The women usually do not use guns. There are four male suicides for every female suicide, though they attempt 3x more often than males. (CDC, AAS)...
South Korea (31.7/100k) has now knocked Japan (21.9/100k) as the Suicide capital of the World, the USA is 31st @ 12/100k
Why dont they go after the debt collectors instead of offing themselves if they are that much on the edge?!
Because the entire story is bogus!
Because depression wrecks havoc on your mind. You're more saddened and downtrodden than angered at that stage.
Maybe because you feel bad about not being successful enough to pay back your debt: you're a loser, and yes you lost hope of a future. Then the collectors come around and confirm to you that you are a deadbeat loser, unless you pay, which you can't in the first place( except for those who can and pretend they can't, there are some I'm sure but not the majority). So being that you thought about yourself as a loser and you got a confirmation of it, you might as well off yourself to ease the pain and suffering applied to you. Then for sure they don't get their money back but the collector can say to his boss:"I tried hard but he offed isself, sorry boss. at least we got blood"
My advice is to not take on debt in the first place and then don't answer the phone when they call and use if at all possible the "make my day" law if one is in place in your state. Because this is a clear case of "you or me".
Let's not forget that debt collectors are usually anonymous agencies for which you probably couldn't find unless you really make the effort. They're just voices over the phone and letters with addresses in different states.
Debtor prisons are growing in some states. Once a collection company gets a judgement, the debtor must pay the debt or risks being put in jail for comtempt of court, and not released until the debt is paid.
Three hots and a cot. Tax payers expense.
stop please, name one state that has debtor prisons. Just one, please.
You are living in a Charles Dickens wonder world of your own making. There are no debtor prisons. Grow up, grow a pair and come back when you have something factual to comment on.
Elkmeadow, what a lovely unicorn sorta name to call your burly self. You have nothing to add to the conversation just as your buddy, oh stop-please, oh my god please stop. You two are a nice couple.
Not that there's anything wrong with that you understand.
Gordona:
Illinois
Now just who is living in Charles Dickens world? We all do. You can be arrested for contempt of court due to the unpaid judgement. The jail time may not be in a debtor prison, per se, however, the result is the same; don't pay a contracted debt...go to jail. Just how does one earn money to pay for said debt, when incarcerated? Let me know if you have the answer.
stop please-1605106,
In China where 22.3 per 100k people commit suicide. The UK is a 11.8 per 100k...
You are charged for your drug dependence treatments. You are not released from jail until your term is served & your bills are PAID...
Their Society, as in many other Countries, the family is expected to provide these payments and also FEED you while in jail...
AC: I said DEBTOR not DRUG.
Lakerfan,
I'm like you, I just tell them to kiss mya$$ and that I'll pay when can. I don't loose any sleep over it.
Im sure your fellow citizens are happy to pay higher prices on your behalf! :)
DEAD BEAT!
I'm glad you're proud of being a dead beat scum! That's the American way these days.
Matt, Steveo, I am so glad you can throw mud and judge. You do not know anyone's story. Yes, there are a lot of bad people who initially get credit lines established, full well knowing they can never pay one cent toward it.
Then you have another group who have bad luck. They lost their job, they had to be hospitalized for a week or more and got a mountain of debt. The job thing is a big issue as of late because so many companies are pulling jobs, and pushing people who made a good, comfortable amount to the curb. Yeah, they may have savings and can pay bills for a little while, but the longer they go without a job, the more bills they will have to ignore just to cover the basics. So are you calling those people deadbeats??? If so, man, I do hope neither one of you loose your jobs (If you don't work, well ... then you have no right to judge period).
I don't know NyNy. It depends when the debt was incurred, well maybe not.
Under Bush things were getting better and better and we were basking in Unreal Estate and stock uptick positivism, and then under Obama things are getting better and better after a brief (if at all) recession and we are basking again in positivism. I don't see it either way but why not borrow if things are looking better and better?
By borrowing people make the dream happen. At least for some.
It's good news, there's money to lend. Too bad it is not invested for safer returns. I wonder why not? Oh never mind, that greed thing........ risk and return are tied, yet some want the great return but not the high risk. Unreal state?
Some of these a$$holes up here, I really do hope they lose their jobs, considering some of the stuff they're saying up here. It's about time they walk in someone else's shoes. I think they need to learn what empathy is; the hard way.
Not all companies sell debt to collection agencies. Most are hired on a contingency basis and work on behalf of the original creditor.
Do you think that "nice law" to prevent medical debt being collected on by anyone other than the Hospital Or Dr is beneficial in any way? So those health care providers that are in the business of providing HEALTH CARE now have to facilitate means to collect on past due accounts? And when those Health Care providers are unable to dedicate the appropriate time to their account receivables, due to providing HEALTH CARE, how do they make up for the loss? I'm sure your also the same guy complaining about how ridiculous the cost is for health care!
Exactly, Matt. Why no one gets it, I just don't understand.
Matt I pay my dept and have excellent credit most likely much better than yours. I have a elderly family member who's credit and debts have gone out of line due to medical expense. They continue to try to work with these collectors paying what ever they could. These credit people where still horrible and out of line. Well the Mrs, died of a stroke a few weeks ago due to the stress. So Matt you think you are high and so mighty yet do not know what really going on. Your day is coming!
We all die of something. Such is life.
Hell, she would have died earlier had the hospital not treated her for free apparently. Now, she got to live longer and the hospital gets stiffed. We all get to pay for it with higher premiums. Thanks
Wait till the govt comes after you.
One would have thought murders of those pushy debt collectors would have increased instead.
Go figure...
"it's in the mail".
don't answer the phone.
Jeeez...some peeps r such drama queens.
"The government must take urgent action to tackle the problem of irresponsible lending..." Really? What about the people who irresponsibly borrow. They are not to blame?
Ban all suicides . make laws against it . that way if people do , do it . they in really really big trouble with the cops .
Ha ha! But honestly, suicide is against the law. If someone threatens suicide or attempts it, they can be committed against their will in a hospital for treatment for a minimum of 72 hours or charged with a misdemeanor. I know a high school lad who jokingly laid down in the street in front of a parked car and was cited for attempted suicide.
That's just what a suicidal person needs, being charged with a "crime."
gee and I thought it was because of guns. You know that it causes all deaths. So I guess if someone wants to die nothing will stop them not even gun laws.
You need to think more and post less.
jimboza would you please go find your heart!! You come across as being really cold and hateful.
No, Jimboza is right. It takes a special type of dumbass to come post about guns on a topic of debt collection. In fact, I bet he posts something about guns on EVERY article.
Hmm... don't borrow what you can't repay. Simple.
"The government must take urgent action to tackle the problem of irresponsible lending"
This is the typical reaction of the weak european progressive liberal/socialist mindset... more government? I say LEAVE THE DAMN GOVERNMENT OUT! It was the government that created most of this problem by MAKING the lending institutions loan money to people who obviously could not afford to pay it back.
You damn Europeans are phucking up the world with your unsustainable progressive agenda!
You should see how debt collection practices are in the states. I'd like to see the suicide rates for people here. I bet it's even higher, before you start going on one of your COMMUNIST SOCIALIST EUROPE rants.
The USA rate #34 was 12 per 100k during 2009, probably higher NOW...
The UK rate #38 was 11.8 per 100k during 2011...
The European countries make-up 18 of the top 30 suicide rates for countries. From the highest Lithuania #2 @ 31.6/100k during 2011 to the Czech Republic #30 @ 12.8/100k during 2010...
Turn off your phones......now. Don't let the corrupt banks kill you. They have already done enough damage.
some of these comments...WOW...empathy is clearly in decline...your final destination apathy "all aboard!"
It's the horse meat that they've been serving up over there.
Here is a novel idea, pay your bills you deadbeats!! Those bill collectors are just doing a job too, perhaps just be nice to them for a change. You deadbeats are all the same, it is always someone elses fault for you not being responsible for your own actions. No money? Then do not use a credit card plain and simple. Get real folks, you are the real scum.
Plumber,
Are you a Urologist, Proctologist or Gynecologist...I think someone hit your nerve...just saying. I do all in my power to pay all my bills...but the government has other ideas and has created bills none of us can pay. The same in Healthcare...the cost goes up with more levels of "management" between the Physician and the patient. Limit the layers and limit the cost. However, our legislator love to pass bills "to find out what is inside". Some people have experienced 60% to 90% insurance premium increases in the last two years due to Obamacare...nice don't you think? Now the choice is feed the family or pay the insurance premium...I guess feeding the family is more important.
Next
I know, go sell some medicine people! or gather extra food in the woods and sell it. Something!
Plumber... Sorry, (or maybe not).. You come across as a very angry person. If you don't have anything to contribute to solving the issue, please keep your vitriol to yourself. It serves no real purpose here. Thank you in advance.
Reader,
That is because he has a plunger stuck up his azz.
If suicide decreases the surplus population then that's a problem how? The Brits did the same thing with the Irish -- created the potato famine and then just waited as the Irish offed themselves. Problem solved.
This is just another example of how weak people have become. Just because they owe money they think committing suicide will solve it? No! All it does is pass the debt on to their relatives. Work out a payment plan, do something to solve your problems. Don't just curl up into a ball and ignore it! I know it all too well. I owed a lot of money at one time and now have it under control and paying it off. I'm sure they can too. Suicide is no answer.
The Debt dies with them and their estate.
Might cost some relatives some inheritance, but that's it.
The debt does not die with them. If that was the case it wouldn't have to be paid. You're right, it comes out of the estate which would go to the relatives therefore, the relatives are paying the debt. This can amount to the entire inheritance.
Inheritance is not their money unless the relative left it to them in the first place, or the relatives debts are paid. Not their money. If there's debt, it's the debtors money. pretty simple. If there isn't enough money in the estate to pay the debts, whatever can be paid is, and the rest dies with the person and gets passed on to the rest of us.
Actually the only debt that does not die with you is student loan debt. Any medical and credit card expenses will eat up the estate but after that the creditors get nothing. How do I know this because my father had the nerve to get cancer and the deadbeat died before he could pay all of his bills (that is how some of the posters on here would label him). Insurance and trying to pay the high bills impossible so I guess he should have just given up and died earlier according to some of the loving compassionate people on here. Moral of the story if you get sick just die and don't make a bill that you might not be able to pay and become a deadbeat.
Sorry about your dad, but we all die of something. None of us get out of life alive. If you know you ain't gonna beat it, sometimes it is better to die sooner.
Take a married couple for example. Say your dad got cancer and couldn't pay the bills. That debt is marital debt. When your dad died, it would still be on your mom and could bury her too.
It's sad, but someone has to pay for it. If anything be mad at those that don't pay at all that have made it soooooo expensive. Hospitals are hurting in this too. They HAVE to treat people whether they pay or not. They have to make up for a large amount of people who never pay a dime. It comes out of those who have insurance and pay premiums and anyone else with the decency to actually pay what they are billed.
If they could refuse treatment in the first place, it'd be a whole lot cheaper. Granted a lot of people who couldn't pay at all would die or die sooner, but as I said before someone has to pay or we all suffer.
Way wrong Udasai! I ,for one, will live forever. At least as much as I never existed.
And also you have cancer and we decided to euthanize you to minimize costs, trust us. So just sign on the line. Your life ain't worth a sh$t but we'll dispose of your assets as best as we can.
How does that sound for you? Cremation OK? It's cheaper than a plot, but if you care about us as much as you sound you do, just jump off a bridge with the cement shoes before cancer spreads too much. That'll save us the gas and the environment!
Get real, it's just freakin money. It's only important because you value is so much.
Q Tip Assassin,
Selling the debt to a collection agency, which then tacks on another 18% interest, with no chance of reducing the interest at any time is certainly not the answer. If one is having trouble paying the original debt, the unrelenting additional 18% almost guarantees that there is no chance of the debt ever being repaid.
Many times the debtor can't make the steep payments that the original debt owner demanded, or that the original debt holder refused to lighten the load for a bit, having the debt extended out.
Where there is no mercy, even to allow partial monthly payments, there is no hope of ever repaying.
Sometimes the debt is not the fault of the debtor. I was paying a bill at a collection agency and overheard half of a phone conversation of a daughter whose mother had died, and left a debt that the daughter was unaware of, and the interest had accumulated for a couple of years. Was the agency going to work with her on the debt, forgive the interest?? Hell, no. They waited months before my assigned agent started working with me, even though I had contacted them earlier about making arrangements.
I had a problem years ago with Alltel. I bought a phone and plan at a Walmart in FL and had ten days to cancel. I cancelled and completely followed their instructions for doing so. Next thing ya know, I had a debt collection agency on my back. A collection guy called me saying I owed money and I told him nothing doing - I had more than paid and had followed the cancellation instruction to the letter. Then he went into a barrage that I was what's wrong with this country! He threatened to destroy my credit and I told him go ahead and see what I care. I did nothing wrong and was not about to be bullied into submission for some sort of bogus further payment. I never heard anything more about it.