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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsStudy: 35 percent in US facing debt collectors
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
(111,437 posts)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
(26,001 posts)The peaceful, paradigm-shifting kind...
Otherwise, the other kind will eventually roll around...
Warpy
(111,437 posts)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
(6,943 posts)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
(26,001 posts)When all we have, really, are two versions of a bankers' party -- one for crazy people, and one for apologists...
JEB
(4,748 posts)conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)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
(26,001 posts)And the paperwork trail for the debt collectors is often as hazy and specious as that of mortgage brokers...
Zorra
(27,670 posts)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
(26,001 posts)...for the 1%