Former Occupy Wall Street activists start ‘Rolling Jubilee’ to buy up Americans’ personal debt

[xchrom]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/01/former-occupy-wall-street-activists-start-rolling-jubilee-to-buy-up-americans-personal-debt/



For a year and a half, 80-year-old Kentucky resident Shirley Logsdon received repeated calls from a debt collection agency over an unpaid medical bill.

Then one day, out of the blue, she received a letter saying the $983 debt had been handled — purchased by Rolling Jubilee, a group linked to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

“I was dumbfounded but delighted, of course,” Logsdon, who is retired along with her husband of 62 years, told AFP.

“We got a letter saying that everything had been resolved — finally it is over, you don’t have to worry, you don’t owe us anything. (…) I didn’t know these people. It was a godsend.”

[Egalitarian Thug]

1. This is so good. K&R

[Bluenorthwest]

2. The Rolling Jubilee takes action, while others spew rhetoric and take no actions.

Pardon me if I see actual help given as superior to press releases designed to enhance the image of the clerics who do no real services to those in need, but rather they gnash teeth and howl that the gay people are making poverty and contraception is destroying the value of life.
There is a difference between actually helping people and just talking about helping people while also hurting others.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. +1. nt

[marmar]

3. k/r

[Pterodactyl]

5. Very nice, but buying debt = giving banks money.

[annabanana]

9. the banks would otherwise sell the debt to those fuckers

who harass the desperate, garnish their pay and terrorize them in many ways.

[AllyCat]

13. Please look at the big picture.

OWS buys this debt for pennies on the dollar, showing what a huge scam the debt market is. Giving Rolling Jubilee money to stop the process for millions of Americans is worth it. Just playing them at their own game and getting some relief for the suffering.

[annabanana]

6. "former"?

I don't think so.

[xchrom]

7. yah - i know - but it was the title. nt

[mountain grammy]

8. K & R

http://rollingjubilee.org/

[alfredo]

10. Good job OWS!

[AllyCat]

11. I love Rolling Jublilee. Have donated to them many times

Really, when you consider that giving them $25 is like giving an American HUNDREDS of dollars and getting collection agencies off their backs, it is totally worth it.

[Laelth]

12. We need a global jubilee. n/t

-Laelth

[WinstonSmith4740]

14. How come we never hear about this?

The only place I've ever read anything about the Rolling Jubilee is here at DU. Another example of the "liberal press" we keep hearing about, I guess.

If someone would post a link or address where I could send a donation, I'd really appreciate it.

[pinboy3niner]

15. See #8. nt

[WinstonSmith4740]

20. Thanks!

Missed that completely.

[niyad]

16. k and r for the great job they are doing.

[Courtesy Flush]

17. According to Strike Debt, “for every dollar of debt we abolish, we paid only 2 cents"

According to Strike Debt member Ann Larson, “for every dollar of debt we abolish, we paid only two cents.”

So why can't people pay off their own debts for two cents on the dollar? Somebody out there is giving that huge discount to insiders. Would it be so hard to let the debtor have the same deal?

[A Little Weird]

18. I think it's because it gets bundled and sold in bulk

The original lender actually gets to write-off the debt. But when they sell it to the debt collector it's bundled with a lot of other debt so an individual could never figure out which debt bundle to buy to get their own debt. Of course, the lender just got to write off the debt so there's no reason they couldn't just drop it at that point. I think that's the point of the Rolling Jubilee to point out how outrageous the whole process is.

[ms.smiler]

21. Courtesy Flush, it’s the banksters who securitize debt, all sorts of debt like student loans

mortgage and auto loans, credit card debt, etc.

Investors take any hit while the banksters charge off the balance. The debt is sold off to parties in the debt collection industry for only cents on the dollar with very little documentation to prove the supposed debt.

Since most people don’t understand how our financial (fraud) system operates, they might remember an account balance and believe it’s valid and payable. Most people have no idea that a supposed $4,000.00 debt legally became an $80.00 debt. So debt collectors attempt to collect the original amount plus interest of course.

No consumer should admit to such a debt when approached by these companies. The alleged debt may no longer be valid, or the amount most likely is incorrect. Moreover, the consumer has no idea if the party that approached them actually owns the debt. (That is especially important with mortgage loans.)

If consumers were permitted the opportunity to erase debts at the lawful amounts, it would eliminate the debt collection industry (racket) which creates no value and serves no purpose other than to enrich themselves by transferring our wealth to ultimately Hedge funds, insurance companies, etc.

[jwirr]

19. Think what starting over in this nation would mean! And among all the options it is only one small

activist organization that cares what our economy is like. Among those who could help without great impact are the companies this money is owed to in the first place (especially the credit cards that have let people run up debt), large corporations that make so much and pay little in taxes, billionaires that have more money than they and their children's children will ever need and just those of us who care. Jubilee.