Social Security stops trying to collect on old taxpayer debts

[freshwest]

14. Oh, no, they bought the data fair and square. Here's some details:

Attack of the zombie debt...

The anatomy of zombie debt

Who makes debts come back from the dead? Debt buyers. "They buy debt really cheap, paying pennies on the dollar," Rheingold says. A debt could lie dormant for months or years before being purchased by a debt buyer, who then might either start trying to collect the debt or hire a collection agency to do so...

Now debt buyers snap up old debt in bulk from credit card companies, gyms, public utilities, cellphone providers and other creditors, experts say, and their business has been growing steadily. The debt-buying industry began to take off in the late 1980s when a U.S. government- owned asset management company sold delinquent credit card debt to help fund the cleanup of the savings and loan crisis, in which hundreds of financial institutions failed, according to Mike Ginsberg, the president of Kaulkin Ginsberg, a company that provides strategic advice to debt buyers and collection agencies....

Zombie debt can cause mayhem

...In fact, in January 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice, at the request of the Federal Trade Commission, sued one of the biggest debt buyers in the country, Asset Acceptance, alleging it violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and other laws. According to the lawsuit, the debt buyer made deceptive statements to consumers, gave false reports to credit-reporting agencies and committed other violations. In response, Asset Acceptance agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil fine.

Problems for consumers start with the way companies buy debt, experts say. Instead of purchasing complete files with full documentation, they often buy electronic records that contain scant information, experts say. "It's just a stream of numbers -- a name, maybe a Social Security number and an amount of money," Rheingold says. "There's no paperwork whatsoever..."

Out-of-statute debt collection

Finally, debt buyers sometimes illegally sue or threaten to sue a consumer after the state statute of limitations has run out, experts say. "There are allegations that debt buyers do this at a higher rate than other debt collectors," says Jason Schall, an attorney with the FTC, which is conducting a study on the debt-buying industry. Debt buyers count on consumers not showing up to court -- either because they're working, they don't have time or they never got served, Rheingold says. If the consumer doesn't show, he says, the debt buyer likely will get a judgment against the person...

Consumers have to keep watching over their shoulders for zombie debt, experts say, because old debt will probably continue to be big business. Rheingold says, "Debt buyers are buying this debt really cheap, and they're making enormous profits."

More at link:

http://money.msn.com/debt-management/attack-of-the-zombie-debt

Another gift of the Reagan era. The precedent was set during then by a contracted federal agency because of the scam pulled by the Keating Five, with such names as John McCain and Neil Bush involved.

And it's all legal since they did pay... To most of us this is a scam and fraud. We wouldn't be allowed to do this without being taken to court for such a stunt.

I know someone who had credit card debt of $3,000. and felt the right thing to do was to negotiate with them. She'd paid off her tiny home and been trying to sell it with no buyers. So it was worth little to nothing on the market.

But it was assessed at 15X her $3,000. They dragged her to court and put a lien on her house. All nice and legal, so she's just kind of getting by with her SS check which doesn't leave enough to pay the debt, and now she can't get her equity out of the place to move.

Trapped as a senior in an area with no jobs, a house that has no market value, and a debt that won't let go. She can't afford to live elsewhere at her income, but can stay at her home as there is no housen note. There are much worse situations from this.

There was a piece some years back about people who had been arrested for contempt of court for not being to pay these crooks who took them to court. A bench warrant was issued but they hadn't really been in touch with the debtor, they didn't send them notice. Add to that the problems some have with transporation, and they are screwed.

So they were now not able to work as they were in jail, their lives in chaos. There has been pushback, but right and wrong and the law at times are not the same time at all.

FYI:


7 steps to take if chased by zombie debt

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/7-tips-steps-chased-zombie-debt-1282.php?a_aid=46bf5df1

More on what is planned for America, being enacted in many states, and this is just the last bullet point:

“We support the repeal of all state usury laws.”

The rest of it is just as hair raising, in fact more so.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024806298

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/koch-brothers

http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a7980koch