1 in 3 U.S. adults have 'debt in collections'
 

I knew it was bad, but I had no idea it was this bad.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/29/pf/d...iid=TL_Popular

continue

I'm probably on that list.

Edit: Upon further reflection I haven't/don't recognize the alleged debt, which would put me on another deadbeats list.

AFAIK, I'm still on top of it.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

There's probably a goodly number of these that are real deadbeats.

If it's student loans and/or medical bills I think those debts should be written off because I think education and medical care should be provided by the government for free. As for debts from people buying toys they couldn't afford they should be sent to prison camps to do hard labor for 25 cents an hour until they are worked off, fucken deadbeats.

I agree with the medical debt, not so much the student loan debt. You don't have to take out a loan to get an education. Medical emergencies are just that.

But back to the OP, I was stunned when I read this news. it's even worse when you consider that 1 in 5 adults with a credit history have no debt at all. That ups the deadbeat quotient to what, about 45% of people who have debt? Then you see where the average debt is about $53,000 not taking into account mortgages. WTF are these folks buying?

I've heard that there's a lot of rich wannabe folks out there driving their Lexus, Cadillac and other luxury cars to their trophy homes who own absolutely nothing. I make good money and I've never understood how all these people can possibly afford these things when I know I can't. I think I see it now. They're up to their eyeballs in debt.

My total debt is about 35% of my annual salary, that includes the mortgage. But I like to pay cash for stuff.

I recall when I graduated and got a job, only then did I qualify for credit cards. Even then there were serious spending limits that increased as you demonstrated your credit worthiness. One of course needed a credit card in order to rent a car.

When our daughter was a freshman at UC, Boulder, she picked up a few credit cards (with no income whatsoever), promptly went into default and by the time we knew about it and bailed her out, it was too late. Her credit rating had been severely damaged.

IIRC, it was not a lot of money. She just avoided telling us about it until she could not manage her finances. On hind sight, we should have told the collectors to go jump off a cliff since we had not cosigned. We paid her debt in full yet they slammed her with bad credit. :mad:

That's what happened to my son. He got it straightened out on his own, but since has avoided credit cards and credit. Now in his 30's he has no credit at all. My daughter also does not use credit cards, same story.

I think my bitch about our bankers system of credit is that you are deemed un credit worthy even if you've never borrowed money. Seems to me that if you've never had to borrow money you manage your finances pretty well. But no, unless you pay homage to the banking industry by borrowing money you don't get a credit score.


It's all fucked up to benefit the banks.

I can remember back when I was a kid in the 50's there was no such thing as credit cards. Maybe a handful of country club types in New York had them, but where I was they were unheard of. My old man always had at least $100 bucks in his wallet. It may have been every dime the family had, but he had it in cash. $100 bucks in 1955 is equivalent to $889 today. Back then it was not unusual for a dude to have that much cash on him because you paid cash for everything.

We need to get back to that. If I were dictator I would immediately make it illegal to pay for anything under $100 in a face to face transaction with plastic.

It really pisses me off to be behind someone in line at the checkout that is paying some piddling $2.86 charge with plastic. For Christ sake carry some goddamned cash on you. You can go broke paying with cash, but you can't go into debt.

There it is!

The system is designed the way it is for two reasons Tom.

1 - every transaction by card allows the banks to take a cut off the top. Banks don't like cash transactions because they don't get a cut of every transaction made in the US no matter how small so they discourage using cash.

It's gotten so bad now that you are penalized if you pay cash at gas stations....they make you stand in line 1-3 times by making you pre-pay. And do you get a discount? No, you pay the same rate as card payers but the gas station keeps the banks commission.

2 - every transaction made by card can be monitored by the US government and taxed. Cash transactions cannot.

It's all about screwing people for every penny they can.

It's as fucked up as our 401K retirement system where Wall street, the government and corporate bosses have more control over your retirement savings than you do. Not to mention Wall Street gains more from your savings than you do.....