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Deadbeat Nation: A Shocking 77 Million Americans Face Debt Collectors
We have been warning for years that as a result of the Fed's disastrous policies, America's middle class is being disintegrated and US adults are surviving only thanks to insurmountable debtloads. But not even we had an appreciation of how serious the problem truly was. We now know, and it is a shocker: according to new research by the Urban Institute, about 77 million Americans have a debt in collections.
The breakdown by region:
As the Washington Post reports, that amounts to 35 percent of consumers with credit files or data reported to a major credit bureau, according to the study released Tuesday by the Urban Institute and Encore Capital Group's Consumer Credit Research Institute. "It’s a stunning number," said Caroline Ratcliffe, senior fellow at the Urban Institute and author of the report. "And it threads through nearly all communities."
More:
The report analyzed 2013 credit data from TransUnion to calculate how many Americans were falling behind on their bills. It looked at how many people had non-mortgage bills, such as credit card bills, child support payments and medical bills, that are so past due that the account has since been closed and placed in collections.
Researchers relied on a random sample of 7 million people with data reported to the credit bureaus in 2013 to estimate what share of the 220 million Americans with credit files have debts in collection. About 22 million low-income adults who did not have credit files were not represented in the study.
While we understand why someone owing tens if not hundreds of thousands can just do what the US government does so well, and simply decide to stop paying their debt (if unlike the government, without the option to roll it), what is scary is that there are people who are in collection on amount as tiny as $25.
The debts sent to collections ranged from $25 on the low end and to more than $125,000 on the high end. Many consumers were burned for relatively small amounts -- about 10 percent of the debts were smaller than $125, Ratcliffe says. But the median debt, $1,350, is still pretty substantial, she adds.
The geographic breakdown is not surprising, headed by the state that hosts Las Vegas, where an unprecedented 47% of all consumers have debt in some stage of collection.
Nevada was hit the hardest, with 47 percent of consumers with a credit file showing a debt in collections -- a mark researchers said may stem from the housing crisis when people struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments may have fallen behind on other financial obligations.
It's not just Nevada. It's, well, everywhere else too:
In 12 states, including the District of Columbia, more than 40 percent of residents with a credit file have a bill in collections. That includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia.
But how is it possible that tens of millions of Americans are in such dire straits? After all, banks have been reporting better delinquency data for years. The answer: the study found that the share of people with debt past due, meaning they are at least 30 days late with payment on a non-mortgage debt, was much smaller: 1 in 20 people. That includes people who are late with credit card bills, student loan payments and auto loans. The majority of those people, 79 percent, also had debt in collections. However, because certain bills, such as medical bills and parking tickets, may not show up on a person's credit score until they are sent to collections, the total share of people falling behind on their bills may actually be much higher.
The flowchart:
And the breakdown by state: the stunner, again, is that the share of Americans with debt in collections is 7 times greater than those with merely debt past due:
The report's punchline, via AP:
The Urban Institute's Ratcliffe said that stagnant incomes are key to why some parts of the country are struggling to repay their debt.
Wages have barely kept up with inflation during the five-year recovery, according to Labor Department figures. And a separate measure by Wells Fargo found that after-tax income fell for the bottom 20 percent of earners during the same period.
But.. recovery? And consumer confidence at 2007 highs? Or did the Conference Board decide to just poll the residents of 15 CPW and 740 Park?
Of course, there is a simple solution to all of the above: instead of being deadbeats, if only these 77 million Americans had BTFD as the the S&P's chief market valuation officer, Janet Yellen and Ben Bernanke before her, had advised them, then the US would truly be a crony capitalist-cum-socialist nirvana by now. Sadly, the way it is right now, the US Department of Truth will have to put this record number of deadbeats out of the labor pool (and hook them to the government handouts machine), while pretending that what once used to be known as the economy, and now is nothing but pure propaganda, is getting "better."
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Well you see the reason you were SCREWED OVER is because you are a white guy, ERs all over the nation have been closing down because Latinos use them as their family doctor and use one of their hundred fake names when doing so whereas you and I have to stand there, in the ER and PROVE we have insurance then they CHARGE us for services, equipment and other things THEY NEVER gave us. The hospitals, the healthcare (sic) industry views us just as .gov does: CATTLE TO BE BLED TO DEATH, drop by drop.
Sue the fuckers for fraud.
Learn to do it yourself.
Learn to set and splint broken bones.
Learn to immobilize sprains and strains.
Learn to stitch (topical anaesthetics OTC work fine). Too big to stitch? Cauterize.
Really need antibiotics? (most antibiotic prescriptions are totally unneccessary)- take a capsule of oil of oregano thrice daily.
Have a cold or flu? Use a cool steam inhaler, neti-pot, plenty of vitamins, c ,d3, and b complex, plenty of rest, plenty of water, and chicken soup.
Bottom line- Go to the Dr or ER for Trauma only. It's really all Western Medicine is good for.
Of course, debt serfdom makes is impossible to own a home, since real estate always comes with a parasite attached and you can't more it or hide it from parasites and bottom-feeders.
Good thing the (not really) Federal (with no) Reserve and their enabling elephant/jackass sock puppets gave trillions of FeRNs to the banks, so they could foreclose on millions of 'murkin debt slaves.
Even after you pay off your mortgage, you don't own your own home.
Don't pay your property taxes, and you'll find out real quick who actually owns your home and land.
You *do* own the home, just not the land it sits on (which is the real asset). You do not own anything underneath the land (unless you have mineral/water rights). And, the government owns the sky above your home.
‘Are there no prisons?”
‘Plenty of prisons,’ said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.’And the Union workhouses.’ demanded Scrooge. ‘Are they still in operation?’
‘Both very busy, sir.’
‘Oh. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,’ said Scrooge. ‘I’m very glad to hear it.’
‘Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,’ returned the gentleman, ‘a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?’
‘Nothing!’ Scrooge replied.
‘You wish to be anonymous?’
‘I wish to be left alone,’ said Scrooge. ‘Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned-they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.’
‘Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.’
‘If they would rather die,’ said Scrooge, ‘they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
Consumer sentiment must have been pulled the day the benefits arrived.
Perhaps they are adjusting consumer sentiment according to disposable income. After all, it doesn't matter, economically, if a bum on the street has a positive or negative view of the future.
I'm willing to wager that over half of that is because of medical bills people can't afford to pay. A great deal of it is probably student loans. 30 years ago it was mostly consumer debt. We've made medical care and college so expensive, and jobs with benefits are so hard to come by, is it really any wonder we have this problem?
This is exactly why Canada went to "Universal Health." The studies showed that the main cause of the bankruptcy of individuals was medical bills and it affected their national productivity.
Which begs the question, do you think Obamacare will make medical care more expensive or less expensive?
Yup. I'm one of those 77 million. And the debt collectors calling me are just for medical bills for an ER visit i had 5 months ago.
Fuck this country.
OT
Another doctor has just died of ebola....Sheik Umar Khan
http://www.sierraexpressmedia.com/?p=69460
Hey it's all good. The govt will never pay their debt and neither will the public. Debt jubilee for everyone.
This was the plan. It was divised by the international bankers, and facilitated by the treasonous government.
slavery is BULLISH.
oh yea, average debt is WAY HIGHER BECAUSE PEOPLE BORROW MONEY PERSONALLY FROM ONE ANOTHER OFF THE BOOKS
AND AVERAGE/MEDIAN INCOMES ARE WAY LOWER BECAUSE OF CASH OFF THE BOOKS WORK.
THESE STATISTICS ARE NOT ONLY USELESS AND MISREPRESENTATIVE, BUT THEY GET LESS ACCURATE EVERY YEAR AS THE STATUS QUO FORCES THE BLACK MARKET TO EXPAND WHILE OFFICIAL NARRATIVE BECOMES LESS AND LESS ACCURATE.
consider morons occupy idiots who cheer for 15 dollar minimum wage in seatle and turn around in the same breath and support unlimited illegal immigration. do they understand that they are supporting black market labor in their own neighborhoods that will undercut any meaningul benefits of changing 'minimum wage' laws to the actual bottom line of their american citizens' middle class communities AGGREGATE INCOME.
no, they don't understand this, because they are useful idiots whose thinking is done for them by other people who they don't even know....
They are recent college graduates and other government-created imbeciles.
Actually, we really may not be capable of self-governance any longer.
The most powerful weapon the American people have to use against the DC US tyrants is Rejection.
The system of fraud and theft that has been built up upon the backs of the American people is dependent upon our backs. Withdrew our backs, and the whole thing collapses. This is our greatest weapon.
Quit Paying--put it into food, steel and lead, and precious metals, etc. They stole what ever "debt money" they loaned you in the first place via fraudulent-reserve banking and soon you won't be able to pay them anyways, so just stop now.
Quit Obeying--If they are in violation of the Constitution then they are criminals and not legitimate.
Quit Playing--Quit being a tool for them to use.
The Four Rs
Rejection: Quit paying, quit obeying, quit playing
Revolution: It is inevitable, so prepare, as they are.
Retribution: The guilty must answer for their crimes against the American people and the Constitution.
Restoration: Restore the American people, country and Constitutional republic.
Fuckin A
These God Damned criminals need to be dealt with...and I say...FUCK EM
FUCK credit scores....a game from the shitty credit fuckin BANKS.
FUCK debt to big corporations and the TBTF WANKIN BANKS.
...and lastly.....FUCK EVERY SINGLE POLITICIAN OUT THERE.
It's two bad I can't, at my age, look at my country as a secure environment for myself and family rather than sharks swimming in tighter circles waiting for the first signs of weakness.
Know what ya mean. Just received a 5071C letter from IRS, meaning that someone filed electronically in my name and likely got my wife's refund, because the only thing I've send to the IRS is an automatic extension request postmarked 15 April. Will they help me track down the felon who did this? Fuck no, I'm just a statistic of their antiquated collection schema. What are we supposed to do to stay ahead of the scammers, apply for new SS numbers every other year? #fuckthisshit
Apparently a lot of healthcare workers are getting caught up in this crap. Fuck electronic records. Fuck HIPAA. And fuck electronic refunds.
http://www.csoonline.com/article/2146120/data-protection/hundreds-of-med...
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142412788732337450457822213066...
Why the hell are you allowing the IRS to confiscate any portion of your earnings???
Mawwage, it's what chains me to the IRS, today.
Your situation is exactly why our family has claimed too many exemptions throughout the years, for years, so when we get to the end of the year, we have to PAY tax. In addition, this approach prevents the IRS from keeping our money for the entire year at no interest rate.
Try this. The fuckwad Russian mafia IRS refund scammers from Florida are highly unlikely to actually PAY your tax deficiency...they don't seem to like to reciprocate...run with 9 exemptions.....can't steal something that isn't there if you get my drift....regardless of whether the fuckwads file or not....
Cheers!
I'm looking for to Janet 'I never saw it coming' Yellen to chime in on this one!
Well well...look what happens when you refuse to allow bad debt to die.
All those loans are bad, and need to die. That is what happens when you base your entire economy on debt, and put all your energies into keeping those bad debts alive.
The system will NEVER recover until those bad debts are taken off the books, either by mass loan forgiveness, or outright mass default. TPTB need to put on their 'big boy pants" and accept their losses. Until that happens, the system just keeps meandering along until it dies and collapses under its own weight.
This is why the Bible has a 7 year jubilee. To prevent this kind of usurious destruction.
That's a 50 year Jubilee, actually.
"'You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. 11You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines. 12'For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field." - Leviticus 25:11
(Further details throughout Chapter 25)
Q: Now why is it "jews" of modern times don't observe this commandment? Hmmm.
Ah, the stank of global, systemically enforced, odious, illegitimate debt!
And what a peculiar number of those in debt!
For all you cross loving ones out there, '77' is coincidentally the number of perfection. Evidently, the very 'sin of commission' evidenced by the church's silence and investment in a society based on USURY can come around.
Jubilee anyone? Or perhaps the smell of bankruptcy law death in 3,2,1...
Hook Line and Genuflections
Default is fine, ask Tishman-Speyer.
Appears to be a correlation to ethnicity....colour me shocked!
72K average debt??
Fuckin' amateurs....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a9DrLOsrlA&feature=player_embedded
All is explained in this lecture.
The local hospital here clipped me $5000 for an MRI. I told them to either knock down the price tag or I wasn't paying. They wouldn't budge and took me to court. I lost, but I knew I would; the judge was on the board of directors of the hospital.
Aside from that ordeal, I had been paying for two back surgeries - the portion insurance didn't cover. Every month I would send a check, when out of the blue I get a collection notice for the full amount (around $3000) from a collection agency. I wrote and told them, a) never contact me by phone, and b)they must have me confused with Ben Bernanke in that my computer did not have the CTRL P function to magically create those kinds of funds. I also told them if they cared to file a judgment against me, they could get in line. Subsequently, I got passed around to two other agencies, plus two lawyers. I replied to every notice I received. I quit paying after the first one, and I haven't heard a peep from any other collectors in almost two years. I don't know if they just wrote off the debt, or what, but one would think they'd realize that trying to strongarm a person who paid regularly would backfire.
For me, it's one less bill I have to pay.
Many consumers were burned for relatively small amounts -- about 10 percent of the debts were smaller than $125, Ratcliffe says. But the median debt, $1,350, is still pretty substantial, she adds.
Lots of unpaid traffic fines and small dollar doctor bills in this mix is my bet
And once again we see by North Dakota's low 19.2 number that fracking may be bad for your health but it's good for your wealth.
I have suddenly decided to start a collection service. Looks like a growth industry to me.
Let me see if I got this one straight.
A handful of global elite banksters took control of all equity, assets, and currency, developed a fiat monetary system based on debt, where too few dollars are always chasing too much debt, where the inevitable result is always default, and they then go in, bankrupt those in debt, foreclose on all the assets and confiscate them for pennies on the dollar, and they get to do this without any of their own skin in the game, without providing anything of value, without any actual risk because they create this money out of thin air?
And we are supposed to just lay down and be good little slaves, work our asses off and make payments until they come for our stuff?
Yea, sounds like a great system.
the wicked rockefeller nazi sponsored bankruptcy law of 2005 - pushed by the bush crime syndicate president - is the cause of this problem. chapter 7 was eliminated and bank depositors were made unsecured creditors....it was designed to create perpetual debtors.....debtor's prison is making a comeback.
all debt should be wiped out after 3 years of default....it takes 2 to tango with debt and there is no moral superiority to being a debtor or creditor....creditors should take responsibility for poor foolish judgment in lending to failed borrowers who in turn lose credit standing. it's a fair and equitable outcome.
I used to work for Mother Merrill - my first gig out of the Navy. I told my interviewers that I wanted to work on a Mutual Fund Mgmt Team while I strive for a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst Desig) and Masters' Degrees for my long term goals.
The Retail Resident VP played his tunes to say, "Great! We want people like you to represent our Firm", to "Skip the CFA - we want you to open clientele among blah-blah-blah...
The Firm hired a Recruiter who only hired Vets (Officers, mainly) for Retail Brokerages - no other position was "available" for the Veteran Officer, many of whom (at least from Annapolis) were Engineering and Sci/Tech Majors. We had Sea Lawyer/"Bull" (Hum/SS) Majors as well; but every Graduate completes Minors in Naval Science and Engineering. Save for the Bull Majors and recruited Athletes (who took the "General Engineering/Physical Science" Curricula (our version of the General Studies Major), most Grads were overqualified for the roles of Broker; and should have been sent over to Finance, Investment Banking, Investment Fund Mgmt, Trading, or the Finacial Analyst Track.
Reason for the Push? Saturation of the Market for Retail Brokers. Mgmt Firms have laid out plans to poach Brokers with a good sized Book of Clients, hire Cold Calling Drones (especially retirees) who can actually generate more business and/or last longer until burnout or firings in the high turnover sector. I was concerned with the "gap" in employment longevity that existed btwn the Rookie Internship Plan and the handful who stayed with the firm . Once I read a report leaked out about Rookie Sales Goals not being met by over 70%, seeing our RVP have clients close and reopen accts under a "special" Rookie (read, his neice) BEFORE she had her SEC Licence and artificially overcome the "star Bond Salesman from the Rookie Group" (an AF Flight Officer who quit shortly after), I knew our days were numbered.
I closed a 150 Person Acct with a Medical Practice (pretty much meet my internship goal) with another Broker and had worked on plans to start off a Hedge Fund with an acquaintance with overseas contacts looking to invest in the USA when I was released with all the Rookies (save the "special" Rookie) one day...
...Back to present day. The Merril Recruiter who shows up at Veteran Job Fairs is still primarily hiring for Retail Brokers; but to show the Sign of the Times and the effect of being bought out by BoA, they're now actively looking for COLLECTION AGENTS.
Guess that's a pretty funny combo - Cold Calling for Investors, and Shaking Down Debtors by the same guy - perhaps on the Same Shift - ROTFL!!!
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