Locally the Brattleboro Reformer did another story about this titled "Gouging the Poor". This article is really very good and full of facts, one of the main things that I think can and should be done to change this is to have the minimum wage raised. You try living and supporting yourself, never mind a family, on $5.15 before taxes per hour. When you work for that amount of money, you aren't' living at all. You are surviving and any debt can just kill you.
For years I have been painfully aware of the negative perception of debt collectors but never has it been broadcast to the masses in such a negative, and one sided light.
Obviously, I do not agree with all of these stories that the debt collectors are the ones to blame out there. Elizabeth Warren asks everyone to write a letter to the Globe, I have written letters to all of these papers, but alas, have not had any response. I think there is alot of merit to these stories, but there are also alot of people who owe money and do not like being asked for it, and any contact with them, they claim they are being harrassed. Each scenario must be looked at individually as well as each collector. There are some collectors who are just awful and break the law every day, and if they are bringing in the money, their boss may look the other way. Ah, the power of money.
Having been a bill collector and calling customers who were past due for years, I have heard many of the stories profiled in these articles. While I am aware that there are and always have been debt collectors who will do "anything" to get paid, there are also debt collectors who do not rely on bullying and harassing, or profanity to get the job done, which is to collect a past due balance from someone who owes you money. Interesting that this is not something anyone focuses on, but only on the negative aspects.
And I had been hoping my work for the last 10 years was helping to put a stop to that! Guess I better get back to work!
A thought to ponder might be, "When was the last time someone really looked at the FDCPA and when was the last time someone tried to make it more clear, more benficial to business owners or creditors as well as the consumer? It is very obvious and has been for years that things need to change, but who is doing anything to change it and who knows what to do to change them?"
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