5 Disturbing New Ways Debt Collectors Are Getting Your Money | Cracked.com
Holy shit. Look at the ads at the bottom of the page.
Holy shit. Look at the ads at the bottom of the page.
And you thought us marketers could be cunts...
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My locale is making me see an advert from the worst payday loan company out there, nototrious (even in the payday industry) for being the shadiest con-men out there.
The article stirs mixed emotions. These's guys owe money. That's a fact. Give the person the money you owe them, despite the stupid stipends your dumbass got yourself into.... but to impersontae a full fledged court to get that money? Debt collectors hustle haaaaard.
The article stirs mixed emotions. These's guys owe money. That's a fact. Give the person the money you owe them, despite the stupid stipends your dumbass got yourself into.... but to impersontae a full fledged court to get that money? Debt collectors hustle haaaaard.
@99999 - that's a common response, but it doesn't tell the whole story. The people who suffer most at the hands of debt collectors are those who are vulnerable.
Example - Year ago, I got into nearly 6 figures of debt at one point over a business that went tits up. Some bad luck, sure, but it was my responsibility. However I know that the whole debt thing is a game, and you're dealing with some pretty ruthless motherfuckers. So I just played them at their own game, and came out unscathed.
(The main things I learned was never tell them anything, get hold of a mail forwarding address to use, and use a burner mobile phone so they can't harass you. Then, if you don't have any assets that they know about, they are totally powerless. If they threaten to sue you, just tell 'em to take a ticket and wait in line. It really pisses them off, but they just have to sit around and wait til you feel like settling with them. Which I did, in my own time, for a fraction of the stupid figure they'd made up.)
Whilst I was doing research on their tactics for my own case though, I came across a lot of really unfortunate stories, usually about people who had been struck by serious illness, divorce, bereavement or disability, and ended up in debt purely through bad luck that could happen to anyone.
These people were harassed at their most vulnerable. To make things worse, they were just regular folks who didn't have an entrepreneur's "fuck 'em" attitude, and were often wracked by guilt, which the debt collectors happily played on. They'd due stupid-but-honest things like tell the DCs about their savings, and what assets they owned, and in return for their honesty, they'd get screwed, and called 40 times a day until they ended up with mental health problems.
Example - Year ago, I got into nearly 6 figures of debt at one point over a business that went tits up. Some bad luck, sure, but it was my responsibility. However I know that the whole debt thing is a game, and you're dealing with some pretty ruthless motherfuckers. So I just played them at their own game, and came out unscathed.
(The main things I learned was never tell them anything, get hold of a mail forwarding address to use, and use a burner mobile phone so they can't harass you. Then, if you don't have any assets that they know about, they are totally powerless. If they threaten to sue you, just tell 'em to take a ticket and wait in line. It really pisses them off, but they just have to sit around and wait til you feel like settling with them. Which I did, in my own time, for a fraction of the stupid figure they'd made up.)
Whilst I was doing research on their tactics for my own case though, I came across a lot of really unfortunate stories, usually about people who had been struck by serious illness, divorce, bereavement or disability, and ended up in debt purely through bad luck that could happen to anyone.
These people were harassed at their most vulnerable. To make things worse, they were just regular folks who didn't have an entrepreneur's "fuck 'em" attitude, and were often wracked by guilt, which the debt collectors happily played on. They'd due stupid-but-honest things like tell the DCs about their savings, and what assets they owned, and in return for their honesty, they'd get screwed, and called 40 times a day until they ended up with mental health problems.
As someone who owned a portion of a debt collection agency several years ago, I can say with all honesty that he stereotypical debt collector is nothing but an asshole version of a telemarketer. It's a numbers game with 95% of the revenue coming as a direct result of what amateursurgeon spoke of above.
My company handled all of the legal collections (the other 5% representing actual lawsuits and levies) but being on the downstream of the information flow revealed some crazy stories for sure.
My company handled all of the legal collections (the other 5% representing actual lawsuits and levies) but being on the downstream of the information flow revealed some crazy stories for sure.
Got really no sympathy for a lot of debtors that I know. Mostly college kids who spent (and continue to spend) all of their money on booze and parties. I have "friends" who spend more money than me on drinks at bars who don't have steady, full time jobs; then fret about "what they're going to do about these damn debt collectors" during the day. Naturally, if you're in debt over circumstances beyond your control I dearly feel for you, but also realize your debt must be repaid eventually. In the vast majority of cases that I've seen, though, debtors are idiots that spend too much money that they don't have, much like the federal government, and need to be given a tight squeeze.