From Debt Collectors to debt Relievers!

Recently I read an article about mass protests and their effectiveness or lack thereof. One of the protests mentioned as non-effective was OCCUPY WALL STREET. I didn't think anything of it at the time, although the essay gave a negative slant by observing that the OWS protestors left a ton of trash on the streets, very unecological.

Today, however, I read a short news item about two former debt collectors who had a TRANSFORMATION after talking to OWS protestors and switched from being debt collectors to being debt relievers. They formed a non-profit, RIP Medical Debt, to take donations which they used to buy delinquent medical debt parcels for pennies on the dollar which they then wrote off.

One of the 3.6 million people they helped to erase debt was a Georgia high school math teacher who was faced with insurmountable medical debt after the birth of her daughter, prematurely, 13 years earlier. She was haunted and burdened by the debt which she could not pay off as her salary just covered their living expenses. She like the other 3.6 million debtors, received a yellow envelope in the mail saying her debt had been paid off and she was now free and clear.

My own experience with debt collectors was when my daughter went off for her 'not quite a year' of college around 2001. She left in the Spring of the year for California and I was left with 16,000 college loan to pay off which I did over subsequent decades at $100 a month. However, while she was in college, predatory credit card offers came in and she had also run up about $4000 in credit card debt that she defaulted on. Those credit card debt collectors hounded me and even called neighbors and family. I repeatedly told them that they had not consulted me, her mother, before givig her the credit cards so why should they think I should be held responsible for them. Also, I reminded them that I hadn't co-signedor in any way backed those loans and as my daugher no longer even lived with me, I didn't see why they thought I should pay. Nonetheless, they continued to harrass me by phone and although often sypathized with my situation, they reminded me that my daughter's unpaid debt would cripple her in the future should she try to buy a car or rent an apartment. It would follow her forever. Naturally, I didn't believe them and didn't want to pay those credit card balances, BUT, a friend at school, another teacher, advised me that it was true that her credit history would cripple her, so I did pay off $3000 and her father paid off about $1000. And as time went by, my daughter did, in fact buy a car, rent an apartment, and in time, get married and buy a condo in Brooklyn. So I am glad I paid off her credit card debt. She also applied for and paid off an American Express credit card which she used to get airline points for her many flights back adn forth from New York to California in her acting career. I am glad now that I was able to help her and I am glad these kind men found such a worthy cause in helping other people saddled with debts they can in no way pay off.

Hospital costs are astronomical. My own recent visit to the emergency room and the hospital for a heart problem which forced me to stay overnight, cost $38,000 which fortunately was covered by my supplemental medical benefit from my teacher retirement as well as medicare, so I only had to pay $50. If I had no coverage, I would have not gone to the hospital and possibly suffered a stroke and died. And I am sure that is happening all over America, today, because people are so frightened of the insurmountable level of debt that medical care/hospital care costs today.

My other point is that those people who occupied Wall Street and spoke to the former debt collectors, made a HUGE difference in the lives of 3.6 million people without even knowing about it, so if that was the only good to come out of the Occupy Wall Street movement it helped millions of people!

What we do can often have unintended consequences. Happy Trails wherever they may take you - to the woods, to the city, to a new idea! Jo Ann