What Kind Of Person Becomes A Debt Collector

[Flamingo]

Wow, I wish I had had a lawyer representing me like you when I tried to settle my debts before filing for bankruptcy! Imagine having those conversations as a lay person. It was horrible and I got nowhere. There definitely seems to be a lot of stupidity and spite on behalf of junk debt buyers. Even at a 30% settlement they would be making tons of money on the debt since they bought it for pennies on the dollar. Makes no sense to me....

BK Lawyers do not negotiate with your creditors to settle debt or lower interest when you retain them to file bankruptcy. As in other forums, be careful of plants from filing agencies who may be trolling for business...just read between the lines.

[catleg]

Just a note as a draftee of the RVN era. Most of us that were drafted were not trained to be cruel, we only did what we had to do to survive and come home again.
I met some nut cases that loved war, but they were few and far from the normal.
And when I got drafted in 1966 within my basic training company out of 215 men there were only 4 that had enlisted.
We were not mercenaries, most were just scared like in any other war that we did not want to be in.
Wrong comparison my friend.

Sorry, that did not come out well. I apologize for saying that.

[PdxDavid]

I agree that there are some real aholes out there in collections. Especially the ones that the debt gets sold to after the original gives up. My wife works in collections for a credit card company. She makes a decent wage and she gets bonuses depending on how far behind the person is. She is very compassionate because we have the same problems that some of the people that she speaks to are having.

It is a little silly to think that all of them are mean and nasty or whatever other name you want to call them. The truth is you/we made the purchases. You/we owe the money and they need to find out why you/we are not paying them back as agreed. I agree that credit card companies are evil and are only trying to make money, but the fact is the person calling you/us didn't set the fees and had nothing to do with the purchases you/we made or whatever issues have arisen to make it impossible for you/us to pay the money back.

Plus, businesses are in business to make money. It is the American way. Sure, they have been taking advantage for a long time, but it didn't just start happening yesterday. It has been happening for a long time, and we all got in knowing that.



As others have commented, not all of them are bad. I have no problem with someone treating another as they are being treated. I do have an issue with lumping anyone that works in collections as a bad, evil, uneducated bottom feeder. They are just trying to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head like everyone else.

Carry on with pitchforks and torches...

[justplaintired]

A

When the collectors starting calling us we were never mean to them and they were never mean to us; in fact, several stated how sorry they were to hear of our circumstances since we were long-term great customers for many years prior. In fact, I don't recall one nasty call but more respectful and inquiring. I don't know how I would react or feel if several people borrowed several thousand dollars from me and told me to pound sand...I just look at any situation as a coin having two sides...there is always another way to view any situation.

This was us too, I figured they had a job to do, we owed them money. I hate it that this happened to us, I wish I could have paid that money back. I know, cc are horrible, I hate them, but it isn't the collectors fault, they are doing a job. We had not one single nasty collector. But, I was always honest with them, I didn't avoid the calls, I told them I wished we could have had another choice. I know some have had bad experiences, but we didn't.

Far as being a debt collector, no I wouldn't want that job, would I take it if I had mouths to feed or bills to pay, yes I would, because a job is a job, and sometimes we have to do things we don't necessarily want to do to keep a roof over our heads.

One other things, it's not the collectors who make these decisions on how much to lower your rate, it's the creditor they work for. When the first card upped our rate to over 30 percent, and the person I spoke with wouldn't lower the rate, it wasn't her decision, it was the cc. I do hate cc, believe me, I wish they would all rot for what they do to people's life, but do I blame a collector who calls me to get money I owe, nope, I owe it. I took their money, so why wouldn't they try to collect? If I loaned someone alot of money and they quit paying, I'd be calling, he** I would drive to their house, I'd yell and scream to get my money back, so, I don't blame the collector.

I had Bk filed on me by someone who lived in a house I used to own, they got over $3K behind on rent, stupid of me to let it get so far behind, but this guy had 5 or 6 kids and no job? Anyway, no calls did any good, he just didn't pay. Won a lawsuit, only to have him file BK on me, so, I do understand collectors doing their job. Now I even understand having to file BK!

[Violet]

I read an article somewhere about the people who work for the real bottom of the barrel zombie debt buyers. Apparently there's a lot of them around Buffalo and Houston. The ones who work for the real sleazy agencies often end up there after acquiring criminal records and major drug habits. The junk debt buyer calling you a loser is probably far more debauched than you'll ever be. I can't remember where I saw the article, but I thought you could write a great novel or screenplay about those people.

[backtoschool]

I've talked with quite a few of them on behalf of clients. They seem to be lacking any of the compassion or sense of forgiveness or reasonableness that comes naturally to most people. It's like they are robots or are reading from a script. I ususally goes like this:

Me: Well, she's lost her job and she simply cannot pay you right now. She'd like to avoid bankruptcy but as long as you keep adding late fees and interest fees and penalties, she'll never be able to pay it off. If you'd just set up a reasonable scheme where she could pay the principal plus a little interest each month, she could get it paid off.

Them: Sir, please hold while I speak to my supervisor.

[[[ Hold for 30 minutes while listening to bad elevator music ]]]]]

Them: Sir?

Me: Yes?

Them: My supervisor has advised that we cannot waive any interest or penalties at this time.

Me: You realize that you are a general unsecured creditor if she files bankruptcy right? You realize that you are not going to get a f****** cent if she files bankruptcy, right? She wants to pay this off, but she just needs some time. Why won't you let her just let her pay it off over some time, plus interest, drop the penalties and you'll get your money?

Them: Sir, please hold while I speak to my supervisor.

[[[ Hold for 30 minutes while listening to bad elevator music ]]]]]

Them: Sir:

Me: Yes?

Them : My supervisor confirmed that we cannot lower the 27% interest or the late fees.

Me: Well, you're not going to get paid then.

Them: Our lawyers will demand payment.

Me: I hope they do. You know what, the only idiot bigger than you is your f****** supervisor. Give me the address to mail the bankruptcy petition.

Them: Sir, if you continue to use profanities toward me I will have to discontinue this call.

Me: I'll save you the f***ing trouble.

[[[ I hang up ]]]

[[[ 3 months later . . . after the bankruptcy petition has been filed ]]]

Credit Card Lawyer: Well, it looks like we could keep her out of bankruptcy if she could just pay $100 a month or so and get this cleared up.

Me: Yes, it did look like that, but your people wouldn't accept that. We tried. She has already filed.

Credit Card Lawyer: Well, I've been authorized to waive the penaties and interest and forgive half the principal if she'll just dismiss the bankruptcy.

Me: We can't do that. The bankruptcy will be on her credit report even if she dismisses it. Why didn't your people take our original offer?

Credit Card Lawyer: Well, I don't know, I wasn't involved back then . . they should have but they didn't . . . but now they'd like to work it out.

Me: I'm afraid we are past working it out. Tell your clients to be more cooperative on the front end.

Wow, I wish I had had a lawyer representing me like you when I tried to settle my debts before filing for bankruptcy! Imagine having those conversations as a lay person. It was horrible and I got nowhere. There definitely seems to be a lot of stupidity and spite on behalf of junk debt buyers. Even at a 30% settlement they would be making tons of money on the debt since they bought it for pennies on the dollar. Makes no sense to me....

[MSbklawyer]

I've talked with quite a few of them on behalf of clients. They seem to be lacking any of the compassion or sense of forgiveness or reasonableness that comes naturally to most people. It's like they are robots or are reading from a script. I ususally goes like this:

Me: Well, she's lost her job and she simply cannot pay you right now. She'd like to avoid bankruptcy but as long as you keep adding late fees and interest fees and penalties, she'll never be able to pay it off. If you'd just set up a reasonable scheme where she could pay the principal plus a little interest each month, she could get it paid off.

Them: Sir, please hold while I speak to my supervisor.

[[[ Hold for 30 minutes while listening to bad elevator music ]]]]]

Them: Sir?

Me: Yes?

Them: My supervisor has advised that we cannot waive any interest or penalties at this time.

Me: You realize that you are a general unsecured creditor if she files bankruptcy right? You realize that you are not going to get a f****** cent if she files bankruptcy, right? She wants to pay this off, but she just needs some time. Why won't you let her just let her pay it off over some time, plus interest, drop the penalties and you'll get your money?

Them: Sir, please hold while I speak to my supervisor.

[[[ Hold for 30 minutes while listening to bad elevator music ]]]]]

Them: Sir:

Me: Yes?

Them : My supervisor confirmed that we cannot lower the 27% interest or the late fees.

Me: Well, you're not going to get paid then.

Them: Our lawyers will demand payment.

Me: I hope they do. You know what, the only idiot bigger than you is your f****** supervisor. Give me the address to mail the bankruptcy petition.

Them: Sir, if you continue to use profanities toward me I will have to discontinue this call.

Me: I'll save you the f***ing trouble.

[[[ I hang up ]]]

[[[ 3 months later . . . after the bankruptcy petition has been filed ]]]

Credit Card Lawyer: Well, it looks like we could keep her out of bankruptcy if she could just pay $100 a month or so and get this cleared up.

Me: Yes, it did look like that, but your people wouldn't accept that. We tried. She has already filed.

Credit Card Lawyer: Well, I've been authorized to waive the penaties and interest and forgive half the principal if she'll just dismiss the bankruptcy.

Me: We can't do that. The bankruptcy will be on her credit report even if she dismisses it. Why didn't your people take our original offer?

Credit Card Lawyer: Well, I don't know, I wasn't involved back then . . they should have but they didn't . . . but now they'd like to work it out.

Me: I'm afraid we are past working it out. Tell your clients to be more cooperative on the front end.

[dingdong]

When I "hit it big" ( which I really doubt will ever happen), I am going to buy debt portfolios and offer the debt payoff to the debtor for whatever I pay for it (usually about .03 on the dollar, by the way). So lets say you have a B of A charge off for 6000.00-, you pay the 180.00 ( or whatever it sold for) and you wipe the booger free.

If I hit it really big (big Laugh!) I will just buy it and retire the debt with a nice note to the debtor stating the account has been wiped out.


Now I know that this is mostly wishful thinking, but wouldn't that be cool? IF there was a co-op that could out price the junk debt buyers and stop them at their own game?

We started a thread a while back about starting a debt buying co-op and putting the debt buyers out of business by getting enough people to jump in and then selling the debt for what it is sold for by the CC companies ( plus maybe some admin fees so the co-op doesn't run in the hole)

Wouldn't that be nice, stop the leaches in their tracks.

I can understand first party debt collectors, where you have a debt to someone and you are late/missed payments and they try and get the money you owe. I totally understand it, but zombie debt buyers and junk debt buyers are the biggest bottom feeding futher muckers in the world, they just lick the scum off the bottom of the pond and try and make a buck on the down and out. That kind of debt buying should be illegal. What kind of frickin market is that?

Hello, I never had any business with you, never had a contract with you , but I bought your out of SOL debt for 15.00 and now I am going to haunt you and ruin your credit until I can extort the money out of you.

Glad my BK killed all ( well most , except for the CA that I am going to harass until they conform to the law) those weenies with one fell swoop!!

[kenshirley]

Just a note as a draftee of the RVN era. Most of us that were drafted were not trained to be cruel, we only did what we had to do to survive and come home again.
I met some nut cases that loved war, but they were few and far from the normal.
And when I got drafted in 1966 within my basic training company out of 215 men there were only 4 that had enlisted.
We were not mercenaries, most were just scared like in any other war that we did not want to be in.
Wrong comparison my friend.

[catleg]

I think it's mostly a young person's game. Same way they draft young men to be soldiers. It's easier to program people for cruelty when they don't have so much life experience. It can also be very lucrative, you might as well ask why does someone become a drug dealer or prostitute.

[kenshirley]

And lot about people and life too.

[Flowers]

It's a business.
It's a job.

I'll bet a young person just starting can learn lots about business working in debt collections.

[2manybills]

Most of the folks that actually got through to us were pretty okay on the phone. Even while I called to voluntarily surrender my car, man oh man, I thought they were going to be such jerks, but they weren't.

But there are those that treat it like its there money. Years ago (I don't think they do these kind of loans anymore) when they used to do loans where they used your furniture as collateral on the personal loan. That's when I did collection legal work. Some of these guys would file a "conversion" against folks in their BK and actually try to take their furniture. It was terrible! I was young then and it really used to upset me. I'm glad I got out of that part of the legal field! It's like they enjoyed leaving folks with no furniture!

[kenshirley]

I see things differently myself. True I have interfaced with these people when my father was still alive and a car dealer.
But if they did not exist who would bother to pay their bills?
I can tell you many stories of people that had good credit, wrote checks for down payments on cars that bounced and they were never heard from again.
After some months the dealerships are forced to hire agents to find the cars and get them back.
No, in most cases the law will not help either. Dream on.
So like it or not, what is a business to do. I know many here are callused to these collections agents. I went the rounds with some myself going through the process.
But if they did not exist there would be a lot more thieves out there just scamming business daily, or so I say more than they do now.
I worked for a payday outfit as I stated before. I was only there 3 weeks and I quit as I did not like treating people like I was required to do. But then again I am rather independent in that I am retired and I did not need the job.
So for those of you that think they are the scum of the earth so be it.
Somebody has to serve in the armies of the world, some had to execute prisoners that have to die, and some have to be collections agents. And I was drafted and I can tell you for a fact I did not like the idea of war either but somebody has to serve, it was the law and I did not whimp out and run to Canada either.
Everybody needs a job and I can tell you from personal experiences with them that an experienced repossession agent of boats and cars and such makes a very good living.

[frogger]

Not all debt collectors are the same. As has been said, many are sympathetic to the problems that everyone is having, and some are just plain jerks.

The attitude of the debt collector is mostly determined by the management.