BANKRUPTCIES AND FORECLOSURES IN THE US

by juni 18 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Abandoned

  Don't even THINK about going there.

  No kidding. Here's a sampling of what's going on in this country.

  I know a guy who has worked without stop since he was a sophmore in high school (except for a three month stint in 1986) who has lived almost his entire life without health insurance. He's generally a positive person and is not afraid of lending a helping had to others, but who has a really hard time standing up for himself. Well, he went through a medical emergency a little over a year ago and in one week in the hospital, racked up over thirty-thousand dollars worth of medical bills. He would have racked up more, but he didn't do any of the follow up tests they wanted since he didn't have insurance for those either.

  This company has filed for wage garnishment against my friend even though he's told them that he can't afford to pay these bills and doesn't make enough to where he'll ever conceivably be able to pay. He apologizes for the suicide attempt that landed him in the hospital, but he didn't ask to be depressed and he didn't ask to not be able to afford the necessary health care that might have made the suicide attempt not happen. At any rate, he is now in an even worse position financially then when he ended up in the hospital in the first place.

  Isn't this ludicrous? I'm not mentioning names to protect the privacy of my friend, but this is a 100% true story.
• 

  sammielee24

  I believe this came from the Business Economist? I thought it was kind of 'cute'...but it spells it out pretty well -

  October 17, 2006

  Dear Capital One

  Dear Capital One,

  Thank you so much for continuing your correspondence, your persistence in this matter is to be commended. Most people would have given up on me by now, but not you. Your optimism that I may write or call you one day is astonishing... especially given the fact that I don't think I've given any indication that I will. I've been trying to figure out what I did or said that would cause you to have such expectations.

  Oh, that's right. I didn't do anything.

  Somehow you got my name... and you somehow feel that gives you permission to write me every week, sometimes twice a week. Somehow you feel that you have the right to waste my time. Somehow you feel you have the right waste all the electricity my paper shredder uses eating your junk. Somehow you feel that you have the right to waste the all that paper with your "generous" offers.

  You don't.

  If I wasn't interested in your service the first, second or 100th time you wrote me, what on earth gives you the hope that the 101st or more might interest me?

  I do, however, have something (besides my wallet) that might interest you.. an idea: instead of spending all that money on mailing lists, paper, people stuffing envelopes, and postage, why not do something worth talking about instead? Why not randomly pay peoples bills for them (don't advertise it, just do it)? Why not commit all the cash you spend on marketing to prevent identity theft? Why not allow people to put a certain percentage of their "rewards" to some worthwhile charity and provide matching dollars? And finally, become the number one lobbyist for health care reform (the number one cause of bankruptcy in this country)?

  In the meantime, please stop writing me. Let me rephrase that: STOP WRITING TO ME!

  Sincerely,

  Jon

  P.S. if you know anyone who works at Citibank, American Express or Discover, please share this letter with them.
• 

  juni

  I said in my post:

  I agree with you. It's a matter of irresponsible spending. Like I had said, there are those that fall on hard times i.e. medical issues, but the vast majority is due to personal greed wanting the latest and newest.

  I retract my statement about the vast majority of bankruptcies is due to personal greed.

  I stand corrected. Medical expenses are a huge cause of this. Also, wages do not keep up w/the cost of living. Most people work 2 jobs just to have necessities. Then you have the high cost of day care for the kids when both mom and dad have to work.

  People use credit cards a lot to pay for NEEDED services, etc. And as was pointed out in the article, you are bombarded almost daily w/offers from c.c. companies.

  So NO. The VAST MAJORITY of bankruptcies are not due to personal greed.

  I appreciate all of your replies and experiences.

  Juni
• 

  Zuko

  I have heard a ton of people are getting screwed on variable rate mortgages. After September 11th when all the interest rates dropped to nothing people where lent a ton more money than they would normally have been since the interest rates where so low. Now that they are going back up again I know some people whos payments increased more than 400 a month. That is a tough increase for people to deal with when most people live paycheck to paycheck anyway.
• 

  jayhawk1

  All of a sudden my Bush Admin. comment looks brilliant. I wondered if anybody would see beyond what I wrote. Spot on that medical expenses is the reason for most bankruptcies. Hmmm, how could that be changed? National health chare or health care reform? How about this? Why do we have eye care insurance? Why do we have dental health insurance? Since when are my eyes and my teeth seperate from the rest of my body? What's next my feet?

  Oh and as for that guy in Arizona...(Looking glass's post) how Republican of him.
• 

  sammielee24

  Why do we have eye care insurance?

  We actually received a credit card offer for 'medical credit'. The card gives you a little lower interest rate because it's a 'medical credit card'...and of course the spending limit is higher. How long before you figure that this card is maxed out and then the person is in deep trouble? I just thought it was interesting - since the new bankruptcy changes last year, they have completed their study of how it's working. A total of 5% of all bankruptcies since the changes are affected - the rest are as had been told to the administration - people who cannot afford to pay their expenses any longer. The main reasons are 1)medical costs 2) divorce 3) losing a job. The bad thing is that those people who are already stressed out and trying to keep it together - now have to pay a lot more in lawyers and filing fees and they must pay for and complete credit counselling courses. So the lawyers are getting richer, the administration will make money on filing fees and the counselling services will make more money. I think the loophole closing was a good thing as far as owning houses and other large assets if you have them - but I would think that bankruptcy is a daunting and humiliating experience for most people that have to take this route. sammieswife.
• 

  TweetieBird

  Another problem that I have noticed (and I work for a mortgage company) is that a lot of fly-by-night mortgage brokers talked their clients into neg-am loans (generally a start rate of 1% for the 1st year and then it adjusts after that). What's happened here in Southern California is that people bought houses that were way too expensive for them due to the 1% rate and now it is adjusting and they can't afford the payments. Because the price of houses here are expensive to start with, you are looking at about a $3,000 to $4000 monthly payment and they can't afford it anymore. We have several clients that bought a ton of investment properties with neg-am loans and the payments are double what they can get for rent now.
• 

  Robdar

  The bad thing is that those people who are already stressed out and trying to keep it together - now have to pay a lot more in lawyers and filing fees and they must pay for and complete credit counselling courses. So the lawyers are getting richer, the administration will make money on filing fees and the counselling services will make more money. I think the loophole closing was a good thing as far as owning houses and other large assets if you have them - but I would think that bankruptcy is a daunting and humiliating experience for most people that have to take this route.

  Yes, it's a humiliating experience for some people and they learn their lessons from the counseling courses and from having to file a bankruptcy. Yet other people never seem to learn and file 3 or 4 times. I have been working for a bankruptcy lawyer since July. You wouldn't believe some of the abuses and attempted abuses I've seen. And yes, you have to pay an attorney to help you out. Do you expect them to work for free?

  Believe me, the attorney you pay is worth the money to help you get out of the jam you are in for whatever reason you may be there.

  BTW, I've only seen a handful of bankruptcies come about because of medical bills. Most of the cases I've seen are caused by over-spending, adjustable rate mortgages and job loss.
• 

  gumby

  You'd think the bank would give a guy a break just because he missed his last 10 months of mortgage payments. Bastards! They mighta taken my nice home....but they ain't taken this one I built from scratch. I even had money left over to by me a George Strait cowboy hat.