John Oliver is a man you should know. No, seriously. Know him right now.
Watching "Last Week with John Oliver" exposes the deep-seeded corruption of unregulated industries. With comedic relief, John bitch-slaps ignorant and financially distressed consumers with chilling truths about how these companies can ruin the little person's life, like yours and mine.
If you're 21 years or older and you do not know who manages your debt, shame on you. Shame on me because I didn't start caring about my debt until I watched his episode on debt buyers.
Look inside your wallet and pull out your Chase credit card. I'm 99% sure Chase has already sold your $1,000 of unpaid debt for a fraction of the cost, something like $50, to one of the thousands of debt buyers. That's the whole business of debt sellers, like Chase, getting out from under your accumulated, often unpaid, debt. And debt buyers make a killing on your debt payments for a fraction of what they paid to buy your debt. Everyone wins.
Why do you care? You should care because all your personal information and debt was sold to some guy who runs some shady debt buying company, and now has all the rights to find where you live, harass you, sue you, and run your life into the toilet.
So, here is how I was brought into adulthood as a concerned consumer, and everything I learned from my second husband and bull-shit free therapist, John Oliver:
Banks sell debts to third parties "as is" and "with all faults."
This should scare you. Your bank has the right to sell your debt along with personal information not vetted, such as your home address, social security number, account balances, and outstanding debt accumulated. Banks are notorious for selling debt that no longer exists. How can that be? It's called zombie debt. This debt has been settled through bankruptcy, debt too old to collect on, or debt already paid! Debt buyers resurrect your debt, and will do whatever they can to hassle you for the money.
Debt buyers are heartless monsters.
Debt buyers commit unlawful acts to harass, haggle, and con their way into people's wallets using fear tactics and empty threats. According to Oliver, debt buyers have been recorded threatening customers with murder, contacting their employers, and using abusive language like "loser" and suggesting them to "jump in front of a train." Not even kidding.
We know that this behavior is unacceptable, but what do you expect from scum of the earth? The Federal Trade Commission estimated that 2014 consumers filled 280,000 complains with federal authorities about debt collectors! They also threaten to take clients to court and are the heaviest individual users of the state court system. It's a well-played game. After filing a court case with authorities, the debt buyer hopes the client does not attend court; therefore, clients have to pay back the debt.
With $50, you can become a debt buyer!
States can allow you to invest in a debt buying company without a license. You do not even need a license to own other people's debt. As Oliver puts it, "Any idiot can get into it," and that's what Oliver did. He paid $50 to start and establish Central Asset Recovery Professionals (CARP, after the bottom-feeding fish), and named himself chairman. He purchased $15 million of medical debt for $60,000. He didn't collect on the money. Instead, he forgave all the debt.
Essentially, he gave away $15 million. Put it into retrospect, it was the biggest television give-away in history. Oprah's free car give-away only totaled $8 million. Watch the video below and prepare to fall in love with Oliver. Eat your heart out, Oprah.
