Debt.

It's the reason our current president has made so many wise decisions in his life.

But, debt has enveloped at least one person somebody knows, or they themselves. According to NerdWallet, the total debt owed by consumers is $24.4 TRILLION. Furthermore, wallethub.com states that $2.9 billion of that debt is delinquent, meaning that it is NINETY days OR MORE past the due date.

And it is never good if ANYTHING is THAT late. If you keep a gallon of milk three months past its expiration date, odds are, it’s cottage cheese at that point.

Obviously, if you have any kind of debt, you should pay it if you can. Since three forms of debt (student loans, medical bills, and IRS bills) are not liquidated in chapter 7 bankruptcy, it is paramount that those kinds of debts that should be paid off as soon as possible. Though people find themselves in debt through no fault of their own, it’s not reasonable for those same people to feel tremendous amounts of anxiety, apprehension, and intimidation.

That can only be compounded by receiving calls from, presumably, the bank where the credit card or other origin of debt came from regarding the money owed to them. But, that is where’d you be wrong.

All that seriously delinquent debt has grown a new industry, the debt collection industry. The debt that somebody has failed to pay on has now been charged off by the bank, or simply written off on said bank’s tax returns. How the debt collection industry is born is by them buying somebody’s debt for a fraction of what the total debt amount was, and the bank makes a little more money off of the debt. We think that it’s obliterated, and can go about living our daily lives of fun and games. That’s where we’re wrong. Those debt collectors can come at you for the full amount of that debt.

This industry, according to HRW.org, is among the highest users of our state court system. The debtors are already at a huge talent disparity; many of them go in unrepresented, and up against seasoned collections’ attorneys. This is why many debtors are in a pickle. They either:

Show up for their court date, and have nary a chance at winning.

Or….

Have such a depressed and anxious mood about it, that they don’t answer the lawsuits, meaning the creditors win by default.

That depressed and anxious mood stems from the illegal lengths debt collectors will go to get their money. While many debt agencies work within the bounds of the law, many go to unprecedented lengths to collect.