Unlike his neighbors' homes, Craig Cunningham's house in Northeast Dallas looks abandoned. The grass is dried out. The concrete slab under the front door is lopsided and cracked. The green exterior has faded to a toxic-looking shade. Yellow Pages pile up near the front door, and the black mailbox is stuffed full. Maybe the home has been foreclosed on. That wouldn't be a surprise in this economy.
But no, that's not the case. Inside, the 29-year-old Cunningham hunkers his 6-foot-2-inch frame on a dumpy couch. His heavy arms extend from his sides, palms up, so two Chihuahuas, Angel and Chuay, can curl under them. Although it's 10 a.m. on a weekday, he's wearing slippers.
He leans forward to lift some paperwork out of a plastic tub on the coffee table. The phone rings, and he answers with a soft voice. It's just a friend, and soon he hangs up. He's waiting for a particular type of phone call—one from a representative of a debt collection agency or a credit card company, whom he'll try to ensnare like a Venus fly trap. It's not unlikely that Cunningham's next call will be from a bill collector, since he's between jobs—except for being in the Army Reserve—and owes $100,000 in debts.
While most Americans with unpaid bills dread the collector's call, Cunningham sees them as lucrative opportunities. Many collection and credit card companies, intentionally or not, violate little-known consumer rights laws, and Cunningham's favorite pastime is catching them doing so and then suing them. In fact, it's a profitable side job.
(snippet)
All told, he filed 15 other lawsuits in federal court without the help of a lawyer, earning himself settlements totaling more than $20,000.
"Most people hear about the abuses that debt collectors do, but you just didn't hear about the second part of it, where people sue the collectors," he says.
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WTF
ReplyDeleteAnother " I deserve a free ride"
And we wonder why we are where we are ???
I don't
it's become the biggest cluster fuck of all time.
At least the Lawyers have plenty of work!
ReplyDeleteEven though I don't agree, I don't like Bill Collectors, Repo goons, and Tow Truck idiots. These are seedy job choices which are throwbacks to syndicate criminal gangs.
Just because a company is in business does not give it a right to take what is mine. My property. That is what courts are for.
I SAY SUE THE BASTARDS TO THE HILT!
I have a game I like to play with telemarketers and bill collectors. I call it airhorn roulette. After a total of 3 calls, if the telemarketer/bill collector continues to call me, I answer hello, pause and proceed to blast a boating air horn into the receiver.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great stress buster, and it's funny as hell to hear them scream and yell! It must be funny as hell seeing them in their little cubicles trying to rip off their headsets...ahahaha!
Its amazing what the media has done to us. "Pay your bills". "Have morals".It takes a few dollars for the criminal Federal Reserve to actually print a million dollars of this "toilet paper". Then the suckers go out and work their fingers to the bone, die of heart disease, divorce, kill, steal and rape the land all in the name of the almighty FAKE BUCK, to pay back these criminal bastards and their gang of hoodlums.
ReplyDelete3:44 ok; I'll play your little game of let's shoot everybody " above us".
ReplyDeleteYour last comment "man, you people are stupid"
really?? who's indebted ? who put those in debt where they are?
We in this country were born with the power of choice. Is it now my fault that you turned your hard earned money over to goldman sachs?
Is it also my fault that instead of nurturing a 10 year old perfectly fine automobile; you took a slathering at the hitching post & let some slick willie talk you out of that and right on into a brand new Yok O Homa piece of metric made crap for only 600/month?
is it also my fault that you and the mrs. signed on the dotted line to your bank for 40 years on that cute little double wide on the single lot with no back yard and 20 nosy neighbors and now
the mortgage is twice what it;s worth??
You - or NO ONE else pays NOBODY until that indebetness ! And there's only ONE way to incur that SanCez ---
YOU fuckin' signed - not me
Don't bring your problems to my front door - it was bought and paid for the honest way along tome ago.
Something we have obviously forgotten how to acomplish in 2010.
man, you people are stupid ?
that's the smartest comment i've heard in 60 years; because - yeah buddy; by the droves ----
YOU ARE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4:28 the gubberment media trained you well. Sheep.
ReplyDelete4;42 Naw; not trained at all. jest an ole hound dawg that realizes that we in this country are 300 million strong. It is we whom should be running the show. You cannot run the show if you are a part of it ( see idiot craig above )
ReplyDeleteInstead it is who?
now then; let's see 300 million against 175 thousand .
And who's so stupid ??
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - well --]
There;s yer sign !!! Git 'er Done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Neither a borrower or a lender be .
ReplyDeletei have been against personal debt my entire life and tried hard to steer those young folks that would listen to me in the correct manner.
to me debt begets greed and then one feeds on the other.
If we all in this country just lived within' our means/ which is great by anyones standards - we would have no need for these banksters, thiefs and despicable characters that are forever preying upon the common man.
we must try to remain vigilant and inform our younger generation that yes - I made a mistake and yes it cost me dearly and yes i made good on it. But i will never do it again and you should learn from my mistake.
In my estimation we have so much to lose if we do not but even more to gain if we do.
One of the reasons the elite Oligarchs are miles beyond us is that they are not constrained by morals in any way.
ReplyDeleteregarding 5:40 on morals
ReplyDeleteIf a man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on.
So ok what does the bill collector do that incriminates them? Someone address that point?
ReplyDeleteI know the laws on calling hours, etc--but I dont see how you could sue someone on a phone call.
the collectors are criminals, they should be sued and beaten and they will be
ReplyDeleteThe collectors will lose their jobs once most people have defaulted. It will be too difficult a task to take everyone on. Also, note that even the Huffington Post is telling people (liberals included) to move their money out of the big banks. I hope we can break the big banks and creditors and RUIN THEM.
ReplyDelete5:40 is correct: "One of the reasons the elite Oligarchs are miles beyond us is that they are not constrained by morals in any way."
ReplyDeleteSo, you know what? Fight fire with fire. Default on your credit cards, default on everything and let them all GO DOWN.
Low Life BoA, Chase, Citigroups and all of the rest of them. You Ba****ards, it is now my turn
ReplyDelete4:28 is right. NO ONE MADE This jerk take out against cards and make DUMB decisions. He is justifying his actions, plain and simple. There is nothing to understand in this case. Had he been a hard worker, not splurged, took out a loan he could afford then fine. But NNOOOOOOO he tried to cut corners and make money off of everyone else. He wanted to play the big games, well, he got burned and that's the name of those games.
ReplyDeleteHad he been a regular guy not trying to make cheap money, fine.
But now, his actions are making it so everyone ELSE pays more money for services and products because jerks like him feel they are justified trying to get rich quick.
8:41 you must work for the creditors. Go take a hike, we don't need your weakling mentality here.
ReplyDelete841 is a punk jesus fkr, go take a hike punk loser
ReplyDeleteAll I see is a lot of self-righteousness from the older folks everywhere I go. Do you older folks not understand what kind of legacy you left behind for your kids and grand kids? Generation X and Y had no choice but to use credit cards for groceries or car repairs because everything costs so damn much! You older people had a great life when things weren't so expensive and then you blame the younger people because we were handed down the worst of it all? Even Susie Orman said she understand why the younger people have had to use credit to survive, as everything costs too damn much! It's you older folks who got us into this mess.
ReplyDeleteRead the book Generation Debt or Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead and you will get a better picture of why younger people especially have had to use credit to survive. With the high cost of living, automobiles, car insurance, health care, rent, student loans, groceries, etc. etc., is it ANY WONDER? Yet our wages have not gotten better to match the cost of these expenses.
ReplyDeleteHere is a description of what the book Strapped is about. Maybe you older people will understand if you read the book:
Today's college grads are making less than the college grads of thirty years ago. In fact, men aged 25 to 34 with bachelor's degrees are making just $6,000 more than those with high school diplomas did in 1972. This is just one of the many shocking statistics uncovered by Draut, a think-tank adviser and media pundit, in this incisive and revealing look at why today's young adults find financial independence so difficult. With catchy terms such as "debt-for-diploma" and "paycheck paralysis," Draut shows why this age group's ability to accomplish the traditional adult markers of school, career and family is stagnating. Her presentation features the one-two punch of well-sourced data and a series of stories from a diverse group of interview subjects to prove her thesis that depressed wages, inflated educational costs, soaring credit card debt and skyrocketing health and child-care expenses present nearly insurmountable obstacles to young adults' success. While Draut's conclusions take conservative politicians to task, they are hardly polemical, and her analysis and solutions are refreshingly free of glib how-to advice. Her book should be a jarring wake-up call to both the generation affected most by the current economic reality and the policy makers facing the consequences for decades to come.
8:55 not the government that did that to us? Its called INFLATION, take the Chris Martenson Crash Course, IT FREE.
ReplyDeletethis criminal guvmint did this by design, deregulating to cc companies can charge 30% interest, like the mafia used to do, they are a govmint criminal organization and deserve to be defaulted on, Lets all do it to them, the way they did it to us, turnabout is fair play
ReplyDeleteOn top of that, jobs are becomign more and more scarce. Does anyone remember the bust in 2001? Well, things have only scooted along up until the bigger one we are seeing now. Pretty soon we will have 25-30% unemployment. It blows my mind to see these chaps chastizing others because they have fallen into the red. Think of all those single mothers just trying to get by check to check and feed her hungry mouths. You self-righteous clowns. What you fail to see is that everything is a ponzi scheme. The poor and indebt are at the very bottom picking up the crumbs, and who are you to judge? Yeah, some people do foolishly get themselves into trouble, but if you are poor and struggling and have the opportunity, well, isnt this the "land of opportunity"? More like the land of bullshit, lies, and indoctrination.
ReplyDeleteThe high cost of living and the younger adults...
ReplyDeleteI'm 50 years old.
I have not had a credit card for the past 26 years
I am completely debt-free
I am NOT some rich bastard, in fact, the last 2 years, my earnings have been less than $15K, thanks to this messed up economy
My humble home is paid in full. It's humble, not a McMansion. I live in So. California.
I drive a 16-year-old car. It's reliable as an old car can be. The insurance is less than 50 bucks a month and the DMV fees are about the same. I saw a guy in a brand new Lexus and all I could think was:
Monthly payment - $600.00+
Insurance - $200.00 a month or more
DMV - $1,000 a year
- I have no Cable TV
- No Spa membership
- No expensive hobbies
- I don't eat out very often, better to cook a bad-ass meal at home
It's all about living within your means.
I worked with a bunch of guys, all younger than me. One time this 22 year old guy mentioned how he went to a club and blew nearly $200.00 on drinks and fun. All I could think was, stupid, stupid, stupid.
6:06 you sound like a typical baby boomer, "I'm alright jack, you young people are just irresponsible and are too foolish to live within your means." Bullshit, don't you dare blame the victims. One generation is not worse than the next, though fools believe it since Socrates time, complaining about kids these days.
ReplyDeleteNo. Fractional reserve banking fraud and inflation fraud are out of control, and a household now needs two earners to support it where in 1971 you only needed one. Combine that with jobs fleeing the decaying empire of the western world charging too much for it's labor and you have reason why it's harder to get by for X and Y.
I'm frugal mate, but can't afford a house, and won't be able to because the system is not going to allow it, and because I had to go back to uni because an entire industry fell apart beneath me (long gone are jobs for life, have you noted the zero loyalty between employers and employees these days?). Meanwhile my boomer colleagues are on their 4th "investment properties", and smarmily arrogant about it to boot. Can you see why we're pissed?
6:31, 6:06 here
ReplyDeleteI totally understand and agree. Jobs of any real value are gone. My last employer fired me first, even though it was documented that could out produce my younger co-workers anytime.
When I was a kid, my dad took home $360.00 a month. The house payment was $127.00. That's not much different now, just bigger numbers.
In the 80's, I was a well paid CNC Machinist. I often see job posts for CNC Machinists, paying 8-10 bucks an hour. Gee, you can earn that much flipping burgers and you don't need a personally owned precision tool box with $10,000.00 worth of tools in it!
I have a bunch of grade school and Jr. High level kids in my neighborhood. I'm constantly reminding them that soon, they will enter the work force and they better be able to do something recession proof:
- Medical Doctor
- Registered Nurse, all other nurses are not secure.
- Dentist
- Mortician
- Baker, people will always buy bread
- Farmer
- Rancher
- Fisherman
We can't live without air, food and water. These are "must haves". Next comes clothing and shelter. If you are a nudest, you still need shelter.
Next it's health care and education. After this, everything else is pretty much optional.
Gerald Celente predicts that one future trend will be a return of high quality. I would gladly pay more for a pair of shoes or boots that I know would last years, rather than months. I have pants with cheap, plastic broken zippers, rather than brass zippers. I have shirts with missing buttons, because they were not backed up properly. I have a plastic food processor. It broke the first time I used it. Can't seen to find a food processor with a heavy glass or stainless steel container.
As for the younger adults, I really feel bad for you. I know many of you have just graduated from a killer University with a degree and you can't find the most humble of jobs. It's horrible!
Once upon a time, the Greeks ruled the world and then collapsed. The same can be said for the Romans and now it's the USA. Every world empire will eventually collapse, the USA is no exception.
I agree with 8:32 -- his or her words are very wise. Listen to what he has said, especially the part about the Empires collapsing. This is what is happening to the USA.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 6:31 that 6:06 is another one of those narcissistic, self-content Baby Boomers who had it good when young and now wants to blame the young people. It is mostly BECAUSE of the boomers that the young people are struggling. If you want to help the young, why don't you retire early and let all these young people with degrees into the workforce. After all, they will have to pay your social security anyhow and if they're unemployed, how will that ever happen?
ReplyDeleteWAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am in the trades working barely 40 hours a week. When I started 25 years ago the pay was at around 25 an hour. I started out in my apprenticeship at miniumum of 5.75 an hour and grew in wages as years went by. I now make 25.64 an hour that is the top in our field. WAIT I JUST THOUGHT OF THIS THE OTHER NIGHT. 25 YEARS AGO PAY WAS TOP AT AROUND 25 AN HOUR I STILL IS AT 25 AN HOUR BUT THE CONTRACTOR CHARGES 110 AN HOUR TO CUSTOMERS. I now have cell phone cable no car payments house payments and other misc items. I have stopped paying all my credit cards and have defaulted on a 2nd property last spring have not got one call from the bank yet. I say f*&% all the crwedit card and banks. I have cashed in all my 401k and stocks. Iam doing all this just to say enough is enough.Now I have all kinds of money to have fun with and I am in my 40s I cant imagine theses kids or 20-3- something how they will have anything because the pay has not increased with time. SO SCREW THE CARD COMPANIES AND BANKS DEFAULT ON EVERYTHING BUT JUST ENOUGH TO KEEP A ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD. THEY CANT TAKE WHAT YOU DONT HAVE MY CARS BIG DEAL THEY CANT TAKE THOSE LAW SAYS YOU NEED TO HAVE A WAY TO GET TO WORK. CLAIM YOU HAVE 2 KIDS AT HOME AND WIFE AND YOURSELF AND SEE WHAT THE GOVERMENT CHART SAYS ALLOWED FOR HOUSING. SORRY DONT HAVE ANYTHING LEFT AND CREDIT CARDS ARE UNSECURED COLLATERAL.. SCREW THEM AND THIS GOV ANY WAY YOU CAN.
ReplyDelete10:26, if you are working and a creditor or more than one creditor sues you, only one creditor can garnish money from you at a time. I think the limit is like $300.00 per creditor. Once you're done paying one off, then the next creditor would garnish your checks. Unfortunately, if you are working, they can do this, but they can only take a limited amount and only one creditor at a time.
ReplyDeleteIf you are unemployed, by law, creditors cannot garnish from your unemployment check; however, if you've maxed out your student loan defaults and so forth, that CAN be garnished from your check because it's affiliated with the government.
I agree that at this point most people have no choice but to default.
6:06, you are 100% correct, 10:07 & 6:31, you two are totally out of touch. Yes, I too am a baby boomer, yes, I am and was fortunate to have some of the American Dream, but I want to let you both in a litlle secret, I worked my ass off for what I have. I did not purchase a home or car that was beyond my means. Back in the 60's,70's and 80's it was still a stigma associated with being non productive or throwing your hands up and walking away from my finiancial or personal obligations. Never in my wildest dreams would "bankrupty" even enter into my vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI worked in the textile industry for over 30 years, yes, we did make fairly good money and benefits, but let me tell you the cost. Throught the 60's & 70's, many that I worked with suffered through layoffs every frosty morning. many were just like me, raising a family, paying a mortage and trying to stay afloat until we either were called back or found something else.
Do I believe times have changes, damn right, it has become worse, I witnessed our govenment from the last several decades allow our manufacturing base to be eroded by sending everything to Mexico, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and every mongrel nation because they wanted to "level the playing field".
So before you "blame" the boomers, you need to study American Economics through the periods of 1900-1980, maybe, just maybe if you can get your head out of your ass and understand, WE ARE ALL VICTIMS.
We're not blaming the boomers 11:17, just the central banksters, the inflation fraud governments and the fraudulent fractional reserve system. And you're not the first or last generation to work hard.
ReplyDeleteJust don't call us names like we deserve our situation when we all know who the real culprits are.
When I fart, I blame the guy next to me. When the gov't farts, they blame the guy before them.
ReplyDelete11:17 here again. 2:03, I agree, during the past two years, my wife and I lost over 50% of our saving, we worked hard, we followed the rules, we DID NOT put oursevels in debt we could not afford. My Dad passed away more than 25 years ago, he was raised in SW Missouri during the depression and the dust bowl. What he would tell us is that the only thing his family could grow were turnips and strawberries, all my young life, never once did I ever see him either eat turnips or
ReplyDeletestrawberries. I remember well, many times, he told ally of his children, do not live above your means, and stay out of debt as much as possible, the good times never last. I have tried may best to live by those words of wisdom.
I have witnessed many times on TV, radio, mail, someone always tempting folks to buy something, invest in something or just buying stuff.
Let me tell you, maybe, this recession/depression has a silver lining. With America's past buying habits with cars and McMansions, we were just buying stuff, for what? It's stuff that we had no intention of keeping or utilizing. If you do not believe that, come Spring, count how many yard & garage sales you count, the most comical part, when the weather breaks, again, check out how many exercise machines are for sale.
And yes I agree, between the banksters, poorly run administration, wall street and the federal reserve, I think unless something is changed, we have not seen the worst of it.
But the younger generation will soon come to realize that the ipods,magical cellphones, music and the economy will wait on no one. Unless your generation stops looking for some grandiose paper leader (Barry)an sink your teeth into someone with real substance, your turn in the world will be much less than the downturn of mine.
I don't think we're on the same page 1:31. We're slaves to the bankers due to the dual scams of usury and inflation. It's not about "living within your means", it's about parasites bleeding lives away.
ReplyDeleteThere is no reason why everyone needs to slave a lifetime away to achieve some bricks and mortar, but the system is keyed to enslave the populace to that end. You see spendthrifts with gadgets, I see deeply embedded treason and a feudal system that rewards a corrupt elite. Blaming the peasants for their situation will not help when the game is rigged.