Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Businesses factor in the amount of defaults on payments they expect so everyone pays for the people who don't pay, and you can be indignant about that, but when you consider that a majority of people have no savings, and live day-to-day, it's more likely you're the one reneging on loans, so for most people, escaping from Debt Collectors should be something that's taught in school. First thing folks need to know is that for consumer debt, the kind you run up on your credit card, simply wait 6 years, called the Statute of Limitations, and voila', debt neutralized because your State won't let your wages be attached after that, though your credit rating will be affected, if that's something you care about. This isn't the same thing as bankruptcy which prevents Debt Collectors from ever calling you again because they will.

Collecting from dead-beats is problematic, so Debt Collectors will buy a large pool of delinquent accounts at a deep discount and try to collect it themselves. These are the horror stories you hear about because successful Debt Collectors are tenacious and relentless: repeated calls at home, at your mom's home, and any other place they suspect you're staying. Sociopath debtors don't care but altruistic ones can be made to feel guilty and harassed, and often will pay rather than face the barrage of calls. Debt Collectors know this so some even specialize in expired debt, which they purchase super cheap. It's just as easy to scam people who think they owe money, or their parents think they do, or their grandparents, or the accountant was just writing checks and the bill was in the stack. This only applies to unsecured debt; stop making payments on your house or car, and the Repo Man is coming. The Statute of Limitations doesn't apply to taxes, and crazy as it may seem, not to student loans either.