Posted on 08/31/2012 7:20:00 AM PDT by ex-Texan
To most of us, "debtors' prison" sounds like an archaic institution, something straight out of a Dickens novel. But the idea of jailing people who can't pay what they owe is alive and well in 21st-century America.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, debt collectors in Missouri, Illinois, Alabama and other states are using a legal loophole to justify jailing poor citizens who legitimately cannot pay their debts.
Here's how clever payday lenders work the system in Missouri -- where, it should be noted, jailing someone for unpaid debts is illegal under the state constitution.
First, explains St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the creditor gets a judgment in civil court that a debtor hasn't paid a sum that he owes. Then, the debtor is summoned to court for an "examination": a review of their financial assets.
If the debtor fails to show up for the examination -- as often happens in such cases -- the creditor can ask for a "body attachment" -- essentially, a warrant for the debtor's arrest. At that point, the police can haul the debtor in and jail them until there's a court hearing, or until they pay the bond. No coincidence, the bond is usually set at the amount of the original debt. * * *
(Excerpt) Read more at dailyfinance.com ...
The fact that it’s necessary to not appear to a court date to have this happen means it’s not debtors prison. Any kind of court date you get summoned to if you don’t show up they can arrest you. If you blow off a traffic court appearance that doesn’t make it “traffic prison”, it’s just regular prison for failing to appear.
Back to the original issue - a de facto “debtors prison”. There are some in our society that make a game of borrowing with absolutely no intent of ever repaying the debt. That is fraud. But I get that this article implies those are not the individuals these actions are being taken against.
Give her 20 years.
Yes, but the fact that it is advertised that way and people STILL use them defies common sense in my mind.
Predatory lending is as bad as billboard attorneys.
I hear you man, unfortunately I was in a similar spot and had to do the same thing.
“My favorite is this “Western Sky” payday lender who advertises on primetime TV to the “urban” crowds. It says in the fine print on the bottom of the commercial that there’s a 135% interest rate. 135%! You take out a $100 payday advance and you owe them over double what you took out. How is that legal?”
Please leave the economic ignorance to the democrats where it belongs. The 135% is an Annual Percentage Rate and is frankly much too low. A payday loan is supposed to tide you over for a week until you get your paycheck. If you pay back the $100 in a week, it cost you $2.60 in interest. Are you kidding me? You try to operate a lending business in an urban area and see if you can make it go by charging $2.60 per loan.
The message for us all is that debt is bad. Americans were largely taught not to worry about debt. Don’t pay off your house but use the money to invest.
Again... regardless of my presumed level of economic ignorance, the fact that they advertise their rate at that should make ANYONE think twice about a payday loan.
My level of ignorance is due to the fact that I have no debt nor any need for a payday loan. I don’t pay attention to those factors prima facie because they don’t apply to my situation.
See post #12 for my point.
Right! It's total BS. They are arrested for failing to show up for court. NOT for debt!
The payday loan companies target those who live paycheck to paycheck. So taking out these loans puts them is a spiraling cycle of relying on those loans. These companies know they are high risk loans and work the system through tactics like this story.
Thats a distinction without a difference.
Liberal elites benefit from human misery... makes it even creepier. Broken people are reliable democrat voters and keep liberal elites in power.
Have you noticed liberals don't accuse us of hating them any more? The reason that stopped it it dawned on them that we really do hate them - and we're not ashamed of it anymore...
Don’t borrow money at all. Borrowed money is supporting a multi-faced, monstrous tyrant. Cut personal costs. Repair things. Save.
Not only that, but in Texas, if the father DIES (and is no longer making child support payments, of course), he is added to the states registry of “dead-beat dads.”
My brother found this gem when researching men’s rights during divorce in Texas.
may want to prowl round this website.. Mr. Nolan could be a Freeper...
http://www.mensbusinessassociation.com/
I encourage everyone to help out friends and relatives with their debt problems. My wife and I have do just that. But those who lent money deserve to be paid back - including “rich bankers” - because that money isn't that bankers money, it's some savings account holder's money. You have seen, “It’ A Wonderful Life,” right?
Sure, the FDIC insures the money to a limit, but that insurance premium is paid by the bank's customer account holders—the “banker” is just the manager of that whole relationship.
Don't be stupid.
Debt collectors are complete scum.
How is it possible? Because they are Indians.
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