Last night the PBS program "Now" looked at three cases in which ordinary Americans had totally lost their ability to pay off their credit card debt. In each case, the debt exceeded $30,000 and the debtors' employment circumstances had changed. They were trying to pay or pay what they could, but it just wasn't working. Their treatment by the credit card issuers was brutal. Interest rates were greatly increased as, in some cases, were minimum payment requirements which the various clients could already not meet. To watch the program, go to http://www.pbs.org/now/thisweek/archive.html .
Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: Keith Hudson To: Keith Hudson Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 1:31 AM Subject: Singing in the face of the highwayman "Vacuus cantat coram latrone viator" (The traveler who has an empty purse sings in the face of the highwayman) In the 1989/90 recession when my business failed, I was totally wiped out and I was being threatened with legal proceedings by Lloyds Bank for the payment of a five-figure sum (a loss caused by them as much as by the recession), I sent a simple letter to their Debt Recovery Unit quoting the above (but without the translation. I often wonder just how much it taxed their human resources to translate this!). Anyhow, their threats stopped. I never heard from them again. ---- 'After helping to foster the explosive growth of consumer debt in recent years, credit card companies are realizing that some hard-pressed Americans will not be able to pay their bills as the economy deteriorates. 'So lenders and their collectors are rushing to round up what money they can before things get worse, even if that means forgiving part of some borrowers's debts. Increasingly, they are stretching out payments and accepting dimes, if not pennies, on the dollar as payment in full. 'You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip,said Don Siler, the chief marketing officer at MRS Associates, a big collection company that works with seven of the 10 largest credit card companies. The big settlements just aren't there anymore.' Credit Card Companies Willing to Deal Over Debt, Eric Dash, New York Times, 3 January 2009 Keith Hudson, Bath, England, <www.evolutionary-economics.org>, <http://www.amazon.com/dp/1906557020/>
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