It’s affecting our economy badly. They were smaller banks, but still they were banks and they had gone bankrupt. We have a withdrawal of the troops in 19 months. Which means we have 19 more months of Military spending( A big source of our money goes on military spending during war time and occupying a nation during peace team as well). Consumers need to spend money but truthfully, it’s the spending that got the country in the bad spot as it is already. What do you think of our economy right now and how long will it take America to be strong economically?

Technorati Tags: 19 months, banks, consumers, economy, military spending, money, peace team, war time

In a sense, the general US population is growing ever-more in debt with the weakening dollar, prices going up, unemployment, yada yada…..

Does this benefit people who are trying to clean up their credit, from a standpoint of negotiating with collectors for "settled" amounts, and to delete information from credit files, as a contingency to the settlement?

I know that collectors pay sometimes pennies on the dollar for collections, and I would imagine that right now a lot of people are not paying obligations to established collection accounts, so some collection agencies may in fact go belly-up….so does this give consumers who are trying to clean their credit the ability to pay a lower amount to settle debt?

Technorati Tags: benefit, collection accounts, collection agencies, collections, consumers, contingency, dollar prices, pennies on the dollar, standpoint, unemployment, us population, weakening dollar

I mean it undoes the entire point of shopping around and selecting a particular lender. The first time this happened to me was when I had to chose a bank for my student loans and then I was notified 3 months later that the debt was sold. Since then I’ve come to realize that this is standard practice.

Before you leap to the defense of financial institutions think about this: companies that originated home loans (with very poor standards of verification) then sold those loans to other companies so they didn’t have to be the ones waiting to collect the debt were what sent the economy into its latest collapse.

Really, think how odd it would be if consumers could sell their obligations to someone else (for .50 on the ) and then after buying hundreds of obligations and living high on the hog that person could go bankrupt taking out hundreds of debts with him.

My most important concern though is there is no point in shopping around for and making a contract with a particular lender, since they can sell it at anytime. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts, if I had the power I would limit this ability.
Dear Sir Jam, you are factually incorrect. First, this question has nothing to do with delinquent accounts, this says a lot more about you and your issues. Second, debts are sold frequently, in fact almost all home loans are originated by one lender and then resold instantly to another (note paragraph two). Some people are unaware how often their debts are sold because sometimes their payments are handled by a debt servicing company, the one that sends you those little payment books, but they can work for a series of lenders with your one debt. I find it worth while to talk philosophically about our financial system because we have law makers who can change it if enough people ask.

Technorati Tags: collapse, consumers, debts, delinquent accounts, economy, financial institutions, high on the hog, home loans, lenders, living high on the hog, paragraph, payment books, student loans

Do you think that individuals who have credit cards, but can not pay more than the minimum payments (which means they can not pay back that debt) or all individuals who have ever filed bankruptcy are immoral? Interesting question here. Just curious what others think?
Interesting answers. I have to agree with maxbegood on this one, as this individual has actually gone through the process. I have absolute compassion for people who are in debt, because I know what it is to be in this situation. I am working hard and will pay off all my debts one day, but unfortuneatly in this great country of ours, came credit cards and with that came close to usery limits by banks with promotional encouragement to consumers to spend more then they had, without being educated in how seriously hazardous this can be. I think it is imperitive to get kids off to the right start teaching them about money, principle and interest. There is such a huge divide in this country between the rich and the poor, and it is getting wider. I am not sure why, but I think that many people who have little money are more moral than others who make a good living. A person who has nothing, and gives a penny is more than the sacrifice of a rich man. It is biblical. Good topic though.

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, banks, compassion, consumers, credit cards, debts, encouragement, minimum payments, money, principle and interest, rich man, right start, sacrifice, unfortuneatly, usery

I work in Debt Settlement for an extremely ethical, 100% above-board company who work to assist our customers with legally, legitimately getting out of (unsecured) debt so they can move on with their lives. Yes, legislation is needed to regulate the industry to ensure that all Debt Settlement companies have clearly defined requirements that protect consumers, but our government is trying to villify the industry as a whole, exemplifying contempt without genuine investigation.

Technorati Tags: consumers, contempt, debt settlement companies, legislation, unsecured debt

Perhaps, there will be less tax payers and consumers in the economy. As a result, consumer spending will decrease and the USA government will be poorer.

Suppose the big three file for bankruptcy. How will that affect the USA economy?

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, consumer spending, consumers, economy, tax payers, usa government

Why can’t we let it go bankrupt if it’s not making money? Why would you give money to a company that can’t make money back?

Is it possible that at some point a foreign auto company could take over GM with 51% by their decreasing stock price?

Nobody really cares for American cars nowadays except those rental companies, so what’s the point of keeping it?
welll.. with GM gone, they can get jobs at Japanese auto plants based in US.. so they can expand and make even nicer cars for the consumers.. American cars suck anyway.

Technorati Tags: american cars, auto company, consumers, foreign auto, gm, japanese auto plants, jobs, making money, stock price

Which candidate for President do you think is most concerned about the highest priority issues in America? I have heard that McCain has expressed the urgency to find new oil resources and decrease our dependency on foreign oil and that will help get us out of Iraq and increase funds to develop alternative fuel sources. I haven’t heard much about Obama’s plans, only what he has to say negative about his opponents. http://mhutch.blogspot.com/2008/05/more-alaska-oil-drilling-needed-to.html http://www.issues2000.org/2008/John_McCain_Energy_+_Oil.htm I mean oil independence will take some time, but considering the present crisis – isn’t some drilling in Alaska and other areas of the US – important to try? I heard the oil prices are going to hit 200/barrel in 2 years which equates to more than .00 per gallon for businesses and consumers in the US. Prices will increase, demand will decrease, average people will lose jobs and not be able to afford food and housing – bankruptcy!

Technorati Tags: alaska oil drilling, alternative fuel sources, bankruptcy, blogspot, consumers, drilling in alaska, iraq, jobs, john mccain, new oil, obama, oil prices, oil resources, opponents, priority issues, urgency, will take some time

My husband and I recently purchased a house. Right before our purchase we found out about a delinquent credit card. To make a long story short, it was a credit card that was in my husband’s name that he was to use when he was in college that his mom was supposed to be paying for. My husband had no idea that there was a delinquency until we were notified by our lender. The account has been closed since 2002. It states on his credit report that the "account closed at consumers request, charged off account, bad debt; placed for collections; skip." We do not want to bother his Mom about this. After no communication with Discover, for 5 years, we have now received a letter from Northstar Location Services, a collection agency (not from Discover), for a settlement amount which is 40% of the debt. What should we do, contact Discover, deal with the collection agency, or something else? I realize everything needs to be in writing beforehand, but can anyone advise me on this at all?
I will check out your other posts, Studly, thanks…as far as my concern with it, it is mainly because of the recent contact with the collection agency now after so many years. We were still able to get the loan for our house, so I am not really concerned about that part of it. Since it "technically" wasn’t our debt, but my mother in law’s, the bank didn’t really care. Actually the amount was pretty significant, 00 with an offered settlement of 00, which is why I’m extremely surprised that we were not contacted before about this. I believe the statute of limitation on credit cards is 3 years in our state. I know they can still take us to court over it but its probably unlikely since the statute of limitations has run out. I just don’t want to settle on an amount and still have it show up on our credit history for another 7 years. I think this just may be a last ditch effort by the collection agency to get some money and I just want to make sure we make the right decision.

Technorati Tags: 3 years, bad debt, collections, consumers, credit card, credit cards, credit history, credit report, delinquency, delinquent credit, last ditch effort, location services, mom, money, mother in law, right decision, statute of limitation, statute of limitations

I have recently researched information on repairing bad credit after bankruptcy, etc. It appears that items, whether true or false can legally be disputed from yourself as frequent as every 30 days. And, unless the credit bureau agencies can provide valid proof (from the original creditors) within a 30 day period, they must remove the derogatory credit from your file. Although it can take 2 – 3 times of writing dispute letters to actually get a response, this seems very interesting. It also appears that the FCRA is really in the consumers favor, but not really advertised to us because the 3 major bureaus profit from our credit history. Any experience/advice on someone cleaning up their own bad credit (not through credit repair scams)?

Technorati Tags: consumers, credit after bankruptcy, credit bureau, credit history, credit repair scams, creditors, derogatory credit, dispute letters, fcra, repairing bad credit, valid proof

The recession has caused many consumers to cut back on monthly spending.Carrying a monthly balance seems more like a luxury than a necessity

Technorati Tags: consumers, recession