[Closed] How debt kills

I started watching the program the other night but found it too depressing to stick with it.

An issue which has not been mentioned, if an item, the motorbike in this case, is on finance then it can not be seized by a bailiff as it does not actually belong to the debtor.

Wow. That's a real shocker of a case.

I suspect one of many that probably are not reported on.

In my own case, a very simple one compared to this one, and mortgage free, with no loans to anyone, buying with cash only, I got a letter out of the blue from a debt company quoting to work for O2.

Long story short, it apparently related to a phone account closed 2  1/2 years previously, with O2 making a payment to the wrong account, keeping mine open when they should have closed it.

My point is, the debt collection company were particularly aggressive over a small amount of money, (£200 or £300), letters, phone calls, even a phone call to my daughters phone (a number that can only have been supplied by O2 based on an address search of their system).

I asked them to list the debt and the dates involved, oh no they said, its up to me to prove I don't owe the money!

I tracked it all down by looking at previous bank statements and discussing directly with O2.....eventually. (What a pile of>>>> their 'customer service' is).

No apology from either party mind.

I was thinking the same Neil but unfortunately it's clear many people aren't in a position to know / find that out.

Awful from start to finish but sadly I don't think it's a rare situation.

See some stats from the US where staggering amount of under 35s are one lost time accident away from bankruptcy. I don't think we are far behind.

That's an uncomfortable read. I wasn't aware of the case or tv programme but the article, as flaperon correctly says, exposes (borderline) harassment and illegality by collection agency and bailiffs.

A prayer for Jerome and his family.

Jesus that article really is written for the mentally challenged. Would anyone like to summarise?

Jesus that article really is written for the mentally challenged. Would anyone like to summarise?

It's in a conversational style. Just try again it's not that hard to read

It's a  complete system failure here and laws need to be there to protect people, fines are there for a reason but need to be proportional - £10 would have been enough for this kid. Escalation was a big problem.

It's a terrible situation and one that will replay time and time again in the next few years

?

It’s not so much debt, as the weird way that the poorest and most financially naive in society are massively exploited and disadvantaged by the current system. See also; doorstep loans, bright house et al, pre pay utility metering, debt is just the result of the exploitation of the poor, and the means to bind them.

Two £65 fines should NOT be allowed to grow to over £1000 simply because someone can’t (or even won’t) pay. If £65 is what has been decided is proportionate to the offence, then £65 it should stay. This ratcheting up of debt basically for the profits of the companies that have monetised debt is immoral and repugnant.

I call it Poverty Tax.

And it takes a right miserable bastard to dream them up.