We may not have DEBTORS PRISON in the USA but did you know............

So you think there is no such thing as a debtors prison? Today I was listening to some commentary on one of the West Coast powerhouse radio stations. A good point was made that I wanted to share for those who are in the midst of issues with "bill collection agencies".

Did you know that Bill Collection agencies that decide after being unable to coax you into paying them the outstanding debt are doing some pretty disgusting stuff. There is quitely a growing problem in the judicial system that Justices are all fully aware of, whereby the Collector who is taking you to court is falsifying the summons to appear, YES EVEN WHEN UNDER PENALTY OF PURGERY! Desperate times = Desparate Measures. They are doing fake or false "serving". This allows them to win an uncontested trial and you will most likely have your wages attached AND a Failure to Appear on your Driving Record. I have a very close friend who this almost happened to. He was summoned to court once and then contested it to the judge. The Collection agency sent him a summons for a 2nd court appearence to contest his contesting of there collection and the 2nd summons by the collection company was sent to the WRONG ADDRESS. This had to be intentional because they had the first one done correctly but when they realized things were not going there way they decided to take him again and hope he would not show. Only by chance the mail carrier was able to send to the correct address.



These kind of shannanigans can do several things:

A. You may be pulled over AND ARRESTED!
B. Your vehicle will be impounded for which you will pay ALL impound and towing fees.
C. Your Auto Insurance can as much as double by some insurance companies.
D. If you think times are tough and you are barely getting by you will most likely receive a HUGE chunk of your pay garnished on your very next paycheck!

I am in the financial sector and come accross people with FTA's (failure to appear) frequently who never knew they even had an outstanding FTA.... its pretty scary stuff for a typically law abiding person to be trapped in.

One thing that every citizen should do from time to time is go online to your DMV or into your local DMV and purchase your driving record. You may not even realize that there is an FTA on it! Hope this is helpful to some.

I felt this important enough to communicate to you all and OPS please move this to another forum if done incorrectly.

...as a side note, I had read somewhere before that a man was woken up early in the morning by Feds who pulled him out onto his lawn in cuffs. His young kids were freaked out as you might imagine... Why? Because his ex druggie wife went bad on a "Student Loan" and because she lived there at one time they had the right to do this to these peaceful and law abiding family... very sad...

That's quite the scam and I wonder if some of them aren't sharing a cut with the judges or court clerks. Everyone in government has sold out and tries to get more and more for doing less and less. Lazy, the American way.
THanks for the timely info, this is something people really should watch out for.

Illinois an Indiana seem to be the biggest culprits. However, there are 6 big ones:

www.nakedcapitalism.com...

Debtor prisons DID exist in the USA until 1833 !!

AND, two men who were signers of The Declaration of Independence were actually imprisoned for debts

As was a former Revolutionary War General who was actually Robert E Lee's father

In 1833 the United States abolished Federal imprisonment for unpaid debts,[5] and most states outlawed the practice around the same time.[6][7] Before then, the use of debtors' prisons was widespread; signatories to the Declaration of Independence, James Wilson and Robert Morris were both later incarcerated, as were 2,000 New Yorkers annually by 1816. Henry Lee III, better known as Light-Horse Harry Lee, a Revolutionary War general, former governor of Virginia, and father of Robert E. Lee, was imprisoned for debt between 1808 and 1809.[8] Sometimes, imprisonment would result from less than sixty cents' worth of debt.

AND, we actually have some form of this treatment right now in the U.S.

Six states (Arkansas, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Washington) allow debt collectors to seek arrest warrants for debtors in default if all other collection methods have failed. Whether a debtor will actually be prosecuted or not varies from state to state, county to county, and town to town. The individual is taken into custody and is typically required to submit financial documentation to the courts (to facilitate seizure of assets or wage garnishment), although in some cases the individual may be held indefinitely until a payment plan is reached or the debt is paid in full, especially if the individual is insolvent.[10] Other states have outlawed this type of collection action (Tennessee and Oklahoma have ruled it unconstitutional)[11] unless the court finds that the debtor actually possesses the means to pay—except in the case of child support obligations.

What happens if the "debtor" is broke and has no income ??

Laws can and will be created to set examples.

The collection agencies are psychopathic by nature.

So are many lawmakers, especially if a lobbying effort makes a politician rich.

Debtors' prison


related article:

More than a third of all states now allow borrowers who don’t pay their bills to be jailed, even when debtor’s prisons have been explicitly banned by state constitutions. A report by the American Civil Liberties Union found that people were imprisoned even when the cost of doing so exceeded the amount of debt they owed.

Sean Matthews, a homeless New Orleans construction worker, was incarcerated for five months for $498 of legal debt, while his jail time cost the city six times that much. Some debtors are even forced to pay for their jail time themselves, adding to their financial troubles.

The Return Of Debtor’s Prisons: Thousands Of Americans Jailed For Not Paying Their Bills