RollingJubilee.org A REALLY GOOD IDEA!!!
An earlier thread on this got threadjacked by "someone" yesterday and IMHO, some really good info got lost in the ensuring hilarity... I start this new thread because the intent of the Occupy people with this project is most excellent...
I know a little about credit repair having done my own and then my friends and family too, as best I could of course. Below is a short explanation of what I think they are trying to do with my own opinions added. I believe its correct but I am not a professional so any additional info or corrections are welcomed.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/16/1205991/occupy-wall-streets-rolling-jubilee-raises-enough-to-abolish-5-million-in-debt
http://rollingjubilee.org/
This is a really, really good idea. It doesn't erase someones bad credit "baddie" from their credit reports, the original missed payment or charge offs, etc from the original creditor (OC) remains on someones report but it prevents scum debt collectors or collection agencies (CA) from harassing people and collecting on people who mostly do not have to pay due to statute of limitations (SOL) anyway. And it prevents the scum debt collectors (CA) from adding "baddies" to your credit report in addition to the one from the OC because you don't answer their threatening letters or harassing phone calls from them or really don't have the money to pay!!! The CA adding a "baddie" to your credit report from an old debt can really impact your scores, they will make it look like it is brand new "baddie" and scare any and all lenders from dealing with you. The idea of preventing this from happening to people is huge.
What they are doing is buying old debts from OC's like CC companies or telco's or department stores or medical (hospitals, doctors, and the like) that write it off anyway but normally sell this "old paper" to debt collectors and also to junk debt collectors. The junk debt collectors are the real scum that buy debts that are technically out of SOL, (hence the "junk" part) dependent of what state you live in and then trick you into paying by offering to "settle" for less than the full amount of the debt you might not actually be legally required to pay!!!
The RollingJubilee.org people say they can buy debt for pennies on the dollar. That's at the bare minimum. I have seen where the debt collection agencies buy like $1,000,000 of debt for $15,000!!! So these actions by the above people can make a real difference with a very small amount of money. Its not gonna change a lot of peoples lives but the idea of keeping some scumbag debt collector from calling one less person is very, very appealing to me. Buying these debt packages cannot really be targeted to specific people, although I believe you (they) can buy specific kinds of debt. For instance, I would love my donation to go toward people who owe PAYDAY LENDERS who we know target the poorest among us and military families too. For now this is not possible but...
After all the politicos begging me for dough recently, I thought this could be something I could help with, with my limited resources, that might be a better and bigger bang for my buck. I sent $25.00 to them which could retire maybe thousands of dollars of somebody's debt. (math not my strong point clearly...)
To me, its sorta like sending $$$ for mosquito nets, you may not be sure who will benefit from it but a little can go a long way. Some people have said why give the Banksters this money, even if its just a little. I don't really have an answer for that but I do know that if my $25.00 stops some scumbag from calling somebody just as they sit down to dinner one night or that same person doesn't get their mail with some douchebag threatening letter in the pile, then yes, this is a good thing...
One more thing, because RollingJubilee is a non-profit group, the people who get their debt forgiven will not get a form 1099-C from them. What does this mean???
When a person owes money to to an original creditor (OC) or collection agency (CA) and for some reason they (the OC or CA) forgive or do a "goodwill" on the entire amount or a certain percentage of the debt, they will send (not always though but...) you a 1099-C for the amount forgiven. This is for the IRS, as they, the IRS look at this as income to you... Collection agencies just love to do this to their victims. They will make you an offer to settle for less than the full amount you might think you owe, you take them up on it, pay them and then later they send you the 1099-C just to screw you more. And of course they send a copy to the IRS just to make sure it really hurts. Or they will just threaten to do this. (1099-C you)
Again, preventing this type of behavior is an added benefit to RollingJubilee.org plan
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