On top of that, the debt owner is obligated to make sure you receive appropriate tax documents, but in reality they don't particularly care and your documents w

On top of that, the debt owner is obligated to make sure you receive appropriate tax documents, but in reality they don't particularly care and your documents will get "lost" in the mail. Since most people don't expect this to be taxable income, they're not looking for it. Then fed and state collectors both delay addressing this until about 2 years before the statute of limitations. You have a ton of interest, fees, and interest on the fees, at which point they slam you with notices and judgements, and wage garnering. For me they timed it perfectly, getting their last cent about a week before the statute of limitations was up. In the end, a little less than $5000 in debt forgiveness cost me around $18,000.