4 ms·
She's been struggling with bad debt since 2001! I read this and can't help wondering _why_ she's still paying debt. Her credit score is already bad and not goin
by mrj 3y ago
She's been struggling with bad debt since 2001! I read this and can't help wondering _why_ she's still paying debt. Her credit score is already bad and not going to improve by paying off debts (it'll still be on her history, anyhow). I feel like she's too honest and hard working to consider bankruptcy, but she's trapped in a cycle where earning a salary isn't enough to live.
Isn't that what bankruptcy is for? We purposefully don't have debtor's prison. The founders didn't want debts to take a person's life. Here clearly is a person giving their life for their debt.
- gtsop 3y agoNot an expert (also not american) but your reasoning sounds too simple to me. If everyone could "just" go bankrupt then why would anyone pay debts at all?
- mrj 3y agoI didn't say it was simple.. but over two decades of struggle seems more than enough experience to justify it.
- jnovek 3y agoBankruptcy essentially makes you a financial pariah for 7 years; e.g. landlords can (and do) deny housing applications over past bankruptcy.
- ajuc 3y ago> If everyone could "just" go bankrupt then why would anyone pay debts at all? Because you lose reputation and assets. It's completely fucked up that companies can bakrupt any time, but people can't. It helps nobody that people are stuck as modern slaves in barely survivable conditions. It's insane that people like you consider this better than the alternative.
- bayouborne 3y agoAbout 15 years ago I had a roommate who, 8 months after successfully filing for bankruptcy in Ga, was offered a credit card with a $700 credit line - unsolicited. She was shocked. It seems that in the perverse world of credit, someone who owed ~$12k but is now 'debt free' as a result of bankruptcy, looks good to some credit outfits. Odd.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoCan't file BK again (and discharge debts) for 2-8 years, depending on circumstances. Makes perfect sense to issue someone credit right after, assuming the product pricing makes it profitable (from a predatory lending perspective).
- jnovek 3y agoOne hypothesis: it’s too expensive. Total cost (including an attorney) for declaring bankruptcy sits around $2500 and at one point the article points out that her bank account is $900 overdrawn. If you’re in that situation, $2500 might as well be a million dollars.
- jstarfish 3y agoYes and no. She's trying to be honorable in a world that doesn't optimize for it. I was in a similar position once. My attorney couldn't reconcile why I was filing for bankruptcy when I was still actively paying my debts. The expectation is that you should have long ago stopped paying the debts you're trying to discharge, because it conveniently frees up more than enough money to pay bankruptcy fees.