Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
Thing is, there's a reason you get it for so cheap. It's like penny stocks. These things are valued according to the amount that is usually recoverable.
Obviously, the tactics that were shown on the phone calls to employers (that's illegal) or the actual physical threats (that's not just illegal, it's criminal activity you should be arrested for) are ones that no one should use. Moreover, the guys pretending to be a government agency are engaging in absolutely clear, no-doubt-about-it criminal fraud. It should go without saying that these tactics, rather than the enterprise itself, are the problem.
However, it also tells you what a long-shot proposition it is to try to collect these debts. People won't pay them without being basically extorted.
Last thing: you said, "some of that money is legitimately owed". Unless you've paid back the loan and there's a bookkeeping error, it's all legitimately owed. What Oliver talks about at the end - this medical debt from Texas that's outside the statute of limitations - is still money that's owed. He says they're "not obligated to pay" it. That in itself is misleading. You still owe the money... the creditor just can't sue you for it anymore. They no longer have a remedy. But you still borrowed it, and agreed to pay it back. Oliver's version of the world here is basically, "if I lend you money, and you default by not paying me what you owe, just wait two years, and as long as I don't sue you in the meantime it's free money for you!"
That is not how loans work.
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Oh I get it, I know exactly what you mean here and I don't disagree at all. You're not actually going to recover $15mm in those cases. So even the claim that this is the largest TV giveaway ever is tenuous at best.
I don't really care though. I love John Oliver and basically think that this show is hilarious. Is he off base and over the top, well yeah of course...that's how TV works.