Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices: Know Your Rights and Protect Yourself from Threats, Lies, and Intimidation

2. Credit Is King

My cheap desk, in a nondescript call center, provides a frontline view of an enormous economic battleground. On one side are the banks and other creditors that send us past-due accounts. Arrayed against them are consumers, or “debtors” as we call them, whether or not they actually owe money. These are the people who have signed up for the buy-now-pay-later philosophy that used to keep the U.S. economy rolling.

We have known for years that the nation is addicted to debt, but shelved the uncomfortable fact and kept on spending. Now the bill has come due. The financial crisis of 2008 has hit, followed by the great payback of 2009—and 2010, 2011, and so on. It will take years to pay down debts that were racked up during the binge. ...