It is unfortunate that so many homeowners and average people have been taken in to such a high degree by the debt machine.
Now that the economy is slowing down and more jobs will be lost, defaults will increase due to financial constraints.
Foreclosures will keep increasing, and more people will be persuaded to file bankruptcy, while others will feel they have no other choice than to steal money from friends or family, flee the state, or otherwise run from their financial problems.
Even the threat of lawsuits against individuals for credit cards and other unsecured debts has been growing.
Being sued by a collection agency used to be almost unheard-of in the credit card industry.
But with the rise of decadent living and overspending, these lawsuit-happy collection agencies are filling a desire in the market by the worst bottom-feeders to keep going after people years after a financial hardship.
Thankfully, most of these collection agencies are just as ignorant of the laws and consumers' rights as are the debtors themselves.
The only advantage that the collections agencies have is that they can hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit in a local court.
Lawyers are insulated from any consequences of representing a criminal collection agency, in most cases.
After all, they are just the dutiful lawyer filing the required paperwork to grab as much money as possible from people facing financial hardship -- they can not be expected to make sure they are representing a law-abiding institution.
Collection agencies usually repeatedly and flagrantly violate federal and state laws that govern the collection of debts.
Many states now have licensing laws which require collection agencies to register themselves and post a bond for several thousand dollars.
In order to initiate any collection activities in a particular state, the agency must be licensed by that state -- not just the state in which the company is located.
Yet many companies that try to collect debts do so nationwide with no respect for local laws.
They do this because they know that most people behind on their bill payments will not take the time to research licensing laws for collection agencies.
The agencies can then hire a local attorney and begin suing the individuals in court, while the issue of licensure is never brought up.
Judges assume that their lawyer friends are always right, until the debtors try and argue that the laws should be followed.
In that case, the judge can usually come up with some excuse not to follow them, or simply ignore the individual altogether in order to benefit their fellow lawyer.
Collection agencies have also learned their lessons from suing homeowners and other debtors.
Even if a person asks for the agency's licensing number for a particular state, they are more likely to have their request completely ignored, or met with more demands for payment.
Especially collection agencies that masquerade as law offices have mastered this act of demanding money, pursuing baseless lawsuits, and refusing to become licensed.
Being a friend of "The Law" often means not having to follow the laws that are designed to protect people.
Thus, collection agencies, regardless of whether or not they have bought a debt correctly (usually they have not), must be licensed in many states in order to pursue debts.
Simply suing a debtor for a judgment is not sufficient, although it drags the matter before a highly biased judge who makes the money needed to feed his family from the filing fees paid by these collection agencies.
Thus, people who have fallen behind on their debts are nominally protected from many of these vulture collection agencies, but it is best to keep the issue out of court where the lawyers will feed on any remaining assets the debtors possess.