How Rolling Jubilee plans to demolish debt

[freespirit]

http://blog.yourmoney.ca/2012/11/how-rolling-jubilee-plans-to-demolish-debt-.html






How Rolling Jubilee plans to demolish debt (http://blog.yourmoney.ca/2012/11/how-rolling-jubilee-plans-to-demolish-debt-.html)



Melanie Epp Nov 23, 2012
38 Comments (http://blog.yourmoney.ca/2012/11/how-rolling-jubilee-plans-to-demolish-debt-.html#comments)
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Debt. Most of us have it, but none of us want it. And some of us are haunted by it – or at least by those that collect it. But if Rolling Jubilee has its way, "the 99 per cent" won't have to deal with debt or its collectors.
What is Rolling Jubilee?
Rolling Jubilee is an ingenious plan created by the Occupy movement (http://rollingjubilee.org/) whereby donated money is used to buy distressed consumer debt from lenders at a marked down price, just like debt collectors would. But instead of hounding the debtors into repayment, they simply wipe the slate clean, cancelling out the debts.
But why would Rolling Jubilee want to do this? Consider this: In the US, 77 per cent of households are in debt. Tuition debt is over 1,000,000,000,000 – a number I can’t even comprehend – and 62 per cent of all bankruptcies are caused by medical illnesses, meaning there’s nothing they can do about it. Student loan debt has exploded and the household debt to income ration is currently 154 per cent. What’s worse, some 40 per cent of debtors are using their credit cards just to pay for basic day-to-day living expenses.
No matter how hard they try, many Americans can’t afford to repay their debts. But debt collection agencies just don’t care. They keep calling and calling, sometimes using threats and abuse to collect on debts. An [I]Team investigation news report revealed shocking ways in which debt collectors try to scare debtors into paying them back (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsGPlXI42Mo). Some use shame and humiliation, calling friends, family and coworkers. Others threaten prison time. Shockingly, a few have even suggested sexual favours in exchange for debt, or suggested suicide as an alternative.

What many debtors don’t know is that collectors don’t have a lot of the rights you might think they have. They:
- Can’t arrest or imprison you
- Can’t threaten or abuse you
- Can’t call your employer or neighbour
- Can’t keep calling you if you request to not be called
Enter the Rolling Jubilee project. According to the Rolling Jubilee site, the concept of a jubilee comes from many faiths, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is an event where all debts are cancelled, setting free all those in bondage.
In the case of Rolling Jubilee, it takes debt purchased from the banks for lesser amounts and instead of trying to collect on that debt it sets it free. This is not about making a profit, but true to the Occupy movement, it’s about bailing out the 99% - by the 99%.
The only downside of Rolling Jubilee is that you cannot abolish a specific person’s debt. Debt is sold in bundles and those bundles offer very limited information about the debtors. It is, however, totally legal to buy and sell charged-off debt. It is up to the purchaser of that debt what they do with it once they have it.
What makes Rolling Jubilee so amazing is the fact that it is truly a movement for the people by the people. Traditionally, in almost every financial crisis we’ve seen, authorities choose to bail out the creditors, not the debtors. This is the first movement that does the opposite, although, I imagine it won’t be long before someone finds a way to put a stop to it.
At the moment, Rolling Jubilee has collected $420,625 to abolish $8,252,175 of debt. Amazing!


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qs9w1XlJKE&amp;feature=player_embedded

[joboo]

Was reading some of the comments on contacting people with debt directly as being far more efficient. So you have a hypothetical 10K in debt, but you can abolish it with ~ 1K? How does that work exactly?

[freespirit]

Was reading some of the comments on contacting people with debt directly as being far more efficient. So you have a hypothetical 10K in debt, but you can abolish it with ~ 1K? How does that work exactly?

it works because the interest made off the responsible debtors more than offsets the "break" given to the ones behind the 8ball, and ultimately the creditors will write it down as a loss anyways to lessen their corporate taxes.

i think...

...or maybe its as simple as the hypothetical $10,000 being the principle and interest, and the $1000 being just the recovery of the principle...

just guessing here.

[joboo]

it works because the interest made off the responsible debtors more than offsets the "break" given to the ones behind the 8ball, and ultimately the creditors will write it down as a loss anyways to lessen their corporate taxes. i think... ...or maybe its as simple as the hypothetical $10,000 being the principle and interest, and the $1000 being just the recovery of the principle... just guessing here. That makes sense. Anyone can hold a CDS against the debt (anything under the sun really), and because it's considered high risk, the payback would be high, but the "risk" is in on it, so there is no risk. This concept needs more exposure for sure. Perfect example of using the system against itself.

[D sciple]

What many debtors don’t know is that collectors don’t have a lot of the rights you might think they have. They:
- Can’t arrest or imprison you
- Can’t threaten or abuse you
- Can’t call your employer or neighbour
- Can’t keep calling you if you request to not be called

Hmm, never even thought about requesting not to be called. I wonder if it works?

[freespirit]

always deal with these things in writing. the only phone conversation you should have with debt collectors is to tell them you will only respond to written correspondence.

calls may be recorded for training purposes, but they don't say anything about letting you have them if there is a dispute...

if you tell them you don't wish to deal with it over the phone, and they continue to call you, its harassment.

[JohnQPublic]

The idea behind this is the nonprofit acts as a debt collector, and buys the bad debt for cents on the dollar, then extinguishes it. Interesting concept.

[Mouse]

There is not enough money in the world at 1 penny on the dollar to extinguish it. I like skittles, but this is more nonsense. The debt will be extinguished when the murder system extinguishes it or the sheep go galt.

[jimswift]

Any chance the FED are behind it?

We really are only playing make believe with this stuff and what better way to keep the scam going.

[Half Sense]

Since income taxes are used exclusively to retire public debt, why shouldn't the public be able to redirect their tax payments toward the elimination of PRIVATE debt? They'd certainly get more bang for their buck with a program like Rolling Jubilee. Starving the Fed of tax revenue is the other benefit. Let the Fed gather ALL the public debt, and then let the Fed go bankrupt. No private citizens would be harmed in the killing of the Fed. Meanwhile, the private debt is quickly paid down, too. And all it takes is collectively deciding to screw the bankers like they've screwed us for 100 years.

[Hatha Sunahara]

What ever happened to bankruptcy as a remedy for unpayable debts? Or is this a plan for anonymous graduated bankruptcy?

If we stopped bailing out the big TBTF banks, and they declared bankruptcy, wouldn't that make a huge amount of debt disappear without it costing anything? Maybe the government should declare bankruptcy first. Then they wouldn't have to pay out their unfunded liabilities, which they would have to borrow the money for because they can't raise it through taxation.

This is really an issue about slavery vs freedom. It seems we did not abolish slavery with the thirteenth amendment. We merely transformed it into 'voluntary' servitude through debt, but never changed the laws that allow that kind of slavery. If we had laws that effectively limited systemic usury, and money that was not backed by debt, unpayable debts would not become a problem. If we got rid of the Fed, and allowed the government to create its own money, we would not need an income tax, which is another form of slavery.

It makes no sense to have the slaves buy themselves out of debt without changing the system to prevent such a situation from arising again in the future. The system is broken. Patches will not fix it for long. It has to be rebuilt from its foundation.


Hatha

[palani]

What ever happened to bankruptcy as a remedy for unpayable debts? Or is this a plan for anonymous graduated bankruptcy?
I would prefer to be responsible than to irresponsibly take bankruptcy.

Set up a bond for $21 silver dollars and offer it as a novation for any outstanding debts you might have. You'd be surprised how many creditors will accept this (because they don't have the intelligence or knowledge to understand what you are doing).

[palani]

Reminds me of the rich guy who wanted to take it with him.

He collected three friends of his together, a doctor, preacher and lawyer, while he was on his deathbed. He let each have 1/3 of his estate with instructions to each to throw the booty into his coffin just before the lid was closed.

After the funeral several weeks later the friends were talking. The doctor confessed that he had held back enough to fund an expensive lab instrument. The preacher confessed he had used some to put a new roof on the church. The lawyer looked at them in shock and amazement and proclaimed that he had met his friends requirements in full by throwing a personal check for the entire amount into the coffin.

That would be how you remain responsible and meet all your obligations.

[steel_ag]

Have you seen a creditor accept a silver bond? So if they accepted a silver bond, they would be bound by the terms of acceptance you set forth? (i.e. Here's a silver bond, if you accept it/don't return it, the $xx,xxx.xx debt is discharged and you are estopped from any future claims on the $xx,xxx.xx debt(?)). Have you seen that enforced by a court? I remember seeing a few examples of silver bonds (for court cases?) floating around the internet a couple years ago.
I would prefer to be responsible than to irresponsibly take bankruptcy.

Set up a bond for $21 silver dollars and offer it as a novation for any outstanding debts you might have. You'd be surprised how many creditors will accept this (because they don't have the intelligence or knowledge to understand what you are doing).

[palani]

Have you seen a creditor accept a silver bond? Dunno if they ought to be considered a creditor but they seem to like to cast themselves into that role. My bond was offered to Treasury and information was communicated to several of their "agents".

So if they accepted a silver bond, they would be bound by the terms of acceptance you set forth? (i.e. Here's a silver bond, if you accept it/don't return it, the $xx,xxx.xx debt is discharged and you are estopped from any future claims on the $xx,xxx.xx debt(?)). The purpose of any bond is to provide a surety. As such it should be the first asset seized. If they cannot seize the bond then other assets should be protected. You may think of the bond as the moat around the castle. Moats may be breached. If mine is breached they might discover a hut rather than a castle.


Have you seen that enforced by a court? Courts enforce contracts. Offer and acceptance is contract.

[palani]

Anything you provide that might be presumed to be payment actually IS payment.

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