With so many pages of discussions about collection agencies nothing is ever mentioned about collection agencies which have purchased the debt of a consumer. How does it work then? As far as I know they can take a debtor to court and they can win. How is this possible. Answers please!

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq_8Fs5h7ak

[Best video on instructing people about collectors that I've ever seen.]

Some people in the collection industry have come on this site and accused me of dissing those in their industry. They invariably point to the necessary job they perform in enforcing the Darwinian logistics of the world of finance. They vehemently protest at what fine, upstanding, yeah, even outstanding people they are before launching into an a condescending self righteous, expletive deleted tirade on all the misfits and losers they have to deal with.

And so I asked myself: "Self, are you being fair?

Not to be unduly expansive, I thought about Darwin and the "survival of the fittest" in both the animal kingdom and the financial kingdom.

In the animal kingdom, we notice generally that predators are creatures of beauty. Think of the lion, the Bengal tiger, the polar bear and that most iconic of all predators, the soaring golden eagle. Contrast that with the hideousness of the hyena or the jackal. How detestable is it having to listen to the yipping and yelping of a pack of hyenas compared to the wondrous roar of a tiger or charging leopard? Even the squall of the most common scavenger of all, the seagull, is intolerable. The cawing of crows listened to for more than a minute will raise one's blood pressure, while the melodious call of a songbird will lower it.

In the sea, the killer whale and great white shark have a fascinating beauty. The bloodsucker has quite the opposite.

Even in the insect world, the wasp, the hornet and the bee, each have a beauty about them; the leach is repulsive to look at.

In the bird kingdom bird, why is it that the hawk, golden eagle, and falcon look as they do and the collection agency, buzzard and condors look as they do? Why did the United States put a soaring eagle on their coat of arms and currency instead of a buzzard? In Canada we have beavers, moose and polar bears, but no collection agencies? Why the heck not?

Clearly, whether or not one accepts the "Argument from Design Theory", it's inescapable that the form and makeup of the creature is dictated by and shaped by its purpose.

It almost seems inescapable that one of the fundamental characteristics of a scavenger is that it be hideous both in appearance and taste in order to protect it from natural predators and allow it to be unfettered in performing the revolting role it was designed for. After all, lions never eat hyenas, they kill them out of anger because they're a nuisance to them. However, after having killed the hyena, the lion will leave it and go off in search for more edible prey. Apparently, the hyena is so detestable, even a dumb beast like a lion won't touch it even when hungry.

Thus, when we scale up the qualities necessary for "survival of the fittest" to the human kingdom of mammon, it would appear that scavengers in the financial kingdom have their personalities shaped by the detestable (but deemed necessary) functions they serve to keep the financially fittest on top of the food chain and devour the detritus (more colloquially referred to in the industry as "deadbeats").

Ray

jamiedude00,
collectors -- because, they are just like pushy asses at Futureshop, and the dick head at Leon's trying to sell you that TV, or that annoying Life Insurance guy, or those countless Capital One credit letters, or those countless AOL CD's, or those nasty traffic cops who pull you over doing 5-10 over the limit so even they can reach their monthly quota..........

I have to strongly disagree with you. When you go into Future shop, you are in a good mood and ready to buy product.

When you've just been laid off or suffer and illness and then start to miss payments, your stress level goes through the ceiling.

Getting a call from a collection agency adds an extreme amount of stress to the situation. It's just another big thing that people have to deal with in their time of already high stress.

Some guys are "Bud" guys but I happen to be a "Bud Hibbs" kind of guy.

See my remarks to one of your brethren, Milo Bloom.

Too much to wear out my pinkies again.

Ray

That's too bad Raymond. You must be a very miserable person to dislike collectors -- because, they are just like pushy assholes at Futureshop, and the dick head at Leon's trying to sell you that TV, or that annoying Life Insurance guy, or those countless Capital One credit letters, or those countless AOL CD's, or those nasty traffic cops who pull you over doing 5-10 over the limit so even they can reach their monthly quota..........

I could go on here, but it's pointless. No debtor knows the collector in reality. What someone does as their job is one thing, but to disrespect a person because of the way they earn their living is another.

Not all collectors are the same. I for one do not act like a lot of my co workers, and I would refuse to. But, respect is something that is supposed to be earned, but when you dislike someone that you don't even know, that below being a human. You might as well be that piece of (edited for language) those birds are eating.

Most of the people I work with are under the age of 25. If you find it OK to disrespect today’s youth for having a job to earn money for school, or keeping them off the street to collect money because older people can’t keep steady jobs, then you are one sad individual.

But that’s enough ranting – I am just like any of the other debtors here. I’ve been in collections before, and I know how to handle them. It’s worked to my advantage. And that is one of the reasons why I decided to join this site, to help out others and give them better knowledge than what you would probably ever know.

But that’s just my opinion………… happy christmas.