Comments on: The Grim Reaper

By: Jeff Sovern

Jeff Sovern — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:11:21 +0000

There’s at least an argument that the failure to make such a disclosure violates the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, as I discuss on the Consumer Law and Policy Blog at http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2009/03/does-federal-law-bar-collecting-debts-from-the-dead.html

By: A.W.

A.W. — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:12:14 +0000

And i will add, i am sick and tired of this endless nanny statism, where we crush our freedom all in the name protecting people from their own stupidity.

By: A.W.

A.W. — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:10:24 +0000

Sarah,

1, yes it will crush the desire to do so out of moral obligations.

2, yes it is stupid to fail to ask the question. sorry, but yes.

and 3, there are ways to find out.

By: A.J. Sutter

A.J. Sutter — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:06:47 +0000

Thank you, Sarah, for a far superior reply to A.W. than I was tempted to give.

By: Sarah Waldeck

Sarah Waldeck — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:06:42 +0000

We could probably have a long discussion about whether anyone has a moral obligation to pay off a debt that she did not incur. But what the regulation says determines what it crushes. I don’t see how the statement “You are not legally obligated to do this” deters those who are acting for moral reasons.

I would also use the phrase “legally unsophisticated” where you chose the word “stupid.”

Finally, it isn’t clear to me how credit card companies and utilities will know a person is about to die, unless they are simply looking at the correlation between age and the chances of dying a natural death. And I have a hard time believing that the possibility of collecting from a relative who is not legally bound to pay encourages companies to extend credit when they otherwise wouldn’t.

By: A.W.

A.W. — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:39:45 +0000

So let’s see here. we want to

1) crush any chance anyone will pay a debt out of simple moral obligation.

2) protect those who are too stupid to ask the basic question: “am i legally obligated to do this?”

3) create an even greater incentive for credit card companies, utilities, etc. to want to cut off credit for those who are about to die.

You know because when a credit card company discovers that a card holder went on a $45,000 shopping spree, because he figured “f– it, i am dying” that not only is it impossible to force the relatives to pay, but we want to make damn sure that if they are decent and/or stupid enough to pay, that we prevent them from doing that. Because hey, who cares if the corporation is hurt, a bank loses money, etc. who needs them?

All this in the middle of an epic credit crisis. nice. But hey, who cares about fairness to companies, or keeping the economy out of the crapper. the NYT wrote a story about weeping widows!