• Victor@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I’m curious how any bank would “happily” waive a debt of tens of thousands of dollars, just by being asked. “Happily”, yet they still send their debt collectors? I don’t think I understand. 😅

    • Obituarykidney@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      The debt collectors were for zip and afterpay.

      My partner’s credit card debt was forgiven, I think the financial councillor was able to prove that he’d paid more over the lifetime of the debt in interest and repayments than the debt was worth, then proved our inability to make more repayments. She told me mine would have a bigger impact on our credit scores because it was written off by the bank rather than forgiven, but we don’t plan on taking out any more debt, that doesn’t really matter.

      The “happily” was a little facetious, the bank I was with was actually quite rude and difficult to work with lol. I’d had issues with them being unprofessional and straight up lying to me in the past and closed all other accounts. The credit card was still open though because it was taking time to pay off.

      • WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today
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        3 days ago

        Please ELI5 the terms “zip and afterpay” for those of us unfamiliar with them. I think I can guess the meaning from context, but would like to be sure. TIA

        • Obituarykidney@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          “buy now pay later” schemes. They are basically a credit card where you pay in instalments rather than a minimum monthly repayment like a credit card. Technically not lines of credit so they skirt around lending laws and can be given out to more people, but it also means they can’t do much to recover the debt if it goes bad. Which is why the financial councillor told us we could just ignore them if we can’t afford it anymore.

          (I was in my early 20s when I racked up those debts lol)

          • WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today
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            3 days ago

            TYVM for the explanation. I was not aware they weren’t considered LoCs & people could just walk away from them. Seems kind of a risky business model in that case, so I wonder why there’s been such an explosion of them over recent years. There must be some way they’re able to protect themselves from that.

            Ah, well - another rainy day research project to throw on the pile if I’m so inclined.

            Thanks again for the reply!

            • Obituarykidney@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              Haha well, from what I’ve heard, you’re not technically supposed to walk away from them but they don’t have the same legal recourse as banks so they just sell to debt collectors as the default action when you don’t pay.

            • piccolo@sh.itjust.works
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              3 days ago

              There must be some way they’re able to protect themselves from that.

              Remember in 2008 when it was found out that banks were trading bad debts as ‘good’ but then It exploded in their face and caused a global recession, but the banks were ‘too big to fail’ so they were all bailed out by tax payers and only one guy saw any prison time, so they can claim being tough on crime?

              Yeah… i dont know why they keep doing it.

        • FloMo@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          Not OP - They provide installment plans for purchases, kind of like Klarna if you’ve ever heard of them.

          • WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today
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            3 days ago

            Ah, TY - glad I asked, as that’s not what I was guessing at all & that makes a LOT more sense.

            Again, TYVM!

        • fifi@piefed.zip
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          3 days ago

          It’s most likely some form of “buy now pay later” “credit but not credit” nonsense