What's hapening in Minnesota
On August 29, 1857 the Constitution of the State of Minnesota was signed into the law. Section 12 of the Bill of Rights of this document reads, “ No person shall be imprisoned for debt in this state, but this shall not prevent the Legislature from providing for imprisonment or holding to bail persons charged with fraud in contracting said debt. A reasonable amount of property shall be exempt from seizure or sale, for the payment of any debt or liability; the amount of such exemption shall be determined by law.” However, collection agencies have found a loop hole and Minnesota residents, as well as citizens from other states, are finding themselves imprisoned for what amounts to unpaid debts. The spirit of this law is being ignored in a favor of soaring stock and overwhelming profit margins.
A recent article in the Star Tribune reported a startling trend in debt collection. Minnesotans are being arrested for crimes they are completely unaware they have committed. The “official” charges that are being levied are failure to appear when they have been summoned to appear in court over an outstanding bill. But let’s call a spade a spade, when bail is being set for the exact amount of the bill they were being sued for, it is unconstitutional; a direct violation of the previously mentioned bill of rights.
In 2009 there were 845 arrests warrants issued in Minnesota for failure to appear in court for an unpaid debt. Star Tribune reporters Chris Serres and Glenn Howatt reported one warrant was the result of an unpaid debt of $85.00. What sort of insane, bureaucratic mentality would see a benefit to society by having that person jailed, especially when the cost to house that inmate for one day would be closer to $170.00? Is it any wonder so many states are bankrupt when such moronic financial decisions are being executed?
In many cases, both here in Minnesota and throughout the country, the people who are failing to appear don’t even know that they were summoned. It would appear that it’s common practice to assume that a person knows they are suppose to appear in court without any evidence like a signed affidavit or receipt of certified mail. In a four part series that appeared in the Boston Globe, the majority of those “dead beat” debtors were never informed that they were being sued because the credit companies provided the court with inaccurate addresses; remarkably when it was time to seize the debtor’s assets these same creditors were able to come up with a correct address.
In addition to the questionable legality of these arrests, citizens should be concerned that police officers time is being spent tracking down these evil doers who default on a $250.00 credit card. The should be reminded that tax payer’s money is being spent on booking, processing and housing them when real crimes are being committed.
Hennepin County, the largest county in Minnesota had 664 arrests of this type between 2005 and 2010. Frankly I think that the citizens of the county are more concerned with the 21 homicides, 131 rapes and 712 aggravated assaults that have occurred between January 1 and May 31 of this year alone. (Source of information Minneapolis Police, Crime Analysis Unit)
Having spent the past ten years working in the financial industry I have analyzed numerous credit reports. One thing that has always been consistent in credit reporting is the complete lack of concern over reporting accuracy. Once upon a time a bad debt would show up on a person’s credit report for seven years then drop off, now that same debt can be sold to numerous collection agencies and each one of the agencies will report it repeatedly and indefinitely. Each time the debt is sold it appears as a new default on your credit, the opening date showing as the date it was bought not the date that it was originally incurred.
By no means am I advocating not paying your debts or living beyond your means, but at some point we as a society need to stop and think about the people that are involved, not just the profit margins. Arresting a father in front of his young daughter, putting a law abiding citizen in a cell with gang members, murders and rapist; these types of actions can have long and far reaching psychological effects. And for what? So that companies like Portfolio Recovery Associates can increase the price of their stock
Friday, June 11, 2010
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