"… Paul Aker says he was arrested at his home last week for a $1500 federal student loan he received in 1987. He says seven deputy US Marshals showed up at his home with guns and took him to federal court where he had to sign a payment plan for the 29-year-old school loan …
… They have to serve anywhere from 1200 to 1500 warrants to people who have failed to pay their federal student loans."
The person who was arrested ignored repeated requests and attempts at arranging payment according to the news.
If I had an outstanding debt from 1987 I would fear every ringing telephone, every knock on my door, and every cop in my rearview mirror. I probably couldn’t sleep at night. So boo hoo.
Much better story here. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/paul-aker-us-marshal-student-loan-debt-arrest-212047386.html
$1500 29 years ago
I wonder what the amount is now? anyone know?
and…why only 1200 - 1500 warrants??? There must be a lot more unpaid student loans. How’d they decide to target the 1200-1500???
Are we going back to debtors’ prisons?
It’s weird to me that somebody could be arrested for something like this yet nobody gets arrested (or wait, did one person get arrested?) for the big housing derivative crash of 2007-2008?
How are they going to earn enough in prison to pay back the debt?
That $1,500 loan with 29 years of interest at 7% would be nearly $11,000 today (if not more with late fees and penalties). Perhaps they go after anyone with more than $10k of debt.
He was arrested for ignoring a court order and taken directly to court. He did not spend time in jail. I’m sorry what ever time he spent in college did not supply him with the cognition to understand what happened. Apparently guns were drawn when he told the Marshalls he was carrying a gun. He’s being billed for some of the cost of the stand off he created. He sounds like a hot head. IMO people need to pay their debts even if they can only pay $50 a month for life.
The only way to be arrested on a civil matter is for a court to issue a warrant. A court would only issue a warrant if there was a suit filed and a judgment entered, then the creditor tries to collect the debt and the debtor is uncooperative. They call a meeting and the debtor is required to appear at the courthouse and answer the creditor’s question (all that is usually done by sending a set of questions to the debtor; only a few actually require an in person hearing.
Now could this 2007 suit, by a collection agency, been done in a sloppy way, without the debtor actually being served and having no notice? Yes, and I can believe that little attempt was made to collect and suddenly in 2015 when the debtor is found there is an affidavit by the collection agency that it tried diligently to collect for those 29 years.
Ignoring court orders and the final step with Federal action on collections is going to be handled this way. At least one is open to having it handled this way. That is why one pays off IRS debt as attentively and promptly as one can, or works out a payment plan.
Years ago, it made the news when some high paid professionals who ignored paying federally guaranteed student loans got their high priced vehicles repossessed.
The comment about ‘debtor’s prison’ is a bit off target.
Unfortunately, there are people that have taken out so much in loans and had the interest rate build up over the years that they can pretty much not get out from under it during their lifetime based on their earning ability - which is a sad thing that they did this by going beyond a college UG degree (or went to a higher priced UG school and had parent plus loans - so collusion in the madness) and then some individuals rack up more debt than one should. People do make mistakes in life, and many mistakes have consequences.
Congress also changed to law to make sure that college loans are not canceled through bankruptcy. Student loans will always be collected even if you declare bankruptcy.
Per CBS news report, the person involved was aware of the debt, had ignored multiple requests for repayment. His actions are what escalated the situation , and now he owes almost 10 times the original debt. And @OspreyCV22 I agree with you that need to pay their debts even if in small increments. I’m sure there are many doing exactly that everyday.
The U.S. Marshals’ action is perfectly reasonable given the circumstances. Where I do think Aker has cause to complain is the $1200 fee for his arrest, which - to me - seems akin to charging defendants for a public prosecutor’s “services.”
He couldn’t pay $1,500 in 29 years? Come on now. I’m sorry but I have little sympathy for people who ignore their responsibilities. A temporary hardship is one thing, but dodging an outstanding debt for that long is obviously an act of willful neglect.
Whatever happened to garnishments?
He is 29 years overdue for payment, so I don’t think being in prison will make any difference.
Like southfloridamom, I also wonder what happened to wage garnishments or liens.
Hm, at least he was not arrested for NOT PAYING DEBT. In Korea, one can go prison for debt even if one can’t simply pay it due to circumstance.
Once imprisoned he will cost taxpayers much more than $1500, $2600, or whatever.
So, how about swapping out that federal debt with the saving of taxpayer dollars by staying out of jail?