Comments on: Minneapolis Star-Tribune digs into lawsuits to reveal ‘debtors prisons’

By: doggerelled

doggerelled — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:48:37 +0000

It is salutary to note that in all revolutions the first target of the mob is invariably the debt collectors. Let the good times roll.

By: Robin J Phillips

Robin J Phillips — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:16:41 +0000

Thank you, Beth. I appreciate the copy editing… and, obviously, we needed it. Thanks for helping out.

By: BethW

BethW — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:11:17 +0000

Please note that you have listed one of the journalists as “Howatt” (first paragraph) and as “Mowatt” (second paragraph). The correct name is “Howatt.”

By: Mark Schiffman , Director of Public Affairs

Mark Schiffman , Director of Public Affairs — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:50:24 +0000

Much of what Chris Serres’ is covering in the Star Tribune’s ongoing series on debt collection is important information for consumers to know.

However, we do believe that the story about debtors prisons mischaracterizes that this is a problem created by, and unique to debt collectors. While the Star Tribune focused on people who were arrested because of a missed court date pertaining to a rightfully owed debt, the reality is that court orders to enforce judgments are fairly common as a means to enforce state law for a wide variety of matters including personal injury, child support and orders to testify in court. If reforms to Minnesota law regarding the use of bench warrants are considered necessary, then any such reforms should be applied to all situations requiring the use of this process and not only to a specific industry as the Star Tribune seemed to indicate.

ACA International, headquartered in Minneapolis, is the leading trade association for over 5000 third party debt collectors, asset buyers and debt collection attorneys.