After examining several hypotheses, it turns out that much of bad credit is a function of … (news alert) medical debt.
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You’ve been greeked!
DB2
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Thanks for the link DB2.
I can verify this information with a personal family anecdote.
Our niece and her husband are in the mid- to late-50’s. They are lower middle-class I’d say. Live in a 4-bdrm house, 1 kid is out of college and married, the other still lives at home and going to college. All three at home drive newer cars. They spend money like crazy.
Niece’s husband recently had a previously undiagnosed bout with diabetes and also had DVT which could have killed him. Landed in the emergency room and an extended hospital stay. On top of that, he needed very expensive blood thinners for the rest of his life.
The medical bills kept piling up. The husband had NO MEDICAL INSURANCE!!! Crazy!! He thought he could gamble because he had always been healthy!!
They ended up putting most of the medical costs on multiple credit cards. Almost drove them into bankruptcy. Then his parents died - one after another. They quickly sold their house at a significant profit, paid off the credit cards and now live in the parents former house. Lots more details, but there’s the gist of it.
I personally have never lived a day without medical insurance and would never do it. Maybe I am unaware of how people of less means struggle with healthcare insurance affordability (wasn’t Obamacare supposed to fix that?) but I guess I have been fortunate enough to have always been able to figure out how to afford medical insurance.
'38Packard
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They gamble? I noticed around work, how many people constantly complained about being broke, and constantly played the lottery.
Steve
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It has for tens of millions of people but as much as it has truly helped it was sabotaged.
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