Debt Buyers

John Oliver discusses debt, particularly medical debt, on his HBO show Last Week Tonight. Behind the scenes, financial entities buy and sell debt to maximize the value of the money you owe. And don’t think this doesn’t affect you just because you pay off your debts. I found out yesterday that a relative of mine got in trouble with the IRS a few years ago because his bank had mistakenly put his social security number on paperwork when reporting the debt of another guy with the same name. This video gets rather exciting at about 17 minutes in. Contains NSFW language.