<p>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/weekinreview/26streitfeld.html?ref=business</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Melissa Birks is being stalked. Her cellphone keeps ringing, always from a caller marked “unknown.” She says she knows it is her <a title="More articles about credit cards." href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/credit_and_money_cards/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">credit card</a> company wondering why she stopped making payments. Ms. Birks, who owes $28,830, has nothing to say.</p>
<p>Those on the front lines of the debt industry say there is a small but increasingly noticeable group of strapped consumers who, like Ms. Birks, are deciding they will simply stop paying. After loading up on debt eagerly provided by the card companies during the boom times, these people now find themselves trapped in an endless cycle where they are charged interest on interest and fees upon fees while the lenders get government bailouts.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As if people like this are going to be paying for the bailouts anyway.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They are upset — at the unyielding banks and often at their free-spending selves — and are pre-emptively defaulting. They could continue to pay for a while longer but instead are walking away. “You reach a point where you embrace the darkness of default,” said Adam Levin, chairman of the financial products Web site <a target="_" href="http://credit.com/">Credit.com</a>.</p>
<p>The lending industry term for these people is “ruthless defaulters.” In a miserable economy where paychecks, savings and expectations are all diminished, their numbers will surely grow.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm sure they will grow, after the NYT spreads the word that is is socially acceptable behavior. It has previously run articles that were in effect instruction manuals for getting the CC companies to write down debt. Most customers would have no clue about this if the NYT wasn't telling them. If just makes the banking crisis worse. Then consider it was the NYT in the first place pushing for legislation forcing banks to loan to bad credits risks years ago during the boom times.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Melissa Birks is being stalked. Her cellphone keeps ringing, always from a caller marked “unknown.” She says she knows it is her <a title="More articles about credit cards." href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/credit_and_money_cards/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">credit card</a> company wondering why she stopped making payments. Ms. Birks, who owes $28,830, has nothing to say.</p>
<p>Those on the front lines of the debt industry say there is a small but increasingly noticeable group of strapped consumers who, like Ms. Birks, are deciding they will simply stop paying. After loading up on debt eagerly provided by the card companies during the boom times, these people now find themselves trapped in an endless cycle where they are charged interest on interest and fees upon fees while the lenders get government bailouts.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As if people like this are going to be paying for the bailouts anyway.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They are upset — at the unyielding banks and often at their free-spending selves — and are pre-emptively defaulting. They could continue to pay for a while longer but instead are walking away. “You reach a point where you embrace the darkness of default,” said Adam Levin, chairman of the financial products Web site <a target="_" href="http://credit.com/">Credit.com</a>.</p>
<p>The lending industry term for these people is “ruthless defaulters.” In a miserable economy where paychecks, savings and expectations are all diminished, their numbers will surely grow.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm sure they will grow, after the NYT spreads the word that is is socially acceptable behavior. It has previously run articles that were in effect instruction manuals for getting the CC companies to write down debt. Most customers would have no clue about this if the NYT wasn't telling them. If just makes the banking crisis worse. Then consider it was the NYT in the first place pushing for legislation forcing banks to loan to bad credits risks years ago during the boom times.</p>
<p> </p>
