Do deals with debt collectors alleviate consumer financial distress? Using new data linking court and credit registry records, we examine civil collection lawsuits where consumers can settle out of court. Random assignment of judges with different styles generates exogenous variation in the...

We investigate the role of information technology (IT) in the collection of delinquent consumer debt. We argue that the widespread adoption of IT by the debt collection industry in the 1990s contributed to the observed expansion of unsecured risky lending such as credit cards. Our model stresses...

Why would high-status organizations, presumably secure in their positions, resort to illegality? This study considered the possibility that status theory might have overestimated the relative security of high-status organizations. Our theory that an inability to meet associates' expectations...

A curious and sort of subconscious temptation : the lure of consumer credit -- In the fold of default : living with market attachments -- The discovery and capture of affect : a history of debt collection -- The strategic management of affect : venturing inside the collections company -- The...

Machine generated contents note: ch. 1 The Structure and Practices of the Debt Buying Industry / Federal Trade Commission -- ch. 2 Collecting Consumer Debts: The Challenges of Change / Federal Trade Commission

The credit crisis, high fuel costs, job losses, bankruptcies, foreclosures and the failing economy are all contributing to factories closing, job loss and business owners going out of business because they can't get paid. Learn how to take specific steps and use positive action to streamline and...