On Sunday night’s episode of Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver dug into the nasty (and sometimes illegal) practices of debt collectors in America.
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In a segment on his HBO programme created to show just how easy it could be for companies to wipe off medical debts in America, Oliver set up a debt recovery company for $50.
For $50, he set up a debt-buying company and named it Central Asset Recovery Professionals, or CARP, “after a bottom-feeding fish”, he explained. “And it was disturbingly easy”.
CARP was offered nearly $15 million in medical debt from Texas for less than $60,000. For that amount, Oliver’s show got access to 9,000 people’s personal information, including names, home addresses and social security numbers.
John Oliver acquired $US15 million worth of unpaid medical bills for only $US60,000, and immediately forgave the debts.
Oliver explained that American households owe a total of $12 trillion in debt, $436 billion of which is 90 days or more overdue.
How does selling the medical debt of their patients to entities that may hound those patients for years-even after they’re not legally entitled to collect such debt-square with the community mission of a typical not-for-profit hospital? Debt can be purchased and resold to various companies, and while many of them follow the law or outsource the job to debt collecting agencies, some debt collectors use methods of intense intimidation, harassment and dishonesty to attempt to recover the cash.
Slate senior business and economics correspondent Jordan Weissmann quibbled with the value of the debt Oliver purchased. He achieved this by doubling the value of Oprah Winfrey’s famous “You get a auto!” CARP bought the debt, and promptly forgave it. Why?
But, Oliver jokes, the true motivation behind the stunt was to pull off the largest one-time giveaway in television history, beating out Oprah’s $8 million “you get a car” free-for-all.
“Tonight, at my signal, with the power vested in me as chairman of the board of CARP, they will commence the debt-forgiving process”, Oliver said.
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“(Expletive) you, Oprah!” Oliver shouted, then hit the button.
