Debt Buyers: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
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- čas přidán 4. 06. 2016
- Companies that purchase debt cheaply then collect it aggressively are shockingly easy to start. We can prove it!
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So, wait... Could I just buy my own debt for dirt cheap, then forgive myself?
That would literally be the best. It would probably take a while to do that though. And you would probably not be able to just buy it specifically. You'd probably need to buy it in a huge bundle and even then you would not have any way of knowing if your debt was actually inside of that bundle before buying it. So it is probably less than practical, but awesome to think about.
I guess depends on where you live?
holy fuck you're a genius
Here is a thought, just because you guys got me started...
Create a company, from Mississippi or Texas, for example. Then start purchasing debt. Email the people directly and offer them the opportunity to buy and forgive their own debt (plus 5%, for the operating cost of the business). Group your company with other non-profits and debt charities. Set up "Go Fund Me" pages and the like. Set up Micro Loans as an alternative revenue stream to fund the core of the company.
Just off the top of my head...because...why not...
James Taylor Hmmm... That is a great idea, at least on the surface. You would need some capital to get it going, and you might have some serious trouble from other debt collectors. I assume they would probably quit selling to you. It would also require some more strings attached once you were actually getting business. For instance, it would probably be hard to contact so many people in a timely manner to collect money that could then be used to forgive future debts. But why not do it long enough to help out some people?
This British man is a true American hero.
Lol
What a way to put it!
He's an American citizen, so that makes him an American man that is a true American hero.
Edit: He hasn't been naturalized just yet, but he still has his green card and its only a matter of time seeing as he lives in New York City, New York, and is married to someone who used to serve in the armed forces.
He's not an American citizen
yea he is and fuck trump
Imagine being a billionaire and not doing this just out of boredom.
I'd go on a show and be like " FUCK OPRAH EVERYONE GETS A HOUSE!"
Around $17,000,000 but it would make you a ton of money in advertisement
You ever heard of Mr.Beast?
@@shanegarcia5963 tommrow rush to sale the house and no more money as mortgage for bank america, who sale debt to others, , could have smaller house also all in cash,
I mean yeah at half a cent at the dollar, a single Gates class billionaire could probably forgive all the medical debt in the US without putting a meaningful dent into their bottom line, not to mention how much money they'd free up for people to buy their products.
If they could spend 60k and claim a 17 million tax benefit, then they all would.
I was at this taping threes years ago and still have the fake money the staff was cool enough to let me snatch. Good memento.
Knowing John's regard for HBO's budget, that was probably real money.
Awesome!!!!
For real? Good stuff!
@@LPChipi talkshows are some of the cheapest shows to make. A quick Google showed got cost 6 million an episode and 15 million per episode for the last season.
I won't be surprised if the fake bills have John Oliver on its face
My nephew had some student loans and he was repaying them at a low monthly rate and interest rate. Then another company bought his debt. His payments and interest skyrocketed. Now he is in default. His credit score is quite low and he can't buy a house or a car. These companies need to be stopped, they are ruining peoples lives.
They do this with mortgages too. This is why our housing market crashed in '08. The banks sold the mortgages to big banks and then those banks skyrocketed the payments causing a lot of people to lose their houses.
Thanks for telling us about this!
I agree completely. Bernie would have been another FDR.
Sorry to hear about your nephew and I hope his problems are resolved at the earliest. And plus like +Ahmed Ahsanullah mentioned, for me Bernie Sanders is the President that USA needs and possibly one of the world leaders the world must have.
Totally agree with you but I believe things have gotten out of hand or do you think there is a possibility for a Bernie Sanders nomination?
Dude, is John Oliver a Saint? Because, that is a FUCKING miraculous event if I have ever seen one.
Praise be!
Praise be
Praise be!
+Bravo1VE Praise Be!
Praise be!
Fun fact.. in order to hold you accountable for a debt,
The debt owner is obligated to possess your original signed contract. Request they send you that in writing. If they can't produce it, they cannot prove you owe them money in court and you will have zero legal obligation to repay it!
If you can afford to take these millionaire conglomerates to court
And more specifically. I didn’t agree to pay whatever jackass has the contract. I agreed to pay the lender. So the entire industry is just categorically illegal
@@StealthyDead If you are clearly in the right, would it not be possible to just appear in court by yourself and ask the judge to get them to show the document.
No need to hire a lawyer.
@@gaberobison680 no really, cause the contract can legally be transferred....but they are so lazy, they often forget to transfer the initial paperwork...and without that, they cant prove ownership of the debt.
Fun fact. That is complete nonsense. You could not be more wrong.
Did he just... did he *really* just do that?!
Damn.... mad props for this madlad!
yep, that was really a thing, I mean as he pointed out, it was out of statue so technically there wasn't a legal way to compel any of them to pay,,,,, except the trick he mentioned of send them a court summons (which any lawyer could get dismissed in one motion) hope they don't bother to lawyer up and get it dismissed thus 'making them liable all over again,,,,,,
Hehe, HBO can afford it.
I mean... Kind of? He didn't actually give away $15m as it just wasn't worth that. It'd be like if a 5 year old wrote you an IOU for a billion dollars, they might owe you a billion dollars, but the IOU is definitely not worth that much. But he did give away $60k worth of something, which is still a good thing. Although, they'd also be able to write that off as either potentially a charitable donation or just as a loss on a business investment. Either way HBO will pay less taxes now because of it. So it's not really as big of a deal as it might first appear.
@@--Dan- It is a big deal, you're failing to see the forest for the trees. The fact that debt wasn't "worth" 15,000,000 isn't the point...at all. The point is that now these 9,000 people won't have to deal with a debt buyer contacting them to pay the debt which could be from an injury that took the life of a husband, wife, child, family member. Every time somebody contacts these people to collect the money they relive the circumstances at the root cause of the debt. In that regard, the actual value of the gesture is worth far more than $15 million.
@@trumpnews7798 As I said, it's still a good thing. I'm also saying they could have done just as much, probably more good by just donating $60k to a food bank. Not being able to pay a past debt is undeniably stressful, but even more so is not being able to pay for your next meal. And that donation solves not only the stress, but hunger as well.
It's still a good thing, but it's a publicity stunt more than an actual charitable action. Which is fine. Publicity stunts that do actually help people are, as I've said, a good thing. $60k paying off debts is a better thing morally then $60k towards a big musical number in time square, for example.
"Fuck you Oprah! I am the new queen of day time talk!"
-John Oliver, 2016
yea...that cracked me up lolol
God shave John Oliver!
Yes, F-Ophra.
What a lot of people may not realize about that car giveaway was that the audience was full of low income folks and they were responsible for all the taxes and other costs associated with the car. They weren't made aware of that fact. She did that messed up thing for ratings. She sucks.
John you're one of the best people on the planet. Love you bro.
👍👍👍
Best parrot*
Right? Him and his writers impress me every week with their attention to detail and tasteful commentary on social issues facing the U.S.A, love this show!
LONG LIVE OLIVER!
+Randooly best parrot working at a bank*
this comment deserves more likes
Buying old debt actually sounds like a really efficient way to help people, since it's being sold so cheaply.
@ billionaires
@@kukachoo42 It's not just for the rich, anybody could do it. Buy your kid's student-loan debt for pennies on the dollar. 😉
That's a really good idea. Can you get that specific with it? Or maybe someone should start a group to buy up student loan debt and forgive it in general. @@I.____.....__...__
Nic Cage was so intense in the first clip that it took me years to finally notice he was screaming at Elijah Wood xD
This is the first time (probably my third(?) rewatch) to realize he was screaming "Open it!" to him~
He runs a debt buying company *and* a religion now. Truly a man of many talents.
If you think about it they go hand in hand. Don't have enough money for Jesus? Take out a high interest Jesus loan.
plot twist, he's actually collecting the debt and funneling it through the church in order to not pay taxes. he is quite the entrepreneur.
@@kadafi4lyf hiding in plain site
Don't forget his pregnancy crisis center(ON WHEELS)
Wow - a garbage human for sure. Carpet bagging false Christian.
"FUCK YOU OPRAH" holy shit that was funny
I hope he made a nice phone call to Oprah at some point. I often wonder how taking shots for cheap laughs are handled in those situations amongst celebrities.
Cheap laughs?
Believe me they all know what he is doing, they are not so uptight as you are they can take a joke. So take it easy. That was fucking funny.
Of course it was funny. Not arguing that. Maybe I should have pasted in 4 smilies. Sheesh. I'm just contemplating how these things are done behind the scenes, 'cause I would love to see the look on John's face if the producers could get Oprah to quietly walk out and stand behind him a few seconds after he shouted Fuck You Oprah, without telling him ahead of time.
taking shots? did u even watch the video or just went straight to the comment section
This is gold. Continue to protect this man and his team at all costs.
Every single one of those debts was out of Statute of Limitations and NONE of those people could've been sued.
Sounds good on the surface, but this was nothing more than a publicity stunt.
Once your debt is out of the Statute of Limitations you cannot be sued for it. You can tell any collection agency to F*** OFF and they can't do anything about it.
I was thinking if I was a millionaire I'd have a blast buying and forgiving debt like this. Imagine the people you could help
You don't have to be a millionaire. He bought 15m worth of debt for 60k. So that works out to about 4k per 1m.
I'm sure over a lifetime you could save 4k
Debt-forgiveness isn't the only way rich people can help, Elong Musk could buy $100k houses free-and-clear for a MILLION FAMILIES and only use less than half of his net-worth.
There's something just inherently comedic about a grown British man yelling "I am the new queen of daytime talk!" while being showered in dollar bills after pushing an unnecessarily large button.
???? ❓ what
The size of the button is of the utmost importance. Everyone knows that the larger your buttons, the better you are
This sentence just keeps getting better!
The largeness of that button was ABSOLUTELY necessary. :3
He has the biggest buttons, the best. No one has a bigger button than him.
Also consider this: Oprah's guests had to pay taxes, registration, and upkeep on those cars, which are not cheap. Oliver's giveaway explicitly excludes tax penalties for its recipients.
Consider this too: Oprah could have either:
-Put the cars down as "gifts" rather than "prizes" on the books, which would drastically have reduced the taxes winners would have to pay for their cars.
-Just paid the taxes herself.
She then said "why should I have paid?" Oh yeah, she has a point. I mean why should she cover the tax bill when she already paid so much for the cars in the first pla- *oh wait, she didn't.* The cars were given to the show for free from the manufacturer.
@@TheSecondVersion oprah is evil.
but most people are too stupid to see her for what she really is..
she has and will continue to pay her dues to the organizations that helped her into that saddle.
and to get her on the point where she is now.
she is a >talkshow host that is a multi-billionaire.. < and people think there is nothing suspicious about that??
she can inject her poison to guillable women and some men all over the world, and everyone loves her for it.
she is one of the first and one of the biggest worldwide influencer, and she roll with what scripts are given to her to say..
poisoning the public opinions about pretty much anything, making the abnormalnormal, and let the troubled stars of the hook,(if oprah can forgive said star?? then who are we?)
having no problems with prosperity gospel doctrine of course,..
she is like the george soros of talkshowhosts. and even now she continues to play a mayor role in anything toxic.
they eat it up hook line and sinker..
oh well
@@redsampler2017 not to mention the time she set a swarm of bees upon her audience
@@obliviousotterI that is a nice meme indeed ;-)
@@redsampler2017 all over the world? At least in Latin American we dont care for her. We have Caso Cerrado 🤣
Best episode ending ever. Just frustrates me that even with all of this information readily available, some Americans still don't want affordable healthcare because they would rather listen to their politicians that actual facts
literally the bare minimum a government could provide its people
But guys, it's so expensive it would bankrupt the country. We NEED that money for the military and bailing out the banks and corporations.
@@Hydrophilic
Companies: let's Rob people of their money
Government: I'll bale you out if you get in any trouble
Military: definitely gets too much budget for developing weapons that rarely get used
Government: more funding to the military "for the troops"
They also listen to their churchianity preachers.
@@Hydrophilic
I sense sarcasm.
the ending is literally the best and honestly makes me cry because those 9000 people don't have to worry about that debt following them around
can we call it the walking debt
You sir, are awesome
Thank you good sir
Yes.
Yanis varoufakis is the walking dept
Fear the walking debt...
John literally helped 9000 people from dying in debt. My respect for him has grown immensely.
Dude if only he can do the same now for my college debt. I would be so happy
Doctor RPG --> Medical debt, that John Oliver paid off for the people, is incurred mostly involuntarily.
Istvan Szabo Dude don’t take me so seriously man. Just trying to make a decent joke that many of us can relate to.
Doctor RPG, Got it! :)
@msw7qw11 Doesn't stop other debt collectors from attempting to collect it.
Yeah...they tried to hold me responsible for my mother's debt after she died even when she sold her house to try and sttle her medical and other debts, she still owed creditors, I said.."come at me I'm on disability and losing my vision to myopic degeneration"...they backed off...."blind privilige" I guess
I was sued by a debt collection agency. They took a $500 debt and turned it into almost 4K in debt. They froze my account so I couldn’t pay my bill. Refused a payment plan and were nasty to me. I was 6 months pregnant and was a hysterical mess for a month. It was horrible
Elijah Wood looked legit scared in that clip. Not sure he was acting.
Was thinking the same thing. Lol.
"OMFG he flipped a switch and he's gonna kill me" xD.
"Shit dude, I thought we were acting. I didn't sign up for this. "
"...aaaaaannnd cut."
"WAIT, HE WAS ACTING? I THOUGHT HE WANTED MY LUNCH MONEY!"
when is the clip I think I missed it?
If I had money to toss around I'd buy peoples debt and destroy it. Nothing would gratify me more than knowing I just lifted a terrible burden off a bunch of people.
Same, it is a shame i dont have money (yet)
things to do if you win the lottery (or invent something fucking amazing)
Crowd source that shit man, I'm too lazy to do it.
Agreed. I hope more people with money do as John Oliver did here. It's pretty amazing the sheer scale of it.
If I had money I would put hits out on the greedy starting with Rothschild.
Last Week Tonight: Possibly one of the only truly benevolent uses of *literally* comically large amounts of big media money. And Business Daddy knows it.
Unless it somehow comes out that John Oliver is screwing his staff over in some way or putting his supposedly seven figure salary into the same sort of questionable shit he makes fun of on the show, he may be one of the few multimillionaires who actually kind of deserves to be one.
He might not have been earning seven figures at the time of this episode. He probably was, but maybe not. He definitely is now.
Awesome!
I completely agree with you. I used to work as an English language correspondent for a news company back when I lived abroad, and personally had some experience with shitty media personalities who kinda talked out of both sides of their mouths so to speak. I don't pretend to know whether or not John oliver's like that, but it's a little more common than people think. In my personal experience, the media company I used to work for had large sponsorships from some pretty scummy banks who have a real bad tendency to help Wilmar palm oil company take advantage of indigonous lands in south east asia. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was seeing the reporting this company was doing around the Australian Bush fires last year. They tried time and again to cut down articles I had helped with to remove portions that might've looked bad on this specific bank, which is one of the biggest banks operating in Australia. I brought my concerns to my boss, and he more or less laid it all on the table. He pretty much told me that I would have to suck it up, and report "around" those facts. By the end of that day I had walked out in protest against the editorial board. While the company I worked for wasn't an American news company, many of my friends who work in journalism in the states have had similar experiences. The one thing I can say with certainty: media companies do not really have leftwing or right-wing bias, but they all have a corporate bias.
"I AM THE NEW QUEEN OF DAYTIME TALK!" said the British Night Show Comedy Guy. Kill it, Queen.
$80k dollars for 4 days? holy shit, my dad was in the hospital for 11 weeks without paying shit, except for the ambulance-fare which was like $20. #Socialism #Sweden
I don't suppose anyone there would be willing to hire a hardworking American? I'd love to immigrate.
Socialism probably DOES work in Sweden, but it doesn't here. It's like asking Somalia to become a full-fledged democracy
+RevolutionGamersHD Well capitalism isn't working here for most people, so maybe we should try something else.
Some ambulance rides in the US can go for upwards of $1000, lol
+RevolutionGamersHD In Sweden you don't have the debt, but the government does. And it's ALOT.
Was gonna go to bed but John Oliver said no.
Every fucking Sunday...
It's Game of Thrones, then r\gameofthrones, then John Oliver. Fuck I hate Mondays.
#Mondays4Lyfe
same
Annnnd I have work at 7am....to collect debt on rental cars LOLs
+Zachary Taylor he's just not very bright
"It is done! I am the new queen of daytime talk!" God, I love John Oliver.
was on social media and stumbled upon a series of comments stating their lives had totally changed after john oliver bought their debt. it’s just nice to see the reality
This is the best thing ever.
Bruh! Is it really you? (reply, and I'll sub)
Wow whats up Tay?
PS: I totally called you Zay b4 lol
Hey Tay!!!
Fuck you Tay.
Fuck you Abraham
He should have said:
"You get to breathe. You get to breathe. You get to breathe. EVERYBODY GETS TO BREATHE!"
yess
#Cropdusting
Best comment ever
You get to keep your car! And YOU get to keep your car! EVERYONE GETS TO KEEP THEIR CARS!!
While I love the void that John Oliver basically lives in now, I miss over the top but somehow serious stunts like this
Every single one of those debts was out of Statute of Limitations and NONE of those people could've been sued.
Sounds good on the surface, but this was nothing more than a publicity stunt.
Once your debt is out of the Statute of Limitations you cannot be sued for it. You can tell any collection agency to F*** OFF and they can't do anything about it.
I 💕 love John Oliver 💕💕💕 I watched this episode 3 hrs ago on 1/25/2022 and then cooked Taco's for my daughter and grandkids. (Enough backstory). Right after dinner a debt collector called my daughter for a debt from 2014. I told my kid I just saw this on John Oliver, I quickly looked up the statue of limitations on debt in Florida. ( I know Florida of all places) It's 5 years so my daughter explained that this is an uncollectible debt. The collector replied that this was from an attorney, to which my daughter explained that he should know better and that any further communication on said debt will result in complaint to Florida Bar and lawsuit for harassment. I 💕💕💕💕 love John Oliver.
Am I the only one who cried at the end of this? Wow, this show is not only bringing awereness but also actually doing stuff to change the corrupt system we live in. Long live Last Week Tonight
Last week tonight, or John Oliver? Or both....
He wouldn't be doing shit that awesome without his team.
Funny; I started to tear up also at the end. I thought, how silly of me, but then I scrolled down to look at the comments and yours was the first one, confirming I wasn't alone in my emotions and feelings about what I had just watched. And I'm a 58yr old straight male. Nice to know there are others with a conscience, when I was starting to give up on my fellow man. Thanks.
I was going to comment the same thing, this is amazing, :')
Nope. The feels are real.
Dude, this guy seriously just saved a bunch of lives.
I'm from texas and I think what he did was awesome, but I'm waiting for someone on my facebook page to say what he did was stupid, so far nothing.
Hard to prove it was a stupid move
Agreed, but in time they might find something, I understand a lot of people hate him, but that's mostly because he makes fun of the people they like (Trump, televangelists, state governor's (please take on Greg Abbott, and please Greg Abbott say something stupid), plus many others).
Was thinking exactly the same thing. I mean, let's face it, 60k isn't a whole lot for a good marketing campaign at his level, but the ultimate good it did at the end, plus the increase in ratings? It's such a win win, he deserves a medal just for thinking it up!
I'm in Canada, so medical debt isn't the concern here, but we have other things to worry about. Not to sound selfish, but it's hard to see initiatives out to other countries when there's the level of suffering right here at home.
John is someone who I will always look up to. He shows people how possible it is for stuff to happen, and he shows how easy it is for companies to really do good.
8:55 I didn't know that alligators can be investors and they are called, "Investorgators!" 🤣🤣🤣
Somewhere in the distance, Josh Peck can be heard sobbing over Oprah's loss
iunderstoodthatreference.jpeg
he'll find a way, he'll find a way.
"I hope they cancel Oprah!"
"You take that back!"
***** Thanks, i like urs too
fantastic
Holy shit... this is scary in so many ways my brain just crapped itself.
carped*
+Ellie Nash
????
as in "CARP", the debt company he started.
+Jesse Pepin oh that's funny. Lol.
Ellie Nash Nice one. :)
It really shows what a scam debt and our (lack of) healthcare system is in this country, if $15 million of debt is easily able to be sold for $60,000, on the promisings that the company buying the debt can make much more.
I was hounded by a collection agency for a surgery I never had, until I called the surgeon and read him the riot act. I'm female; his patient was male.
what riot act?
@@Albtraum_TDDC A Quiet one, I would imagine xD~
I thought I had a medical bill paid off, but it turned out that I still owed 21 cents and I was taken to court for it. They never contacted me, just turned it over to a collection agency. I had to miss a day from work to listen to a judge chew out a lawyer for wasting the court’s time over 21 cents. I didn’t have to pay the 21 cents or the court costs, but it did cost me a day of wages.
I'm still glad they didn't turn those 21 cents into a ridiculous amount like a thousand because of "interest" or some bullshit. Still sucks that you lost a day's pay.
Spent hundreds for pennies
You have to spend money to make money
I would've just gotten some popcorn and watched the whole thing unfold
@How to change name? their hope is that you lose money on attorney's fees for winning the case, and that you're still in the position to get financially screwed by those costs, putting you back into debt & perpetuating the cycle of debt to buy. It's explicitly anti-consumer because it only exists to harrass the poor and keep the boot of capitalism firmly pressed upon their neck as they pretend they're a successful business and not an "illegal outside of the US" bounty hunter ring.
Should've flipped a quarter to the attorney and told him to keep the change. Wearing sunglasses wouldve made it look really cool. Or dumb.
Prolly dumb.
Huh, after watching a few episodes of this show I'm starting to note a pattern. Letting industries regulate themselves turns out as well as letting kindergartners watch each other in the hope they don't scrawl crayon all over the room.
Woah
dead
What about the Akansas segment with corrupt legislators? Laws that presume the correctness of the debt collectors information in court? Laws that default judgement in favor of these companies in the event the defendent does not show up? OR allow them to re-roll out of statute debt?
Without the governments sticky fingers over all of this, this entire business model would not work.
this show does indeed point you to disturbing trends in america. i know europe isn't perfect but it does seem to be better
+Jasper Klootwijk a lot better but we are going towards American style regulation as more and more is deregulated and given in to private hands. in theory it should improve the economy but in reality our economy has been going to shite. only reason we don't notice it that much in the Netherlands is because we have such high living standards. but more and more the middle class starts to feel the effects we have less spending power our rights are being ripped away, education is getting more expensive etc
I'm glad these are on CZcams. None of the problems described in any video are fixed, so they're all still relevant when the algorithm recommends them years later.
Could…. I buy my own debt and forgive it?
That's... a fascinating idea 😮🤔
I wouldnt know for sure, but i would think that you cant choose whose debts to buy
I mean no because buying your debt would mean simply paying it off
@@underworldshinigami not when your buying it for pennies on the dollar
He's a chairman and a religious leader, is there anything John can't do.
?*
He can't draw Muhammad.
Comedian Fool*
DEATH TO HOMUNCULI
+Frontschwein He can. His life expectancy would plummet immediately, but he can still do it.
Can we donate to CARP to have them buy more debt to forgive it!??!?
Sweet, thx :)
That is a brilliant campaign. Awesome. Wish it existed in my country, something I'll look into!
+Evi1M4chine you know that would only work if your dept has been sold of. Bank dept is dollar for a dollar.
what a great idea
Wow one of the smart and caring comment I've seen in ummm.... lomg time :) well done I'd love that thought very much,even though I don't have that much money nor an American.
Four days in hospital for 80000 is like 800 dollars per hour Jesus Christ
Yeah it's actually more than that. 4 days is 96 hours (4x24) 80,000÷ 96 is $833.33 *PER HOUR* . Assuming that you sleep for 8 hours a day for all 4 of the days, it costs you $26,666.67 *while you are sleeping* so while you are awake just you know, being alive, it costs you $53,333.33. Which is ridiculous
'Murica! We hate our own people!
My femur was snapped and splintered in a head on collision over a decade and a half ago. I spent 5 days in my own hospital room at Vanderbilt in Nashville after they did surgery on my leg. My car insurance paid for it all; however, the hospital and the insurance company for some reason kept accidentally sending their correspondence on payment negotiation to my parents address so i got to see exactly what they were writing each other. The hospital charged them for my care around $75,000. The itemized bill that was included is very telling on how they waaaaay overcharge---for instance, the walker they provided for support to help me get to initially walking again was billed at $300...the same walker (just like the one you see the elderly use) down to the exact brand, exact model, no difference whatsoever other than who was selling it was priced at Walgreens for MSRP of about $30---for a markup of 10 times the actual price. Checking the rest of the bill with a few other items I could price-check to get a firm estimate of the average markup being that amount, I assume it all was that inflated. When the insurance company responded and sent me the response instead of the hospital, the insurance companies return offer was $12,000. And the hospital immediately accepted without any fuss---which tells you that the amount they accepted was still profitable for the hospital & enough to pay all involved and all overhead and all provisions of my care plus extra---at the cost of a cheap cheap car rather than the price of a house. The system here is screwed up, but if caught in it so you have to "play", knowing the numbers and actively negotiating with that knowledge can keep you from either being smothered in debt or kicked out of the care you need (until we get healthcare for all as a human right rather than a benefit for those who aren't too weak to have earned it).
@@MaxGideonActor That's the unfortunate way it works. Insurance companies try to pay the least they can, because their business model depends on them paying out less than they get. Since healthcare costs can be pretty pricey even without inflation and aren't super uncommon, they'll do anything to pay less than full price. Hospitals will then massively overcharge, knowing that they won't actually get that amount, but because it'll force the insurance company to give them an offer that's profitable based on the actual cost to them. If they charged the legitimate rate, the insurance company would offer them less than they need to be profitable. Which is fine until some unlucky bastard with no insurance comes through the doors and they have to be charged the inflated "no, this is _definitely_ how much we need, _hint hint hint"_ rate because that's legally what their price is for insurance purposes. You're not able to charge individuals less than the silly amount you show insurance companies, because then the insurance companies will demand you give them that rate. The institutions both try to screw each other and the people get caught in the middle.
Imagine how good the hookers who charge that much are.
I hope that I can be in a position to forgive other folk's medical debt one day. That is beautiful.
hey! there’s a foundation called rip medical debt that allows you to buy debt for pennies to a dollar and then immediately forgive it. 100 dollars forgives 10,000 dollars in medical debt
@@f1zz-k1d89 What?! More people should know about this!
This is disgustingly true. My mom found out, and is in court over this, that she had her earnings from her 2nd job garnished to one of these collection agencies. As it turns out, 7 years ago when my mom was at work, a collection agency came to serve her for her debt. Since she was at work, they decided to serve my father in her place. Only problem was that my father was in the end stages of Alzheimer's Disease when he was served, meaning he couldn't read, write, communicate, etc.; he was being spoon fed the time he was apparently served. The day-long home health aide was the only person with him. When we looked at what the person serving him wrote, nowhere was it mentioned that he was unable to communicate, only that "an older looking man in his 80's" (my father was 42 at the time) was served. Best part of this horrifying story, it was debt accumulated for my fathers at home care. Fuck this system and fuck the people who run these companies. (Not you, John)
What Brandon?! What was he being?
Thanks for sharing the story!
That is why i always say to my american friends (i'm from europe) please, fight for your lives, don't let big corporation ruin your lives. Free healthcare should be mandatory. It's impossibile to comprend that your life is attached to a piece of PAPER!!!!!
HOLY SHIT
Speaking as a Canadian, the idea of a healthcare system where you have to pay for your own misfortune is terrifying (and easily taken advantage of). I hope Bernie Sanders gets in and implements free healthcare. Yes, I know he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell. I can dream, though...
WAKE ME UP INSIDE
(CANT WAKE UP)
JUST SET AN ALARM
What?
Rip Hunter You wot m8?
Save meh nigga
This literally just happened to me. It’s so gross. I pay my bills yet a fraud claim was bought and now they are trying to sue me... during corona virus grrr
That’s awesome! Shoutout to him, and HBO for helping 9,000 people out!
This man literally just saved 9,000 families from getting their lives ruined. Mad respect for this man; I can only hope I can be half as good as he is someday.
Jaydrian C Maybe not completely saved, but certainly lifted one of possibly many burdens. Either way, kudos to the man and HBO.
Jaydrian C
Well it was more HBO since it was their money he spent
oh wait...CEHcafe dot com helped me cleared 76k in mortgage within two weeks of contact.
Owen, did you not listen to the whole thing? He started a debt-buying company and relieved debtors of their debts that they bought for pennies on the dollar.
CORRECTIONS FOR "Kinda 0FiNCE1VE": How did he do that? By spending 18 minutes saying "This sucks, wish we knew how to fix this." Most of it was medical debt. Do you just get high on your emotions and then post? Don't vote where ever you live. People like you are how Hitler got into power in the first place.
It's ludicrous that the best journalism exists on comedy shows these days.
so true!
they probably dont have to worry as much about being shut down for telling the truth. also, most news networks use opinion segments such as bill orielly to talk about the important stuff in their opinion, not subject to the journalism world because they arent journalists. real journalists get the segments and stories that dont matter because they have more strict rules for telling the truth as far as they know it to be the truth.
but i do agree. its a sorry state of affairs. i just dont watch the news networks anymore. i find my information elsewhere.
pretty sure its been that way since the antiquity
Eh, good journalism exists, it just doesn't get the same level of attention.
THAT is the sad thing. This comedy journalism isn't any better, it just happens to have a really entertaining face put on it. The good investigative journalism doesn't get nearly as much notice because it isn't entertainment focused.
If a debt buyer called me about an employee i would dedicate the rest of my year to ruining their life via intense trolling
Let me say, I understand everything this guy is saying because I went through this greed-driven madness myself:
Ten years ago, I defaulted on an old credit card. The company tried the usual ways of trying to
get their money back, and then just gave up. Years later, a company called LVNV Funding, LLC
hired a lawyer to take me to court for that old debt.
I couldn't attend the hearing, but beforehand had agreed to make payments of $35 a month.
Since I wasn't able to defend myself, or file for bankruptcy, the judge decided to honor my request for monthly payment. It took nineteen months (at $35 a month) to satisfy these pirates.
Nineteen months of sending money I needed for food and personal costs to pay off this old debt
and court costs. And do you think that the original debtors got one red cent of that? I doubt it.
These folks are parasites and pirates. They don't care about anyone or anything. They don't care
about you. Watch your wallet.
PS: Who else out there has experienced this?
If you are in serious debt...and its easy to become a debt collector...could you cheaply buy your own debt to collect and then never collect it????
most companies sell bad debt by volume, so you'd need to luck out in buying your own. like buying magic cards
if you can manage to find yours, and before all other company
You are a genius. :)
LOL
Tubbz?
So let me get this straight - HBO paid $60k for the $15 mil debt and is turning this over to the RIP thing to absolve the 9000 people of the combined $15 mil debt? Did I get it right?
60k
That is indeed what happened.
I mean it's out of statute so technically they don't owe it anymore, but it's possible that someone else would have bought that debt and harassed them over it hoping that enough of them wouldn't understand what "out of statute" means that they could recoup their costs...
yep
Yup, nailed it on the head.
I used to work at a breakfast diner in Central Louisiana, in which a large number of the people there owed debt. The restaurant was always getting calls from debt collectors. It got to the point where if someone was asked for by name, besides the manager, they were told they weren't there.
That is the nicest thing I've ever seen a show do, all those people who have been struggling with medical debt must be so happy now. Nice one john Oliver and co you have restored my faith in humanity, thank you.
1878 collectors disliked this video.
You think they would busy with the gold rush, or laying down railroads.
Arresting dogs and eating children!
don't forget that some percentage of viewers click on the wrong button if they actually want to like the video
2020 as of today disliked
Who are this people?! Anyone, who dislike this video, please say why!
John Oliver, the kind of dude that appears at your BBQ holding a 12-pack, helps fixing the grill, plays with the kids, throws some solid one liners, compliments Jackie's Salad, cleans the table, washes the dishes and after everyone's leaving pulls out a fine chardonay to enjoy with the Hosts... what an amazing guy!
Who is Jackie?
@@TheKayleeanna I am assuming Diegos wife if I was guessing. This sounds like the voice of experience talking!
@@TheKayleeanna lol!
@@TheKayleeanna you don't know? Only the best salad maker in town!
@@briantyson6138 you don't know? Only the best salad -maker- tosser in town!
fixed
This is still one of my favorite segments he's ever done.
In tears, not even American (I'm very lucky to be an Aussie were this is almost impossible to become an issue) But this has single-handily raised my hope for humanity.
those 588 dislikes must be creditors.
I bet one of them was that fuckhead at 16:27.
Haha
Or people not in Texas.
675 now. Licking their salty wounds.
Or, like Trump says, we should all take advantage of the bankruptcy laws to get rid of debt we can't pay.
John Oliver for President. Yep, you saw it here first people.
nope...born English lol
Okay. John Oliver for Queen.
+Aelevant didn't stop Ted Cruz, who is Canadian
+Jacob Esnard good point
thats more like it.
Research is king; thanks for making it humorous. Thankyou bts all you writers and researchers.
The more of these videos I watch the more I want to just move to Sweden and raise goats
I have a coworker from Sweden and every time he talks about it it makes me want to pack up and head straight there.
dew it
I escaped Sweden. No thanks.
I was about to go to sleep, then I got a notification...
Lol same here
me too.
#addictedtoLastWeekTonight
+jdogwar dido.
lol same
same, and it's 2:40 am rn.... but who needs sleep when there's John Oliver?
$ 80,000 medical fees? 🇨🇦 Don't know what that is like 🇨🇦
;-;
Know what you mean 🇬🇧
🇲🇽Health.... Care...?🇲🇽
exactly🇩🇪
To accumulate 80,000$ in medical bills in my country, you would have to be 3 years nonstop in a hospital.
How the f*** does ANYONE survive in the USA, if the ones that should save your life spend their time throwing you out of the bed?
I used to ride my bike home from work. One night I was hit by a car in a hit and run. When I got in touch with my health insurance they told me I needed to contact the driver's car insurance company. When I explained again that it was a hit and run they told me I needed to contact my car insurance company. When I contacted my car insurance company they said they couldn't help because I was on a bicycle. Got back in touch with my health insurance and they told me there was nothing they could do.
Jokes aside. It was something very amazing that he did at the end.
He didn't have to, but yet he did.
Instead of giving people cars to just show off (some of those might not even be in the need of it), doing this seems a lot more better and beneficial.
Salute to you Mr John Oliver and Team
What happens if someone takes out a massive loan, to found a debt-buying company, to buy their own debt, to have it forgiven?
There's a way to cheat the system.
Damn.
the person ended up payinb for the debt so that means either way you end up with what you started with which is $0 ... so what you said doesn't work
+paperitgel98 paying*
Sounds doable, except for the part where you need to convince your bank to sell the loan.
Im pretty sure it doesn't work like that but what would ik
11:44 *sees state they live in on there*
Shiiiiiiiiiiiitttttt....
cyka blyat
P90 rush B
please lpppp1 LP hi p omlmll
My state wasn't even yellow on the 13:55 map. Yes!
For all the shade he likes to throw on Florida I never see it highlighted in any of his models.
I had a bitter experience with a debt incurred in Houston, Texas. Long story short, After getting pre-authorized, insurance denied payment. My credit rating plummeted, got harassed by multiple agencies and it took nearly 10 years to get out of it. Got to give it to John for such a detailed research - although he laces it with humor. Now, am not in the USA, but this episode got me back the bitter memories.
The best episode ever ! The best tv show . 🙏🙏
As a Mississippian, I concur that the best way to visit Mississippi is over the Internet.
Chris R same
i tough it was by a boat while avoiding being eaten by crocodile or punched by flying Asian fish?
Chris R is it as bad as alabama?
Chris R I’m a Mississippian also and I couldn’t agree more !
Now that's funny.
John Oliver and his kind insist they are not journalists but comedians. I insist John Oliver is a really funny journalist!
South Park is a comedy show that has significant political commentary. Last Week Tonight is a comedy show that has significant political commentary.
+Neo-Mad Dog very true
A very "serious" funny actually more serious than actual journalists !
He uses real information and cites his sources on air, which is more than most major news channels do... so I'm inclined to agree.
For the record, most TV and Radio news outlets cite local newspapers as well as major papers like the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Washington Post in relatively small print in order to avoid detracting from the rest of the show. Although I love John, I don't consider him and Jon Stewart journalists on the basis that they deliver information with a bent on comedy rather than impartially.
My girlfriend had a debt collector come screaming at us from outside our house for 4 hours about a bill we honestly had no idea what he was talking about. We found out the next day the man got my girlfriend mixed up with someone else.
The real question is how do people buy their own debt once the price drops to pennies on the dollar?
holy shit... exactly... why the heck aren't people just doing this... buy your own debt at a lower price
@@emmu2007 It sadly doesnt work like that. You have to "buy" millions in debt to get a better price.
@@chesterra Buy on bulk sort of thing, but with Millions of Dollars.
@@jakechinn6561 Yeah, as far as i understand it, Banks just bundle a bunch of similar debts in a packet and then sell them. Before you (as in the debt buying company) buy the packet you don't even know who is exactly in it.
Wow, some one could make a business out of this. Buy a shit ton of debt, instead of collecting on it, contact people and offer to sell their debt back to them for more than what you paid for it, and less than what they owe. Win win.
John Oliver's show has really gone downhill ever since he became the queen of daytime talk. He's such a diva now.
+TheGoldfish
joke
your head
Hee-hee!
Goldfish ... 20:35
Yeah, but in the UK, that's like 5 in the morning. Checkmate.
1.) Buy your own debt if you're in a state that doesn't require a license to purchase debt
2.) Never collect on yourself
Thats a great Lifehack, Get a huge debt, dont pay it, then buy your own debt for pennies on the dollar. But can you really locate your debt on the whole mess.
3.) Wait for it to expire the statutory limitations, resell it again and ignore their collection efforts. Even cheaper credit.
+Randall Lacombe
Well, being in debt means that you don't have any money to spare (among other things).
So... how in the world are you gonna buy a debt package then? With unicorn blood?
Do you think debt packages are free or something?
Debt packages may be sold for a tiny fraction of the total debt amount, sure, but we're talking millions of dollars here... a tiny fraction of that debt would still constitute a fortune most people don't have (let alone people who are already in debt).
Can you buy a single persons debt. It would be really worth looking into. Also if I was American I would make sure to always keep records of debt payments in case they try to collect on something I already paid.
You can't just buy one person's debt, especially not your own. They sell debt in batches.
this kind of generosity and good-natured stunt (even if it's to show up oprah) is why Eat Shit Bob was allowed to happen
Don’t always agree with Oliver but his heart and where he puts his resources makes him some I will always support , disagreeing on things happens but truly good people will always get my support.
This man is a fucking treasure.
indeed
well it's actually his writers and researchers... these aren't his words, hes just sharing them with us.
+Grant Meister seriously? do you know how john stewarts crew works? that lives through john Oliver toi
bet ya he was the one that put up the money though.
yes haha
Solution: make a Website where people can buy off their own debt for the amount the Bank is willing to sell, plus 10% Fee for Website maintenance.
Edit: John Oliver already did this. Good job!!
LOL c'mon man
Yes, and if you made this a standard practice "credit" would have no value and the economy would collapse. GOOD JOB!!
No, debt buying would have no value. Credit itself wouldn´t lose any value.
TheTheddi - Of course it would, are you serious? If everyone starts taking out loans of $10k, but never pay it back so it gets sold and written off for an eventual value of $3k, $7k just disappeared.
If you don't see how that would crash the entire basis on which credit is built, you're beyond explaining..
***** - Er, yes it can. If I withdraw a $100 from my account and burn the $100 bill. That money was just destroyed and disappeared from rotation.
Sometimes when my depression seems to be getting a little worse, I come back and watch Oliver episodes, because I know all the bad side that he reports on, far too well, though I can certainly be educated better on the specifics, but he does such beautiful things sometimes and really gives back hope.
ALL HAIL QUEEN JOHN THE 1ST OF OLIVES!!!!
"I'm the new queen of daytime talk!" 😂😂😂👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 I love John Oliver!
Maame Danso All hail John Oliver, and his hilarious new regime!
to our mega reverend of the church of our lady of perpetual exemption, praise be..praise be..
Maame Danso John Oliver = Amazing
John Oliver destroys everything in his path yet again...The crown's been passed: he's even better than Jon Stewart because he does satire AND takes serious action, which is a rare combination. Go John Oliver!
How, a dog with handcuffs...he is just a fool. But I do like the topic....This gets old fast.
@@wddlaw Much like this comment bhaha ;)
Side note: What the Funk and Wagnalls are you talking about? Did I miss the bit with the dog and handcuffs -- or is that about some kind of S&M canine fantasy you have that really should've been taken to the grave? Bow Wow, either way. ;)
Agreed, but to be fair, Jon Stewart also took action. He's advocated for 9/11 first responders.
@Ashur Sounds more like he started one thought and began typing and.....talking about another point when something else came to mind but ...... talking like some old person who forgot to take.... but dogs are good.
@@Hermititis To be fair when the OP made his comment 4 years ago Jon Stewart hadn't done that yet. Personally I'm a huge Jon Stewart fan, just figured I'd point out that detail.
He didn't give away 15 million if it was uncollectable. He gave away the information that 15 million wasn't acquireable. Either way John is the queen of daytime.
You joke, but you guys have changed the lives of 9,000 people for the better. As someone who has unpaid medical debt I am watching this in tears that people can have such compassion for others. Not everyone in debt is a piece of shit who is living beyond their means, some of us are just trying to breathe. Well played LastWeekTonight, well played.
He bought expired loans. People were freed from nuisance phones calls from twerps on the phone. You got saved from a phone earache. Mt. Rushmore for John Oliver !
Hello Mer Elizabeth. As a British person I can't understand your situation. How can somebody possibly be charged for lifesaving medical care? Here in the UK anybody, citizen, tourist, illegal immigrant or whatever has the right to free emergency care (road accident, heart attack, stroke, etc.) Why do so may poor US citizens think it's Communism to have such a system?
@@magsgreenslade3132 lol ur no fucking brit. hu u kiddin? even if u r... braggin about free emergency care while trying to portray like ur just inquisitive?? LOL. it's Socialism a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of Communism.. can't figure out the connection of distributed wealth to communism.? I suggest you ....
Read More
.. cos ur getting schooled by an uneducated Filipino.
@@kevintorres7045 You sound a bit paranoid, we have had the National Health Service in the UK since 1948, and we do not appear to be anywhere close to becoming a Communist state. It is no different to paying for armed forces through taxation. We just pay for nurses, doctors and hospitals too.
@@baldfeller I was answering @Mags Greenslade question " Why do so may poor US citizens think it's Communism to have such a system?"
Never said that it would. she's too naive to think that just because it's working in UK that it would work in the US.
80 thousands dollars for 4 days in hospital wtf is wrong with people !!.
Hospitals are GREEDY Terrorists who use unethical practices to collect money
Its a little more complicated... that includes treatments, medications, speciality care, surgery, etc. And what about the people who end up paying nothing... who pays for that... yes it is shared across the bills of the people who can pay...
Is there a better way, yes... what will it take... people working together... sharing true costs... not abusing the system... passing laws that make sense... enforcing laws... volunteering when you can to help reduce costs... understanding that you are also responsible for your health... eating better, getting exercise, taking ownership of you life... reaching out to others... Learning about disease and treatments... No you don't need an antibiotic, it's a viral infection... Did you take ALL of your medication? Did you take it on the schedule prescribed... Do you avoid risky behavior....
Are people going to change? Hmm....
@@DavidBioformRains Wow. I'm sure it's all the fault of the patients that the system is set up to drain them and keep them medicated. I'm sure the patients are responsible for expensive, lousy, unreliable inaccessible healthcare. It's never the fault of the provider, especially when they commit malpractice on their patients.
It's definitely the victim's fault.
@@DavidBioformRains Also, if you were really part of the healthcare field, you would hate it if people constantly prescribe themselves antibiotics or no. That's the decision of the doctor. The last thing any legitimate provider needs is a patient trying to self diagnose via the fucking internet. 99.99% of the time, that does more harm than good.
@@wolfrayne8355 Did I say that... no... it is a complex problem... and yes, I have sat beside patients when they passed, I have worked in the ER, I have performed CPR on patients... I served in the US foe 20 years... I worked in the clinical laboratory... I do have some experience and knowledge of the field. Like I said it is a complex problem, it takes all of us getting involved, at all levels... making blanket statements like what I was responding to is venting... Healthcare is a demanding field of work, some of the most dedicated people I have ever met are dedicated to this field...
Don't always agree with John's proposed policies, but his investigations are the best in the media.
john is a two-bit comedian!!
Hip, hip hooray. Wishing good health to all those people who are now debt freed.
The thing I love about John Oliver is that he can talk the talk, but when it's time to make a change - he fucking does it!