Bad paper : inside the secret world of debt collectors / Jake Halpern.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Halpern, Jake, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Finance, Personal.

Consumer credit.

Collecting of accounts.

Collection agencies.

Physical Description:

240 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First Picador edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Picador, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015.

Summary:

"The Federal Trade Commission receives more complaints about rogue debt collecting than it does about any activity besides identity theft. In Bad Paper, journalist Jake Halpern reveals why. He tells the story of Aaron Siegel, a former banking executive, and Brandon Wilson, a former armed robber, who become partners and go in quest of "paper"-the uncollected debts that are sold off by banks for pennies on the dollar. As Aaron and Brandon learn, the world of consumer debt collection is an unregulated shadowland, where operators often make unwarranted threats and even collect debts that are not theirs."--Cover page 4.

"Frequent New Yorker contributor Jake Halpern investigates the shadowy, unregulated world of consumer debt collection, focusing on an unlikely friendship between a former banking executive and former armed robber who go in search of "paper," spreadsheets of uncollected debt sold off by banks for pennies on the dollar."--Publisher information.

Contents:

Stolen numbers : The $14 million gamble ; The king of crap ; The package ; Bad paper

Paper hunters : Aaron's problem ; Brandon's people ; Scoring in Vegas

The last collectors : Taking control of assets ; The white man's dope ; Georgia.

Notes:

Published in hardback as: Bad paper : chasing debt from Wall Street to the underworld / Jake Halpern. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-237).

ISBN:

1250076331

9781250076335

OCLC:

897776055

Online:

Cover image