Students Pushed Into Hallway As New Zealand School Struggles To Collect
Students in a certain part of New Zealand, Whangarei may have to learn in a hallway or refused entry to particular subjects if their parents do not pay compulsory course fees. Whangarei Boys High School headmaster Al Kirk alleges about $10,000 is owed from last year.
Unlike donations to the school that are on a voluntary basis, course fees are mandatory for subjects with considerable take-home items, like tools for technology or photography. The school’s plan of action is to single out students who have not yet paid, teaching them in a hall until the debt is settled.
Not surprisingly, the plan has been met with condemnation from the New Zealand Education Ministry, but headmaster Kirk alleges that parents who are “really” unable to pay fees can speak to the school about payment options, and after all, a budget group is available to give the parents advice.
But Mr. Kirk feels as like the problem is more from parents who purposely don’t pay because they think education should be free of charge- high school education has not been free of charge since the 1960s. The school used the same scheme in 2008 and 90 to 98 percent of parents paid immediately, according to Kirk.
Obviously, this plan has its nay-sayers. “The fact that this school would single out students who have nothing to do with their parent’s money, it’s unthinkable” says Michael J Koopmans, education expert.
Local critics have made a point to say that there are many ways to collect the legitimate charges: re-payment plans, or as a last resort, a third party debt collection agency could deal with the parents who won’t pay. Headmaster Kirk says that it would not be cost efficient to utilize a debt collection company.
This is an issue for other schools in the area as well. One local school is thinking about not allowing a student to take a course that their parents cannot pay for. “It’s a huge problem that has to be carefully and critically addressed,” says Michael J Koopmans. “We don’t do that lightly.
Mallory McGuinness works for a debt collection agency. She also writes stories on business and finance, consumer spending and collection agencies. This article, Students Pushed Into Hallway As New Zealand School Struggles To Collect is released under a creative commons attribution licence.
Phony Debt Consolidation Schemes To Be On The Lookout For: Part One
If you are being inundated with phone calls from debt collectors demanding money, and advertisements that blare “get out of debt now,” debt settlement and debt consolidation businesses might be looking pretty good right now. With debt settlement and consolidation centers, you combine your debts and pay a portion of the total. However, many of these businesses might be just too good to be true.
Any debt consolidation place that seeks to satisfy your debt for “cents on the dollar” should be considered dubious. After all, it is difficult, near to impossible to make and keep a promise like that without being aware of the details of how long you have owed the money, how much money you owe, and to which creditors. These debt consolidation companies aren’t aware of your past payment history. They don’t know what creditor you owe. Also, each person has different assets that can be used to satisfy their own debts. You can never make a blanket statement.
Debt settlement centers that promise that you will be free from debt in three months should additionally be taken with a grain of salt. Again, the center is not aware of how much debt you owe, or who you owe it to. Additionally, some obligations, such as student loans, child support and back taxes cannot be covered in a debt settlement plan.
Companies that claim that you can not obtain help without paying an upfront fee or deposit may be less than reputable. While some debt consolidation businesses may accept an upfront fee of as little as fifty dollars, generally, the person in debt pays the debt settlement company a percentage of the debt owed, often fifteen percent, for negotiating the deal.
Generally, the firm will negotiate a payment between you and the businesses and people you know and will accumulate enough money to make that payment. The debt settlement company will hold on to the money until you reach the settlement amount. To Be Continued…
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Declaring Bankruptcy: Automatic Stay And How It Protects You From Creditors
U.S. Bankruptcy Code imposes something called an automatic stay the moment that a petition for bankruptcy is filed. The automatic stay will typically prevent the enforcement, commencement, or appeal of actions and judgments against a debtor from the creditors they owe money to who are trying to collect these debts incurred prior to the bankruptcy petition. The automatic stay also protects property of the bankruptcy estate itself from collection actions and proceedings.
Any action that a creditor might take that violates the automatic stay will be voided out. Any violation of the stay might cause the violating party to have damages assessed to them. But, like every complicated law, there are exceptions. A creditor might be allowed to take their collateral if they obtain permission from the court first. They will get this by filing a motion for relief from the automatic stay.
The court will either grant the motion or provide security to the creditor, ensuring that the value of their collateral won’t decrease during the stay. Without the protection of the automatic stay creditors could hypothetically race to the courthouse in order to improve their positions against a debtor. If this happened, and let’s say that a debtor’s business was facing just a temporary crunch, it might not survive a “run” by creditors when their business could otherwise be salvaged. A run may also result in waste and it might be unfair to similar creditors that are owed money too.
There are three kinds of avoidance actions, and all of these attempt to limit the risk of the legal system encouraging the downfall of a financially unstable debtor who hasn’t declared bankruptcy yet. The bankruptcy system will typically reward creditors who continue extending financing to debtors and will discourage creditors from ramping up their debt collection efforts.
Despite the seemingly simple nature of these rules, a couple of exceptions exist in the context of each category of avoidance action.
Mallory Megan works for a debt collection agency. She also writes articles on business, finance, consumer spending, and collection agencies. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service