First Round

Via Occupy Wall Street, and as reported by Village Voice blogs, Strike Debt and the Rolling Jubilee have mailed out the first round of loan forgiveness letters, in this case, abolishing the distressed medical debt of 44 people in upstate New York.  The letters arrive in gift packages (in case recipients avoid official looking letters) and read, in part:

Season's Greetings From Strike Debt!

We write with good news: the above referenced account has been purchased by the Rolling Jubilee Fund, a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization. The Rolling Jubilee Fund is a project of Strike Debt. The mission of this project is to buy and abolish personal debt. We believe that no one should have to go into debt for the basic things in our lives, like healthcare, housing, and education.

You no longer owe the balance of this debt. It is gone, a gift with no strings attached. You are no longer [under] any obligation to settle this account with the original creditor, the bill collector, or anyone else.

The Rolling Jubilee website, at the time of this posting, shows 491,078 dollars raised to eliminate 9,826,382 dollars of distressed debt.  This first round reportedly spends roughly 5,000 to forgive 100,000 in the nation's out-of-control abusive medical billing practices, and in this case (whether it's the group's intent or not), targeting an economically hard-hit area the Public Policy Institute Of New York State now compares to Appalachia. 


Photo above/Courtesy of The Village Voice Blogs/photographer: Nick Pinto/Strike Debt activists pose with debt abolition packages and copies of their free online publication, The Debt Resister's Operation Manual.