Phew, that's really crass 🤢😰. I don't think that was just Christmas gifts, I can't imagine. She wrote "and ended up spending over $10,000 all up". It's easy to overlook spending, but that amount is pretty high for a short time, there must have been debt before or broken furniture or car, I think. But I really feel sorry for the kids and the wife, because that's going to be really expensive when it's forwarded to collection agencies and that can have severe consequences. This happened to me once when I forgot to pay a bill and didn't read emails. Now the mother has dragged her children into it and maybe they will all be afraid when is knocked or the doorbell is rung. I think the best solution is for the mother to contact the company herself. The company and the mother could work out what amount would be possible each month. Then she should buy only what is really needed and buy discounted things without affecting the children. This probably happens once in her life, but it happens to the next person who hasn't had this experience and isn't aware of it through other experiences. I know these letters, yesterday I got one "Make your life easy. 5000,-- Euro at your free disposal , it costs only 99,-- Euro per month" 😂. Maybe you do not read the fine print?
It is the kind of debt that'll take years to pay off. I have no idea what her previous circumstances were (the article didn't say) but I would assume that if a person acts like that, they probably weren't good. In Australia, the loaning agent is meant to make sure the person has adequate means to pay back, but what is "adequate" might not consider much.
I am really tired of getting SMSs for shitty loan services. I feel I am on some list saying, this person wants to be in debt.
Don't worry, it's not bad if you get this SMS for shitty loan services. I think I am also on the list and in the Schufa. I had a couple of shopping cards where I could always pay with any another card, and although I always had the money for it that I really needed, it was expensive fun overall. But now I've drastically reduced and almost everything gone. If you can do it, it doesn't matter. The lenders also somehow want to survive 😉😅