Can you go to jail for not paying your debt?

[murph]

I never thought so, until I read this article:

The Return Of Debtor's Prisons: Thousands Of Americans Jailed For Not Paying Their Bills | ThinkProgress


has anyone heard about this? Is this concerning to anyone?

[MissSeetonFan]

This is somewhat concerning. People are not necessarily being put in jail for failure to pay but for the "contempt of court" shown when you don't appear.

Of course, collections agencies can file in whatever state they want to, not necessarily in the one you live in. So summonses may never show up because they just have to post it in the local paper which you will never read. Ordinarily, that resulted in default judgements for the collections agency. But it looks like it is turning into a semi-criminal thing for not appearing now.

Dave Ramsey talks about the judgements all the time but I haven't heard anyone address the contempt of court and arrests based on that.