When I was laid off last December, my thoughts traveled like a bullet train to a dark future. After I exhausted my severance (which would take about 15 minutes), I would be unable to pay my bills, ...

(MoneyWatch) Thousands of Americans are sent to jail not for committing a crime, but because they can't afford to pay for traffic tickets, medical bills and court fees. If that sounds like a debtors' ...

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed a lower-court decision allowing debtors to "strip off" underwater second liens in Chapter 7 bankruptcy, saying precedent required it to keep such mortgage claims intact ...

When collecting judgments, one of the most powerful tools for creditors is running a credit report on the debtor, since the credit report will show where the debtor has applied for credit or opened ...

As if out of a Charles Dickens novel, people struggling to pay overdue fines and fees associated with court costs for even the simplest traffic infractions are being thrown in jail across the United ...

Although debtors' prisons are illegal across the country, it's becoming increasingly common for people to serve jail time as a result of their debt. Collection agencies are resorting to some unusually ...

Editor’s note: This is the third in a collaborative series with the R Street Institute exploring conservative approaches to criminal justice reform. Those hypotheticals may sound far-fetched, but for ...

Last week, an Amarillo attorney released documents that he said showed the city jailed disabled people simply because they were unable to pay municipal fines. According to the Amarillo Globe-News, the ...