Also, this thread was originally prompted by the idea that it would be good for borrowers if they could get a right of first refusal on any resale of their debt. There's a question of whether more selective lending is in the best interests of such borrowers.
As much as being in debt sucks, many of these borrowers would prefer to be in debt than not have had access to borrowed money in the first place. Moreover, this would make life harder certain borrowers who would pay back their debt but can't get a loan because they fall within whatever statistical grouping or heuristic lenders are using to minimize their losses.
>There's a question of whether more selective lending is in the best interests of such borrowers.
It's kind of odd to question whether it's in the best interest of borrowers. I mean, we're talking about the people who clearly cannot pay their debt and thus need it reduced. So, more selective lending would disqualify them and prevent them from getting in over their heads again.
>many of these borrowers would prefer to be in debt than not have had access to borrowed money in the first place.
Again, that's odd. We're not just talking about being OK with debt. We're talking about being so far in debt that they cannot pay. Why should they continue to have easy access to borrowed money? Their preferences aside, that doesn't really work for anyone under any system (including the current).
>this would make life harder certain borrowers who would pay back their debt but can't get a loan because they fall within whatever statistical grouping or heuristic lenders are using to minimize their losses.
The only case that this makes sense for is the case of people borrowing money to access medical services (as per the original article). Though people shouldn't have to get into debt that they have no hope of repaying to access medical services. That's a problem with the health system, not something that fall under the debt market. Ultimately it seems that if you don't pay for health services through taxes, then you pay for it through other means (e.g. paying higher interest rates to the banks when you take out a loan to buy your house)