Bonnie Walls fell into a spiral of unpaid debt after her husband died in 2022 and she lost his income.
Bills for cancer treatment and dental implants piled up as she struggled to get by on her reduced retirement income. Walls lives in Scappoose and worked for 35 years in a paintbrush factory in Portland. She’s had two knee replacements and cannot work.
At 75, she’s hounded daily by calls from debt collectors. She cannot file for bankruptcy because then she would have to sell her manufactured home to pay off debts.
“I didn’t have any options,” Walls said in an interview with the Capital Chronicle. “All I have is Social Security, and they can’t take that. It’s very stressful.”
Walls is among the 16% of Oregonians who have debt in collections, a group of 680,000 people who could benefit if Oregon lawmakers pass House Bill 2008. The bill, discussed Thursday in the House Rules Committee, would offer more protections to people who are paying off debt, shielding more of their property, wages and assets from garnishments and court-ordered seizures.
The bill would:
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