On June 5th, 2016, John Oliver, the host of HBO's Last Week Tonight, made a media splash when he forgave $15 million dollars in debt. He was using this forgiveness to show how wicked debt buying and debt collection has become. But nonetheless, he forgave $15 million in debt by setting up a company called CARP (Central Asset Recovery Professionals) so he could purchase the massive debt at the price of $.004 for every dollar of debt—at a total cost of $60,000.

"Purchasing the debt would give CARP the names, current addresses, Social Security numbers, and amount owed (or previously owed, as the statute of limitations had expired) for nearly 9,000 individuals." He had every right to go knocking on everyone's door or make calls and collect the debt he just purchased. Instead, he abolished the debt and sent it to RIP Medical Debt. This makes John Oliver the TV personality with the "largest one-time giveaway in television history," beating out Oprah Winfrey.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Remind you of anyone else who paid a tremendous debt?

Source:

Chris Morran, “John Oliver Buys $15M In Medical Debt, Then Forgives It,” Consumerist (6-6-16)