My brother has been posting some really hardcore anti-capitalist stuff on social media for the past year along with a lot of inaccurate Bernie Sanders supporters memes. This has led to quite a bit of friction between us, because ever since discovering frugalism and anti-consumerism about seven years ago, my life has changed from hand-to-mouth, paycheck-to-paycheck subsistence living to property ownership, debt-slaying, hardcore investing, and strong embrace of capitalism.
A couple of days ago, I got a call from a mysterious number on my cell phone, which I allowed to go to voicemail because I don't immediately answer for callers I don't know. The voicemail indicated that they wanted to talk to me about my brother. I looked up the phone number online and apparently it's a student loan collection agency that likes to harass family members of debtors.
I knew my brother wasn't doing great. He recently got kicked out of my parents' house after living there rent-free for years. He has a college degree in audiology that he isn't using. He's been wasting his adult life working in a hotel for low wages. I had no idea, though, that he had screwed up his credit by defaulting on his student loans.
We grew up in poverty and nobody except for myself and one older brother has any idea how to handle money. I contacted my brother and offered to give him a rundown of how to fix his credit and get back on track financially, but he has ignored my messages. I'm feeling pretty frustrated, because I am an expert in these matters and I know exactly what he needs to do to improve his life, but I can't seem to get through to him.
Anybody have any advice here? He's my brother and I don't want to give up on him when he's suffering and I also don't want to be getting collection calls for his debts.