Joann Foley

Last week I stopped by to visit a very good friend, Teresa, and have coffee.  We do this on a weekly basis so we can catch up on what has been happening in our day to day lives.  With both of us working full time and with her children, time seems to slip away quickly, so we figure if we make a “coffee date” each week, and set aside the time, it will allow us to keep in touch.

While we were having our weekly “date”, her telephone rang.  After checking her caller ID, she did not pick up the phone, and let it go to the answering machine.  Whoever it was, did not leave a message.  After about an hour, her phone rang again.  Again, she did not answer.  I asked her why she was not answering the phone and she replied, “It is just a debt collector”.  They  call here at least 5 or six times a day.  I got tired of the calls and just quit answering.  She said that they even call her at work!!!

She then explained that for the past 3 years either she or her husband had been unemployed (which I knew about) and had fallen behind in credit card payments.  They had actually quit paying altogether.  It was a choice of either paying the rent, utilities and putting food on the table, or paying the credit card bills.  She asked me how to stop debt collectors from harassing her all the time.

I told her about a story that I had caught a glimpse of one day on the news, and told her to visit the website.  The story was about unfair debt collection practices.  So, we looked it up together on the Internet and found out that under the law, a debt collector cannot call you repeatedly, call you a inconvenient times or places and several other things that neither she or I were aware of.