Posted by
pompom
19 yrs ago
Can anybody offer me advice. I have a good helper who has been with my family for years, however, she is being pursued by a debt collection company that is abusive and persistent. My helper insists she has repaid the loan, but she has no documentation to prove this. I have tried asking the collectors to not call my home number and have asked them to subpoena her to the small claims tribunal, but still they persist. How can I get rid of these people.
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In my case, my DH WAS the loan shark. Then she got into some disputes with others and they were calling my home to harrass me so that I fire her. I gave my DH a written warning that I will have to terminate her if any more calls from her friends/enemy come to my home number and phone calls miraculously stopped from the next day. My advice to you is; your DH may not be telling you the whole story. There might be more to what she is telling you. Don't get involved or even sympathise with her but give her a written notice stating that you may have no choice but to terminate her unless phone calls to your home are stopped and see what happens.
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Thanks, good advice, though I feel nervous about threatening to terminate her as we are in the process of getting her relative over from the Philippines and from past experience it is very difficult to find a helper willing to work for someone with 4 small kids. Anyone out there have 2 great helpers to recommend?
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I would not tolerate this kind of hassle. Issue a written warning and give her 3 days to fix it up or else tell her that she will be fired. No mercy.
You wouldnt want your kids to be molested because of your helper's debt, would you? You know what these collectors are up to.
I believe you can always get legal part time helper, or you may ask your relatives / friends to help out until you find a suitable helper.
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Pompom, helpers who are first time coming out from their own country are prepared to work harder. Try other nationalities too if you can.
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DH101
19 yrs ago
I agree with you Oceanview, the helper not telling the whole story. The collector won't stop calling unless she pays them. Your helper refuse to pay the collecting agency, so the best thing they can do is keep calling your home and piss you off until you fired your helper. They can't subpoena her or bring it to small claim tribunal for some reason. Collecting agency are happy to see her terminated as the payment.
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Is there any merit in getting the police involved? COnstantly calling my home is harrassment.
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CCCMN
19 yrs ago
Maybe tell your DH that if it doesn't stop in 7 days, you'll call the police. If they haven't stopped - do it. It probably won't resolve the issue with your amah & them, but they'll probably leave YOU & your telephone line out of it.
On your end, document the calls. The times they call, the duration, anything threatening they say. etc..etc..
police need 'solid' information to work with.
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Another scenario to consider
When maids take out loans they have to have two guarantors. What happens is that three maids go together - (usually those in the know or who intend to do a runner recruit new arrivals or relatives). All three take out a loan shared between them and act as each others guarantees. This is fine, maid no 1 pays back all her money, however often either maid no 2 or maid no 3 gets fired or simply leaves Hong Kong owing the money - repayments are then not made and the guarantors) are chased by the bank / loan sharks to repay the other share of the money.
I have been in similar position. Spoke to caller (who was very offensive and insisted I had the responsibility to pay on behalf of the maid and then deduct it from her salary.
Dont go down this route or even discuss this option. Just ignore their demands, tell them you are recording their calls and the content (their threatening behaviour) and compiling a report which will be handed to hand to the police and telephonme company so that the callers ID can be identified and further action will be taken.
Interestingly enough in my case the banks / loan sharks employed Philippinos to make these threatening calls.
In my case it worked. The calls stopped, however the families in the Philippines then recieved letters and calls.
Just a suggestion - You have said your maid is of long standing and honest and reliable - rather than getting rid of her as some have suggested why not try to find out more information and see if you can help protect her if its really not her share of the debt that is in dispute.
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Thanks Maryland, that was very interesting and insightful. I will do exactly as you suggested. The loan sharks/bank here have philippinos calling also.
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Excuse my ignorance but what is a "block the blocker"?
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Block the blocker is blocking unidentified numbers but it didn't work in my case. Because callers were using some phone card numbers and kept on switching the number they were calling from. One mistake I made was I deleted nasty messages they left on my voice mail. Make sure to keep them and record all calls.
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I think this is a lesson for many people here- we made it quite clear that our helper was not to borrow money from anyone else except us, nor to lend money to any one and not to go guarantor for anyone otherwise they would be fired on the spot when we found out.
It gave her an easy out when people asked for money (no - I will be fired) or to go guarrantor.
We had a DH in church who had gone guarantor for someone and got left with the loan - my husband went into the loan agency and renegiated the loan for her - did not pay it off - they tend to listen to white males who constatnly refer to their lawyer's advise. These companies charge over 52% a year in interest and at times the loans get so hard to repay the DH just drop the ball.
After many years of experience with DH in church I have come to the comclusion they have no clue about money, budgeting and loans (and interest) - it is very clear why the Philippines is in such a poor state.
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what does that mean Sabi?
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you say your "good helper" has been with you for many years. annoying as the calls must be, surely you could try and help her? loan sharks are unscrupulous people, it's possible they have no legitimate reason to be harrassing her.
Why not follow in Dimac4's footsteps and speak to the loan agency on her behalf?
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Bumpydog, this is not the first time it has happened and yes my husband has in the past renegotiated loans for her. However, we said we would not get involved again. I really just wanted to know if anyone else had expereince with these collection agencies and what tack they used. Thanks to everyone for their advice.
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