problem with ex-helper's debt

I thought we had a great relationship with our ex-helper (in another thread I was asking about the visa requirements for bringing her daughter to visit this Xmas) - but it turns out she was actually lying to us. I'm so disappointed. Our helper has been working for another employer for almost a month and during that time we have been receiving letters from a credit agency to her (using our address and phone number) demanding payment for a debt she took out. When we first got a letter, we called her to tell her she'd received something but when she heard it was from a credit agency, she almost hung up the phone and now doesn't really accept our calls. We've since received 4 more letters and now people are calling our house looking for her. We've explained she doesn't live here anymore and that we are no longer her employers but this hasn't stopped the letters and calls. As I said, she is working for another employer now - am I legally responsible for my ex-helper's debt still? I'm thinking of trying to trick the number of the new employer out of our ex-helper so we can go to the new employer with this info, but I'm wondering how I can get the ex-helper to pay the debt. Do I have any legal recourse if I have her HKID and the phone number of the new employer?

I paid more than minimum wage, didn't overwork my helper and in fact rescued her from a terrible previous employer, was planning to bring her daughter to visit her as a gift, and she meanwhile did this to us. Wow.

First of all her debt is not your obligation. You just have to find a way to deal with the collector. Search other threads in this site how others did it.

As punter says you have no obligation. When someone calls on the phone or in person, insist on taking their name, the name of their company and their phone number. Politely tell them that if they keep calling you will report them to the police for harassment. That should end it.

if i was going to be sneaky and evil about it - i would give the new address and contact number of the helper to the money lending guys or forward the letters to the new address.


if i was the new employer, i would want to know sooner not later that my new househelp has issues. so i would appreciate a call from the previous employer regarding this so i can take action immediately. but that's me.

Agree with you Wizbang, but if delran has no contact details for the ex-helper, couldn't she just pile all the letters into an envelope and take them to IMM with the ex-helpers HK id number and name,maybe they will pass them on to the new employer, maybe even get a letter from someone at IM to say that you are no longer the employer- don't know if that is possible.To the ones who phone do as Axpat guy suggests.

Deliran (OP) don't trust any other helpers until they have proved themself over a long period, it sounds like you have been very kind and your helper has taken advantage of this.

I had a very similar situation with my ex-helper with regards to debt and calls from collection agencies. The way I solved the problem was to offer to fax the collector the letter I received from Immigration acknowledging the termination of my helpers contract and the date of the contract termination. As soon as I faxed these official details all the calls stopped and all the agencies I dealt with were happy with that. I think once they have in writing from Immigration that the helper no longer works for you and no longer resides at your address then job done. My ex-helper had numerous debts with numerous agencies and all were satisfied with the faxes. I did black out our name and address before faxing but as your helper has clearly used these details to secure the loans that might be a bit irrelevant!!!