My Collection Agency Experience

by Terry
(Berwick, Pa., U.S.A.)

I am a mother raising her own children and now my grand children. My grandchildren are ages 3, 6, and, 8 years.
I am presently on disability with social security. Prior to this I was always a worker. I worked an average of 80 to 120 hrs. a week. I got divorced and needed money to raise my children alone.

Suddenly, I had an accident at work. I was hurt badly and was unable to work. I refinanced my house in an attempt to start over again with no debt. It wasn't long before I had to start using my credit cards to help cover expenses with the children.

I did my best to keep up with my bills, but sometimes my schedule would get ahead of me and I would be late. Unfortunately, when you start having a late payment history, it is an uphill climb.

I felt terrible. I was depressed, afraid to answer the phone, for fear it was a collection agency. I knew I had to do something. The hole I was digging myself, was getting bigger and bigger. Finally, I answered. To my surprise, I was talking to someone that spoke positive and asked if they could help by arranging a payment.

I was not made to feel bad. They worked with me to figure out how to pay one monthly payment. The next time they called, I knew it was okay to answer the call. This time we talked about setting up a 3 payments in a row. The calls continued and before I knew it, I was steadily breaking down my debt wall. I think there are a lot of people like me. They want to be responsible, but don't know where to begin.