My previous articles on unfair or unethical collection practices drew a lot of reactions and rejoinders from my readers. I really know that the debtor here is not entirely the victim per se- I know that, I get that. But, there are "rules of engagement" set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) that protects the basic rights of debtors. I took the liberty of reprinting part of her email (it was really long) to let it out in the open the unfair or unethical collection practices being employed by some collection agencies - you be the judge! I purposely put an XXXX to the names to be also fair to her and to the other parties.
"Hi Mr. Limtingco, I was able to read your article and XXXXX's story while I was trying to research on unfair collection practices and BSP's email address over the internet. I am also a debtor and I was not able to pay for several months. A few months ago, my unemployed father got broke and stopped his financial support to us. Being the only person working in the family, I'm the only one handling all the expenses from the rent, utility bills, food, mama's medication, etc. I had a loan from XXXXX and I'll no longer be very detailed in my story but someone started contacting me about two weeks ago. He said his name is XXXXXX. He called me almost everyday in the office and he was very rude and arrogant. I can even consider his tone very threatening. I tried to negotiate with him and was even to get hold of his email XXXXXXX and contact number XXXXXX. I tried to explain myself but he did not understand my situation. If I remember it right, he told me that..."we'll file a criminal case against you", "responsibilidad mo to! delaying tactics mo lang yan e!" "mapapahiya ka diyan sa opisina mo, makukulong ka, mawawalan ka pa ng trabaho!" "hindi mo makakaila na pinagtataguan mo kami!". Those were just some of the harsh words he tells me whenever he calls. My officemates would comfort me because I was so stressed out already".
"On September 21, 2010, I was not in my desk almost the whole day since I was administering exams and initial interviews for the applicants (this is the nature of my job in HR). My officemate informed me that XXXXX called a few times that day. I said, I would just get back to him the next day but on the following day September 22, 2010, I received a text message from an unregistered number XXXXX and the exact message was: "MS XXXX ON D WAY N HO UNG MGA TAO PKHRAPAN NLNG,. MSYADO K MTIGAS EH!!!!! It was followed by 2 separate text messages from XXXXX which says: "Singkita at Mata itong suspect,puntahanan nyo na bka matakasan p kyo" (this is the exact text I received but to correct it, ("Singkit and mata nitong sus-pect, puntahan niyo na at baka matakasan pa kayo.") "Mataba yung katawan, kpag nakita nyo puntahan nyo at arestuhn".
The reader's complete story (or agony) and my advice and several related matters will be continued and discussed next week. (to be continued)
For comments, rejoinders and questions on credit & collection, call or text 0917-7220521 or email at
elimtingco@yahoo.com