Just got news that a client of mine died. She was a client in that she owed for a student loan. I feel so bad! We were in contact with her through an elderly aunt who tried to pay on the account. The aunt had let us know last year that the client was fresh out of jail and living at Salvation Army. She (the aunt) was trying so hard to make it easy for Client to make her way back to society and away from drugs. But she didnt make it. I tailored the letters I sent to the Client to sound as unharsh as possible. I wanted them to say hey you owe this; hang in there which is impossible to pull off in a collection letter. For me it is anyway. I have to write the aunt for a death certificate. Hopefully that one will sound professional but genuinely sorry for the loss.

I know someone who is on the brink of losing their life to drugs and alcohol. It sucks. There is nothing anyone can do. If you lock them up it will only prolong the situation. They have to hit "bottom" to see the light but sometimes that bottom is death. This person has been to rehab after rehab and jail and AA and moved back with Mom and Dad and then out again and...

horrible situation...even for the bill collector.

I used to work in rehab. Addicts have the deck stacked against them in so many ways.

One thing that seems to help is radical change. Moving somewhere new, getting a 3rd shift job. You have to redo all your patterns that way and that gives you a head start on the addiction.