I was a female debt collector and had to chase people for £1 – mortifying incident in man's flat made me quit

The Sun

4 days ago

A FORMER debt collector has revealed the bizarre incident in a man's flat that led her to quit the profession.
Lynne Cavanagh, 46, rounded up outstanding payments of as little as £1 from clients around Glasgow.
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The mum of three, who has also worked jobs in private care and cleaning, said she "got to know" all her customers because she did the same rounds every week.
She was always invited into people's homes - but thought nothing of it until one awkward visit.
In a recent TikTok post (@lynnelxx), she said: "I used to do the debt collecting years ago. You'd go and you'd collect people's money every week.
"It could be like a fiver or £1 or whatever. You give them money, you give them loans.
"Everybody invites you in. You're never ever doing that at the door because people don't want people to know and hand out their money at doors and fill in slips and all that.
"So you're always invited into people's houses, which I never ever thought as being a danger or weird until this scenario."
She continued: "There was this one guy I used to go to all the time and he stayed in an upstairs flat.
"He's either out the back sunbathing or he's arguing with the neighbours, there was always something.
"But this one day I went to his door and he came to the door with a housecoat on and it was one of the satin things. It was strange."
The house call only got more awkward when mortified Lynne realised what her client was watching on the telly.
I'm in £15k worth of debt but STILL have TWO gardeners - people might judge me but they are an essential and a godsend
And despite inviting her in to sit in the living room, the brazen gent didn't turn the TV off.
"You can hear moaning and groaning, if you know what I mean?" Lynne cringed.
"I can't even tell you. I just didn't want to even look anywhere.
"He's still got his Pornhub channel on, but way back then, I don't even think that's what it was [called].
"And they're at it there, right? So there's a good few of them on the telly, and they're all screaming and moaning, andand I'm like 'f***, £4, you owe me, right?'.
"He's blethering away, but as he's sitting down, his nightgown's sort of opening, you can see he's a bit excited.
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"I literally was like 'oh, you need to turn that down, it's too noisy' and he's like 'oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, forgot that was on'."
She continued: "I don't know if I was fearing for my life, but it was that kind of situation, you're thinking you just want out it very, very quickly, and you don't know how to get out it without causing offence."
Lynne admits that the incident was "forgotten about like it didn't happen" by her next visit, but put doubts in her mind about her job.
"You've no idea how much my heart was beating, and how the rest of my run that night just did not go that great, because I was just thinking 'f***'.
"And then after that, I started thinking is it safe to go into people's houses? Because we just automatically walk in, and they know when we're coming."
Not long after, Lynne's manager got a tip off that she was going to be ambushed while walking to one of her jobs.
She said: "So then, after that, I sort of gave up the debt collecting, because I just thought, I don't know if this is that safe for me to do on my own."
How to shift your credit card debt quickly
By James Flanders, Consumer Reporter
UK Finance reports that we spend a whopping £2 billion a month using our credit cards.
While that little strip of plastic makes everyday spending easy peasy, it comes at a huge cost.
According to The Money Charity, the average credit card debt sits at £2,485 per household or £1,312 per adult.
And if you're stuck on a credit card with a high APR and only making the minimum repayments, you could be forking out hundreds of pounds extra in interest charges.
For example, if you owe £1,312 on your credit card and are charged 24.8% APR.
If you don't make any more transactions and pay £100 a month in repayments, you will pay off the card by September 2025 but at £207 in interest.
However, by hunting around for a better deal elsewhere and switching to a balance transfer credit card with a lengthy interest-free period, you can save yourself £162.
If the same person was accepted for a 28-month-long zero-interest credit card with a 3.4% balance transfer fee and made the same £100 repayments each month.
They would pay off the debt sooner, in July 2025, and only fork out £45 towards the 3.4% balance transfer fee.
Before taking out a new credit card or increasing the amount you borrow, it's vital to consider the consequences.
You should only borrow money if you can afford to pay it back.
It's always vital to ask yourself if you need to borrow before committing to a new credit card, personal loan or overdraft.
If you use a credit card, I'd recommend that you always pay off your balance in full at the end of each statement period.
Lenders have a responsibility to help customers who are in debt.
If you're in a debt crisis, your first point of call should be your lender.
They might help you out by offering you a reduced interest rate or a temporary payment holiday - so check in with your lender if you're struggling.