Business is hard in 2023. The economy sucks, I just became a new mom, and we fell behind on a couple payments on an equipment loan we’ve had for almost three years now. During this period, I was also struggling with mental health issues, more specifically debilitating anxiety, which I am now on prescription medication for. This is in no way excusing any of our faults, and we have since made payments and arrangements with the creditor to bring us back to speed.

In attempts to collect payment from us, this bank called us every single day starting at one month late, which, although was extremely annoying, I believe is legal. However, they also sent us intimidating text messages: pictures of our licenses captioned “I would call us back now.”, threatening to contact our friends, families, and any known employers. The last straw for me was when I logged into my business’ Facebook page and saw that a woman, who’s name I did not recognize and had never spoken to, left a comment on EVERY SINGLE post with MY name and the banks name about the “delinquent balance” and how “ignoring them will not make it go away.”

I have tried searching online for advice on how to handle this and whether this is even legal or not, but the information is obscure and hard to find. I figured Reddit is full of brighter individuals that may be more helpful in the meantime while I try to scour the internet for any tiny bits of help. I have also temporarily deactivated our Facebook page to preserve evidence if needed.

Please be mindful, I’m not making excuses or looking for folks to rain on my situation. Life is hard.