A New York couple is haunted by calls from credit agencies wanting to collect debt their dead son owed.
Roco and Laurie Crimeni's 27-year-old son Vincent collapsed and died nearly a year ago of a sudden heart attack while he was playing softball.
Since then, bill collectors have been calling and writing to his parents constantly to get them to pay his credit card debts, according to MyFOXNY.com.
“It’s like I have a knife in my heart,” Roco Crimeni told the station. “It started to heal and then the phone began to ring.”
He said the calls are heartbreaking for him and his wife.
“I’m afraid to pick up the phone in my own home,” he said. “That’s the hard part, to tell them my son is dead. How many times do I have to repeat it?”
Laurie Crimeni said her son had no assets or estates to pay the debt he left behind, and all of the accounts were exclusively in her son’s name.
“It’s been almost nine months of complete harassment,” she said. “I don’t understand what they don’t get.”
The family’s lawyer sent at least one letter to each company explaining the circumstances, but got no results. When reporters got involved, at least one -- Macy's -- agreed to close the account and leave the grief-stricken family alone.
“When are they going to stop?” Roco Crimeni wondered. “That’s what I’d like to know.”
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