Debt Collectors in Love

Kay Pigeon’s daughter, Leenie, got student loans to attend film school in LA. That was supposed to make her life sublime. Instead it condemned her to a large amount of debt after she graduated into the 2008 recession and a job in the food service industry.Leenie’s loan, which Kay co-signed, and the Wall Street trade paper she writes for are making her life miserable. That publication, SIN, is collapsing as Kay struggles with journalism’s transition from print to the internet at the start of the decade.

While Leenie is on the west coast waiting on tables, the phone in Kay’s New York apartment constantly rings with calls from the loan servicer in Pennsylvania, most often from call center rep Doris Morris. The payments, which Kay is responsible for, are being applied to the wrong loan and she can’t find out why. Kay gets no help from the peevish Doris, until she decides to dish about the corruption at the loan servicer. It’s Kay’s opportunity to write an expose–which may lead to a new job–while getting to the bottom of her own problem.

Debt Collectors In Lovetakes a trip through Millennial debt, casino gambling, Occupy Wall Street, the excesses of the capital markets, early stage Alzheimer’s disease, the impact of social media on journalism and gender conflict in the workplace. In the end, after everyone has deserted her, the thing Kay can always count on is having to pay her daughter’s debt. Kay can look forward to joining a growing cohort of Americans who will have their retirement benefits garnished to pay off someone else’s loan.