Collection agency
 

Maybe you guys know more about this than I do.

Some guy from the collection agency just called and said if I don't pay my hospital bill in the next few days, it's going on my credit and I'm fucked.

I can't deal with this shit.

Any info would be appreciated.

I do medical insurance billing for a living.

although I usually carry people much longer than I should, hospitals don't.

you can try asking for a payment plan, but I doubt that they would go for it (hospitals are hardcore like that).

That's the thing.
How can I ask for a payment plan when I don't have a job?

hmmm.....well...

only thing I suggest then is to tell them you don't have a job / money.

ask if there are any indigent programs for people in yr positition.

play up the no-job / no-money bit the best you can.

I'll try that.
The guy seemed pretty understanding about me being 18 and being broke and without a job, but still made it clear that it had to be paid soon or it would go on my credit report.

everybody's credit is fucked this day. tell him that you don't give a shit about your fucked credit and your life is fine. tell him that you dont have health insurance and it's their fucking fault. tell him.

collection agencies ha ha ha-- a bullshit business.

anyway, pay what you can, and don't let them push you.

hey btw wasn't those bitches getting sued? they ought to be paying.

^^^ if you ever want to get yr own house or appartment, don't listen to this.

don't blow it off. be as nice as you can.


have you tried state assistance? you may qualify for Medicaid.

I don't qualify because of my age.

And yeah, now that my credit's gonna be fucked, how can I ever get a car/apartment/anything ever?

debt is for suckers

 

newborns can qualify for Medicaid. get out the phone book and call yr local DHS office. tell them yr situation, and see what they say.

even if you don't fully qualify, you may be able to get SOME help.



that's the thing. mostly likely you won't be able to do ANYTHING that requires a credit check until this debt is settled.

example: wife and I could not get our first appartment because a former room-mate of mine charged up $350.00 worth of porn calls to Guam one night (phone was in my name). I said "fuck that, I'm not paying". that didn't work out so well for me.

I already talked to them. I don't get anything.

My parents were stupid and maxed out like 59438459403 of their credit cards and never paid... I've seen first-hand what it's like ot be in debt. I don't want to go there.

i did a google of "guam porn" and interesting shit came up!

anyway, on a serious note, i can't wait for the health care laws to change the fuck up in this country. this situation is so fucking absurd...

crayons, is this hospital bill for your broken pierna or for the ass kicking? (sorry to remind). did you press charges?

For the foot.
The ass kicking bill hasn't gone to collection yet.
police never found the girls anyway.

ps crayons you might qualify as low income by HHS and get money from asshats like the salvation army, catholic charities or some non-jesus outfit. wtf. this country is fucked.

i had a crackhead neighbor who got some charity to pay his rent. youre not a crackhead, you ought to be able to find something.

can or will yr parents help you? you may be able to get away with paying 50% of what's owed if you can pay it soon. if that's any kind of possibility, call the hospital and and ask how much they will accept as payment in full.

beyond all this...don't know what else to tell you. get a jawb? surely, a fine girl like yrself is worth something on the mean streets of florida.

I can't get a job. Florida sucks. The economy is shit. I've applied to at least 30 places, honestly. My parents are broke too. We're on food stamps and my parents are deep in debt.
I talked to the hospital. They said once it went to collection, I have to deal with them, not the hospital.

back in the day, most of the telephone porn lines were in other countries.

here's how it went.


the-one-eyed-muscle: dude. I think I called Guam last night.
me: what the fuck are you talking about? do you even know where Gaum is??
the-one-eyed-muscle: no, but I'm pretty sure I called it last night.
me: WHY?
the-one-eyed-muscle: I don't know. :(
me: was it good?
the-one-eyed-muscle: I don't remember. :(

needless to say, we're still friends.

I qualify for no income. I can't get any sort of charity money unless I go to school or some shit, which after owing THEM another $1400 for not withdrawing after I broke my foot and my grandpa died, I refuse to do.

well...looks like there's not much you can do. get ready for constant harassment on the phone though.

you will eventually have to pay this. try to get the credit agency to accept partial payment as full after it's turned to them.

ultimately, you will be ok. you won't be able to get a new car or house until it's paid, and even after it is, chances are yr credit rating won't be that great (causing higher interest rates).

look on the bright side - you still have yr foot!

ok so youre already $1400 in debt plus $X in debt from 2 hospital bills + no income = you're bankrupt.

no offense, truly, but your troubles are bigger than a phone call from a collection agency. :eek:

(pls dont kll the messenger)

amazing! ive given my penis nicknames but ive never had actual conversations with it. "one-eyed-muscle". sure, it's gotten me into some trouble too, but im always the one who punches the phone keys.

You say it like I don't already know it.

Merry fucking Christmas to me.

christmas! fuck christmas.

you could declare bankruptcy (yes you could) which would wipe the slate clean.

then again, you'd have to wait 7 years to declare it again.

so you should wait to get some health insurance before you declare bankuptcy. medical bills can be a bitch.

hot damn, americans are declaring bankruptcy in record numbers, so dont be harsh on yourself. the economy is fucked and there are no social protections.

soon, soon... just 40+ days until we get a new government.

anyway you can stop the harassing calls by threatening to declare bankruptcy to the collections dude. it's a game of chicken-- they wanna push you, but not that far.

i can't help you because i don't know anything about american money issues.

but i'm sorry for you, hope it turns out ok eventually.

ps crayons you might be eligible for medicaid, furreal.


http://www.fdhc.state.fl.us/Medicaid/index.shtml

best wishes yo

--

ps alternatively you could get them to communicate in writing and wait for the status of limitations to expire in 3-6 years if no action is taken, o yeah.

http://credit.about.com/od/debtcolle...collectors.htm

^^ read that + the associated pages.

I leave FL in about a month or so, medicaid won't help me pay anything anyway.

ah. well they dont have to know dont they? anyway, whatever works.

i edited above for some collection info shit.

look, dont be so terrified about having bad credit at 18. sure it sucks but it's not the end of the world. if anything, that will keep you from getting unnecessarily into debt like so many college students with credit cards.

by the time you're ready to buy a house (years from now0, you should be able to have fixed this bullshit. truly, no use to be sucked in by the drama. and you're not going to get your own apartment any time soon-- you'll have to live with rommates anyway.

get out of florida, get yourself a job, spend less than you earn, save some money, that will do you better.

btw there is mandatory health insurance in massachussets. you could go there & qualify.

anyway, seriously, these collectors like to put a whammy on you to make you think your life will be over if you dont give them their dough. but it's bullshit. they lack the superpowers they claim and you have more rights than you imagine.

Bad credit is a pretty serious issue. Most of all, I'm just pissed that my parents told me they paid that bill (they promised they would) and then lied to me, so I had to find out the hard way.. like pretty much everything else they've told me.

having bad credit means you have no access to borrowed money. it doesnt mean you have no money. if you live within your means, then bad credit is not as serious an issue as people make it out to be. it is serious for people who depend on credit cards and who live on borrowed money. but a lot of people choose not to depend on credit cards.

not having a job or a source of income is a serious issue. if you have sufficient income, you can live a perfectly happy life without ever borrowing a dime.

yes, yes, it's troublesome nevertheless. but dont let those suckers torment you with visions of gloom is what im saying. focus on what you can do & move on ahead.


sorry about your parents.

I wanted to answer this for you this morning, but ironically, I was worried it would make me late for work, where I answer this kind of thing all day. I work for a state Attorney General's Office in the Consumer Protection Division.

There is bad news and good news to your situation.

Might as well start with the bad: yeah they can report this to your credit. However, if you can't pay it, then I wouldn't let that be the be all and end all of your worries. The hospital could very well have already put it on your credit anyway. These days, nobody is getting loans on big items, just ask all the car dealers going out of business. Hopefully by the time the global financial situation is better you will be in an improved situation to pay it off, and while your credit won't be perfect, it won't be that horrible compared to all of the people who took adjustable rate mortgages they couldn't hope to pay and had their homes foreclosed.

So the good news: the collection agency is in fact answerable to the Fair Debt Collection Act and the guy is already treading the line by "nicely" telling you they will put it on your credit. It is in fact illegal for them to threaten to do so (or make any sort of threats at all), even though they may take the actual action. Furthermore, you can ask them to only communicate with you in writing, and they will have to do so, so that will stop the likely frequent phone calls floatingslowly mentioned.

Mind, many collection agencies play dirty and break the FDCA all of the time. If you ask them to stop calling, and they don't, send a written request - preferably by certified mail that they have to sign for (and SAVE a copy!)

The Fair Debt Collection Act is administered by the Federal Trade Commission. Go to their website http://www.ftc.gov and read up on it and let the collection agents know in your letter to them that you know it. If they aren't following it, you can (and should!) file a complaint with the FTC online from the same website and you might be able to do the same with your state's Attorney General's Office or other consumer protection agency (in some states it's a separate agency).

Since you don't currently have a job, you don't have to worry about the collection agency garnishing your wages, but that could be a serious concern if you get a decent paying job and still owe it and haven't worked to set up some sort of payment plan. However, it costs them money to file suit in court to win a garnishment, so they really only do that as a last result where they aren't likely to get any payments and there is money to seize. Just like with putting things on your credit, they can't threaten to garnish your wages, even though they may be able to actually do so.

I hope this stuff is useful. I've had a few bills that got sent to collections in my life, though nothing very high. My wife has horrible credit, which I married along with her. Nonetheless, we were able to buy a car and a house with decent non-adjustable rates. We wouldn't likely be able to right now, but again, nobody can right now. The guy calling you from the collection agency more than likely can't either.

I too have >$1400 in debt, i am 21 and I live in Florida. Let's get married and multiply our debt together.

Personally, I have decided to just keep my money in cash. Fuck banks, fuck cards, I wait tables and go to school. I dont need a bank account, I have a safe. And when I save up enough money, I will buy land in cash outright, and build a house on it. But first I am going to declare bankruptcy. Credit is such a retarded idea. I am not going to ever understand how people could not see through such a corrupt and oppressive concept. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Amen to that. I hope to god that Obama fixes this bullshit credit. Taking money from people who don't have any money is not only unethical but also rude, cheap, and should be illegal.

Let's get married, then. We can start a I'm Under The Age Of 25 And In A Substantial Amount of Debt club!

Thank you so much for all of this information. You've helped a LOT. I just hope this goes away sooner rather than later.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Dead-Air again.

just like taking money / services on credit and not paying for them.

nobody took yr money. you went to the hospital and they fixed up yr foot, and now they want to be paid for it.

True, though we don't really have any choice but to go to the doctor when we are sick and the prices are completely out of control. Monopolies are a kind of theft in terms of anti-trust, but the American health care system is essentially one that includes the insurance companies (I know you work for one, but my wife works for a hospital, we have to take the best paying jobs we can after all).

Obama claims he'll be working on that little problem too, but we have heard that one before...

almost every city has a community hospital that serves the uninsured public (these are mostly teaching hospitals).

just like any service you wish to buy, it's yr responsibility to be informed prior to "the purchase". it's really no different than taking yr car to the mechanic (except the mechanic can put a lein on yr shit if you don't pay).

I still insist that local Medicaid assistance is available for Ms. Crayons, but she needs to put forth the effort to secure it. some hospitals have patient advocates that assist with this.

PS: I don't work for an insurance company. I do billing for clinical services.

well no, the credit cards always make money in the end. they make up the defaults with high interest, late charges, etc.

in any case nobody forces you to get a credit card-- but people are made to think that it's easy money-- it's not. ultimately the decision is yours. credit should be something people use to make money (eg purchase equipment), not to buy a new tv. but then credit keeps "the economy" going. thats gonna crash soon too and it will be a bitch.

anyway. everyone should watch this movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiOVNWoWTAU


yep yep. though health care is a human rights issue. even in 3rd world countries you can get fixed up without owing your kidneys. i'd argue that faced with the choice between committing fraud and dying of gangrene one should commit fraud-- if we value life more than money, it's the ethical thing to do. lesser of 2 evils.


the health care system is truly fucked up, and prices are out of hand-- truly dysfunctional shit.


yep, yep. there are options if you search-- medicare, public hospitals... jobs... the survival instinct is pretty fucking awesome.

i fear crayons might be dealing with this the emo way. "the world is fucked i am doomed theres nothing i can do" kinda. :(

go ahead, shoot me for speaking my mind now... i hope im wrong anyway.

i have thousands of dollars in unpayed hospital bills and my credit score was around 600 until recently. that' because i'm late on paying my target card.

someone at my old bank told me that hospital bills don't hurt your credit like an unpayed loan or credit card. they could be wrong though.

fix'd