Receiving a collections letter doesn’t have to be the heart stopping event that it usually is for most people. Collections letters are designed for one thing: to collect a debt. How a collections letter does that is through fear, intimidation, and sometimes threats. If you’re the victim of collections scums that send you a barrage of letters or call incessantly on the phone, you do have rights. Federal Law ^[2] outlines what rights you do have and believe me, bill collectors regularly violate your rights.

About eight years ago, my son was born. We had plenty of medical insurance with a $300 deductible for the birth of our baby boy. After all the joy of seeing that little bundle, I went down to the “business office” (sounds official doesn’t it?) to settle up, after all, I didn’t want to end up in collections. Right? I knew that I would owe the $300 plus another $20 bucks or so for the TV which isn’t covered by insurance.

As I sat at the desk, the accounting clerk told me, “We aren’t sure what the exact final number will be until you check out so can we just send the bill to you?” I said that I didn’t like that idea and that I was willing to pay $350 just to make certain I would pay the whole bill. Her reply was that it would be an accounting “nightmare” for them and that it would be best if I just let them bill me. I insisted, but she insisted more. OK. Bill me.

We came home a day later and I told my wife that we would be receiving a bill from the hospital and to pay it right away. “Do not wait to pay it. Write the check and send it the same day we receive the bill,” I told her. I was in an “improve my credit score” mode of thinking.