In A Time When Americans Are Going Without Health Insurance The Medical Debt Relief Act Is A Godsend
From 1999 to 2009, premium costs for family insurance have risen by one hundred and thirty one percent. That’s easily over three times the rate at which working wages rose during this time. In this period of economic hardship, millions of jobs have been lost, putting workers who have just lost their jobs at risk of living without health insurance also. For those who remain employed, employers are pushing more of the costs of health insurance onto their employees as they struggle with economic uncertainty. Then there are blue collar and retail workers, waitresses and the like who are paid less, work harder and are not offered health insurance plans at their jobs. No wonder that Americans are struggling to pay their medical bills.
In 2007, about seventy two million Americans struggled with their medical bills. A large amount of these people made paying off their medical bills their top priority, while they had to struggle to pay for basic necessities like food, rent or heat. More than THIRTY MILLION American adults used up ALL of their savings or BORROWED AGAINST THEIR HOMES in order to pay off medical bills. Unfortunately, in this time of economic hardship, many Americans could not stop the bill collector from knocking on their door.
Thirty million Americans are contacted every year by collection agencies for delinquent medical bills; many struggle to pay these. Many people are unclear as to why their insurance refused to pay a claim, others are confused about the amount they owe. Over half of people who took the survey reported that they were puzzled by the medical jargon on their bills, and one in four reported confusion led them to allow bills to go past the due date or to be sent to a collection agency.
A delinquent medical bill that gets sent to collections will typically be reported to credit bureaus. This will result in a lower credit score. Medical accounts, even those that have been paid off in full will stay on a credit report for up to seven years. This will result in lower credit scores and increases the costs of mortgages, car loans, or credit card interest.
Luckily, Ohio Congresswoman Kilroy saw the consequences of outstanding medical bills. She decided to take action because she saw medical debt as unique. She introduced The Medical Debt Relief Act, which states that medical debt that is fully paid off or settled must be removed from a consumer’s credit report within thirty days.
Even though this will not fix our chaotic healthcare system, it will provide relief for those who have paid off medical debt, while the rest of us wait for better health care reform.
Mallory Megan works for a debt collection company. Also she writes articles on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies. Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.
Bill Collectors On The Phone
If you owe money to a creditor debt collection agencies can report your debt to credit bureaus, file suits against you, and should be taken very seriously. The best way to protect yourself and your finances is a methodical approach. First, know why you are being contacted. Know what the debt is from and exactly how much it costs.
Ask for the name of the person calling, the agency, the creditor, and the agency’s address and fax number. You have the right to tell a collector over the phone that you want all future contact to be in writing. Follow up all requests with a written request.
Keep in mind if you tell the collector not to contact you at all it is entitled to call you once more to let you know how it plans to proceed. Another request that can be made is that you are the only person that should be contacted. It is a good idea to keep a file including details and dates of phone conversations and when you send or receive letters.
If you do send any written correspondence to the collections company do this by Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. This guarantees that the letter reached the collector, giving you a signed receipt as proof. If you work out a re-payment plan over the phone, ask for the terms of the plan in writing. Any promise to remove or adjust credit history should also definitely be documented.
Make sure that you pay the right party; payments should be made out to the collections agency, not the creditor, unless you have been otherwise instructed to do so. Carefully look over the amount you are being asked to pay. Get to know how much interest, fees or charges that have been added.
If you feel as though your collection agent is acting abusive or hostile, be sure to mention it to the agency and keep this complaint on file. The last thing to keep in mind is don’t ignore a collector. Even if you feel that the debt is not yours; they will continue to call and it may mean more trouble and time in the long run.
Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection agency. She also composes stories on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies. Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.
What Is A Collection Company Allowed to Do?
When and how does bill collection cross over the line into harassment and aggressive behavior? A bill collector is never allowed to use obscene language or threats of violence. However, they are allowed to insult your integrity and make you feel bad about the person you are.
Anecdotal stories about collectors asserting that a debt cannot be negotiated, settled or paid off more slowly have been circulated. Collectors have been known to rudely ask when a debtor is going to pay, and then reject a debtors offer as not enough. This is not true or acceptable, as a consumer you always have the ability to negotiate.
Bill collectors receive a commission, which may be why the persistent ones can be so hostile and aggressive. But the key thing is that even though you may owe money to a creditor, you always have the right to be treated like a professional, and you deserve that right. While collectors are prohibited from calling third parties such as co-workers, friends and family to spread the word that you are in debt, collection agencies are allowed to contact people who may know where you are if they are trying to find you.
Debt collectors especially are banned from threatening you with jail time,it has become a common tactic used by unethical agencies to intimidate immigrant communities. Finance experts such as Michael J Koopmans agree it is because there is less of a chance that these people will know or understand the law.
A bill collector cannot call you repeatedly, which technically means that they can’t continuously call you over and over. Still, that doesn’t stop them from calling you two, three, even four times a day. With some companies, collectors are given a small number of accounts to work with purposely so that they can badger a consumer in debt into paying for their commission. To put a halt on collections phone calls, it is possible to send a letter by certified mail return receipt requested requesting that they no longer contact you over the phone.
Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection agency. She also writes articles on business and finance, consumer spending and collection agencies. Don’t reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.
Declaring Bankruptcy: Automatic Stay And How It Protects You From Creditors
U.S. Bankruptcy Code imposes something called an automatic stay the moment that a petition for bankruptcy is filed. The automatic stay will typically prevent the enforcement, commencement, or appeal of actions and judgments against a debtor from the creditors they owe money to who are trying to collect these debts incurred prior to the bankruptcy petition. The automatic stay also protects property of the bankruptcy estate itself from collection actions and proceedings.
Any action that a creditor might take that violates the automatic stay will be voided out. Any violation of the stay might cause the violating party to have damages assessed to them. But, like every complicated law, there are exceptions. A creditor might be allowed to take their collateral if they obtain permission from the court first. They will get this by filing a motion for relief from the automatic stay.
The court will either grant the motion or provide security to the creditor, ensuring that the value of their collateral won’t decrease during the stay. Without the protection of the automatic stay creditors could hypothetically race to the courthouse in order to improve their positions against a debtor. If this happened, and let’s say that a debtor’s business was facing just a temporary crunch, it might not survive a “run” by creditors when their business could otherwise be salvaged. A run may also result in waste and it might be unfair to similar creditors that are owed money too.
There are three kinds of avoidance actions, and all of these attempt to limit the risk of the legal system encouraging the downfall of a financially unstable debtor who hasn’t declared bankruptcy yet. The bankruptcy system will typically reward creditors who continue extending financing to debtors and will discourage creditors from ramping up their debt collection efforts.
Despite the seemingly simple nature of these rules, a couple of exceptions exist in the context of each category of avoidance action.
Mallory Megan works for a debt collection agency. She also writes articles on business, finance, consumer spending, and collection agencies. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service