Question: Let’s say you’ve been diligently paying $20 per month for 5 months. You > still owe $200. Sleazeball Credit Collectors comes along and says that they > will collect his past due bills for a 10% commision on all amounts > collected. If they don’t collect, he pays them nothing. His bookkeeper > gives the collection agency ALL his “not paid in full” bills, including > yours, because she has the overwhelming task of trying to collect from > insurance companies, which is even worse. The doctor figures he would > rather get $180 now than $200 later. Further, by lumping you in with the > deadbeats, he has established that he has made “collection efforts” and > therefore, should you not pay your whole bill, he writes it off as bad debt > rather than pay Uncle Sam 38% of what he didn’t get.
> First of all, it is unlikely that he will pay a credit bureau to post a bad > rating for such a small amount. It does cost money to do that.
> If I were you, I would write him a letter stating your case. I would > include a simple contract stating that you will continue to pay $20 per > month until your debt to him is settled and say what the date will be. I > would tell him that the next $20 payment will come when he sends you the > signed agreement. Tell him that if he refuses your offer and continues to > allow the collection agency to harrass you, that you will cease all payments > and report him to the Better Business Bureau and to the state medical ethics > board (or whatever they call it in your state). Send it by registered mail. > Keep the receipt.
> If you suspect they have put a negative report in to a credit bureau, you > check it for free. If they have, fill out the forms to have the ngative > report removed and send copies of all your correspondense with Dr. Jerk, as > well as copies of cancelled checks. Trust me, your credit will not be > ruined over this. Please don’t ruin your health worrying about it.
> Paula
Answer: I beg to differ…friends of ours had a $200 bill to a chiropractor that they were contesting. They ended up in court over it, and even though it was being contested, it ended up on their credit report. They were denied a home loan from one bank due to it, and it took 5 years to have it cleared from their record even AFTER it was paid in full.
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