Layout:
Home > Category: Debt

Viewing the 'Debt' Category

what happened to customer service

June 17th, 2020 at 06:41 pm

In getting mail yesterday i had a letter from a collection agency. I opened and found a debt from a medical visit i had to a local ER in January.

I had to wait until today as the billing group was in another time zone. I was confused as I had NEVER
received a bill and my insurance did not either.
I called today and waited 40 minutes to talk to a representative.
I laid out the scene no EOB as insurance never was billed/ no bill ever reaching me... and immediate turn over to collection. I told her i thought this was a poor business practice if this was their standard operational procedure.
My complaint is in trying to justify the representative resorted to illogical claims.

1.rep claim: "There was no insurance listed"... well this would be a subcontractor to the hospital so the hospital is the source of information.... other groups like hospital and radiology had correct information so this group was the ONLY one that did not have it or perhaps ask for it.

2. Rep claim "a bill was sent to patient and returned to them by post office" the address she had was deliverable so I doubted that and asked why no information was checked and her last illogical claim was they cannot call out to verify any information.
If a bill was returned i have never heard of company that did not verify address.
Perhaps regular reps cannot call out but find it odd since medical billing can have many small errors like transposed numbers etc .... that Someone should be researching the claims instead of fast track to a collection group.

I am debating sending a letter to medical group to inform them that this was very poor practice and as billing group represents them they should review where the ball was dropped.
I wonder if it will fall on deaf ears...I would like to think this may save someone else the time and aggravation.

The rep claims she is pulling from collection will bill insurance and correct address ( there was no issue) to mail bill after insurance is cleared.
I find it especially disturbing as medical debt is a huge problem in this country and some people do not fight to clear up a cascade of errors.

tax surprise

February 2nd, 2020 at 09:42 pm

We usually break even with taxes in most years I was curious as how this year would turn out.
Since I temped with 2 different placement groups I could no longer log in to get a look early for one group so had to wait for mail.
It is super bizarre I always fill out withholding the same but I made more money at that placement overall and they took out way less tax, then they should have.
So a quick calculation shows us owing big.

I can cut total owed down by adding to my (2019)IRA as I can deduct the full contribution. It is not a dollar for dollar swap and we will end up paying something but I can bring it down by a good chunk.
It is frustrating since it will take my focus and funds from my regular savings plan or I can dig into one of my savings accounts. It also means now is not the time to leave this job even though I hate it.

I also had a small medical visit that I am not sure how the new insurance will pay. I just feel somewhat defeated at the moment.