From 1999 to 2009, premium costs for family insurance have grown by one hundred and thirty one percent. Easily, that’s over three times the rate at which working wages rose during this period. In this time of economic uncertainty, millions of jobs have been lost, placing workers who just lost their jobs at risk of also living without health insurance. For those who are still employed, employers are pushing more of the costs of health insurance onto their workers 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 companies for late medical bills; many fight to pay these. Most people are unclear as to why their insurance refused to pay a claim, others are puzzled about the amount they owe. Over half of people who were surveyed said that they were puzzled by the medical jargon on their bills, and one in four said 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.

Despite the fact that this won’t 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 is employed by a debt collection company. Also she writes articles on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies. You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.

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 circulate about collectors claiming that a debt cannot be negotiated, settled or paid off with time. Collectors have been known to rudely inquire when a debtor is planning 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.

Collection agents are expressly forbidden from threatening you with jail time, sadly in some unethical companies it has become a common tactic to use this threat to intimidate immigrant communities, 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 McGuinness works for a debt collection agency. She also writes stories on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies. This and other unique content ‘central collection agency’ articles are available with free reprint rights.

Bankruptcy may be seen as a quick fix solution to financial issues. However, the effects of bankruptcy are long term and can impair your ability to obtain employment, house, and any type of credit. It is important to weigh the pros and the cons of bankruptcy before making a major choice.

It is a fact that bankruptcy comes with a number of benefits. First and foremost it annihilates most of your debt. It can aid you with repossessions, missed debt payments, defaults and lawsuits. It can get you started on rehabiliation if you have poor credit.

Bankruptcy will put an end to phone calls from creditors, collections letters, repossessions, declined charge authorizations, cancelled credit cards, and lawsuits. Additionally, you are permitted to hold on to your car your car if you keep up on the payment; bankruptcy will also allow you to keep your home if you remain current on the payments.

Bankruptcy will let you exit foreclosure and pay monthly payments on past amounts. Finally, it puts an end to creditors making a claim after it is filed, even if your financial situation changes for better or worse.

Conversely, bankruptcy law can offer a “fresh start” but only every six years in most cases. Bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for ten years and hurts your credit rating severly. Additionally, filing bankruptcy may require a wait of two years before it is possible to buy a home. Some lenders allow for home loans after one year however.

Bankruptcy does not clear away most tax debt. It does not annihilate student loan debt. It requires that you hand over your credit cards. Unfortunately, bankruptcy comes with a stigma that can be embarrassing, and it may cause you to lose some of your things.

If you are not positive whether you should file for bankruptcy or not, get in touch with your creditors to see what type of repayment plan they can come up for you. While bankruptcy is an option, in most cases it should be seen as a last resort.

Mallory McGuinness is employed by a collections agency that works with a debt collection lawyer. Also, she writes pieces on business and finance, the credit industry and collections agencies. This and other unique content ‘central collection agency’ articles are available with free reprint rights.

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You should call in a credit collection agency sooner rather than later. The longer you wait to begin the collection process on overdue accounts, the less of a chance you’ll have at recovering your money.

The day after an account becomes overdue, you should place a polite phone call to the customer who owes you money. If that doesn’t work, you may want to send a few reminder letters yourself, or you may want to go directly to a credit collection agency. Base your decision on how much money is owed to you and the history of your relationship with the customer. If it’s the first time you are doing business with them, you’ll want to call in a credit collection agency sooner than you would with a 10-year old customer with a solid credit history.

Most companies call in a credit collection agency once a debt is 60 days to 90 days past due. If you wait much longer than 90 days to begin collecting unpaid receivables, your chance of collecting drops dramatically.

If you discover that your account has gone out of business, find out what type of business it was – a corporation, a partnership, or a proprietorship. If it was a corporation, don’t bother calling for the help of a collection agency. It is doubtful that you, or any one else, will be able to squeeze the last few nickels out of that client. If the company is a partnership or a proprietorship, you may be able to get the individual owners of the company to pay you out of their own pockets.

If you try to recover a debt and cannot, consider that bad debt a tax-deductible item (Tax Code IRC 166, Reg. 1.166). You will be able to deduct the cost of the goods sold (but not paid for) as an ordinary business expense. You can’t deduct any lost profits from the sale, nor can you deduct the money owed for services rendered.

Mallory Megan works for a debt collection company. She also writes articlesabout finance and business, consumer spending and collection agencies. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

Starting on November First of 2009, financial institutions and other creditors were mandated to comply with the Red Flag provisions of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. The purpose of the Red Flag rules is to alleviate and prevent identity theft. Identity theft could be defined as any fraud involving people getting particular benefits by pretending to be someone else.

Broad in scope, the Red Flag rules define financial institutions as any organization engaged in insurance, banking, or similar activities, and a number of the definitions come with leeway to expand compliance demands. Any consumer account involving multiple payments or transactions that is offered to organizations can be subject to the rules.

The rules in a nutshell state that any financial institution or creditor that may be subject to a reasonable and foreseeable risk of identity theft must develop an identity theft prevention program in order to remain in compliance. These programs should include identification of any activity that may be considered identity theft. They should pursue red flags that have already been identified, and should take action to prevent and mitigate theft. Finally, period review and updating of red flags are necessary to comply with the Red Flag provisions.

Also, the Red Flag provisions mandate that an institution’s identity theft prevention program will be managed and written by senior company management. Training and overseeing this service are required.

Identity theft is a destructive and expensive issue; business and consumer losses came to about $56.6 billion in 2005 alone. But when you consider just how harmful identity theft can be to a business, not complying with these regulations can be even more expensive and harmful. Potential losses, costly investigations, regulatory fines and potential lawsuits are all negative consequences of non-compliance. It seems as though their best bet is to follow the rules.

Mallory Megan works for a debt collection agency. Also, she writes stories on business, finance, consumer spending and debt collection. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service