[lbo-talk] Modern medical "coverage"

John Thornton jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net
Fri Feb 27 12:02:10 PST 2009


shag wrote:
> on a slightly related note, i've noticed that credit card companies and
> etc. do this. it's happened to me twice, with a medical bill and an old
> credit card -- and it's happened to R as well. You have a card you think
> you haven't used and you move. You never use the card so it slips your
> mind and you're not getting any bills. Bam, five years later a collection
> agency calls and say, "you charged $25, and now you owe $784.49 in late
> fees and interest."
>
> Me: "Uh, so, it's not like it's hard to find me. You found me after five
> years. couldn't the original credit card company contact me and tell me i
> owe money."
>
> Them: "blah blah horse shit blah crappola blah. You can take care of this
> today ma'am by paying a special rate of 350.00. Otherwise, the 784.49 will
> keep on racking up interest and late fees."

I had something similar happen a few years ago but I only found out by accident. I had a checking account that was somehow compromised in that every week or so someone would take out $30 or $40. I noticed several odd electronic bill pays on my statement and the bank said they would stop them. The next month there were more and I went back to the bank. They apologized for not correcting it and assured me it wouldn't happen again. The next month there were more and and this time the bank told me the only way to guarantee they stopped was to close the account. I not only closed that account but closed all my accounts with them and went elsewhere. Forward 3 years and when I went to open another account I was told I had an outstanding balance due from the previous bank that had been turned over to a collection agency. Neither the bank nor the collection agency had ever contacted me. I hadn't moved and the precious bank sent my statements to my house so they certainly had my address. Why the fuck didn't someone contact me about this I have no idea. Maybe it was too small to mess with? I was told I owed $680 because additional withdrawals had been made from account and I was responsible for any activity for 30 days after the account closes. I spoke with a lawyer and she told me she would charge me more than $680 to fight it and would lose the case anyway. I offered the fuckers $250 with the stipulation they report it as paid in full in good standing blah, blah, to credit reporting agencies. They faxed me a copy of the agreement so I paid them. It was nothing more than paying $250 for the privilege of having money stolen from me as far as I can see.

John Thornton



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