$8 bill in collections?

[joenali]

WTF? This is through my insurance. I don't remember the bill and I've never seen anything come in mail that states the bill has gone to collections. I mean it's $8!! I can't believe this. I found out about it because I have some out of network bills that I had questions about and the operator was like do you know know you have an $8 bill in collections? Ummm no!

I have the # to call (closed now), do I have any recourse? I received nothing about this going into collections.

[kirra]

I'd pay it. I've had a couple of bills under $10 go into collections. I never got a letter for either. My mail is somewhat unreliable, but still. They send repeated letters for higher amounts, but don't seem to give a damn about the smaller amounts.

[Deleted]

Look up your EOB first. I had the hospital try to come after me for $175 when it was clear that insurance had paid their negotiated portion. They tried to get me to pay the rest, but I was not liable for it.

[killercupcake]

I did data entry at a collection agency in high school/freshman year of college. Places would send people into collections for less. I created an account for .10 once. It was bullshit.

My advice is to pay it and fight it with your doctor. And then dispute it with the credit bureaus. That's what we always told people to do. The collection agencies can't really do much.

[joenali]

Oct 12, 2015 19:30:44 GMT -5 killercupcake said:

I did data entry at a collection agency in high school/freshman year of college. Places would send people into collections for less. I created an account for .10 once. It was bullshit.

My advice is to pay it and fight it with your doctor. And then dispute it with the credit bureaus. That's what we always told people to do. The collection agencies can't really do much.

I've never seen it on my credit report either.

[killercupcake]

Oct 12, 2015 19:37:30 GMT -5 joenali said:

Oct 12, 2015 19:30:44 GMT -5 killercupcake said:

I did data entry at a collection agency in high school/freshman year of college. Places would send people into collections for less. I created an account for .10 once. It was bullshit.

My advice is to pay it and fight it with your doctor. And then dispute it with the credit bureaus. That's what we always told people to do. The collection agencies can't really do much.

I've never seen it on my credit report either.

That's good.

Definitely call the doctor's office. Like I said, worst case, you pay the 8 dollars to keep it from going to your credit and dispute it with the doctor.

[usm]

I received a collection notice from a company for a medical bill. I never received a bill and it should have been covered between primary and secondary insurance. I called the hospital and they said "oh, you don't owe anything. I don't know what that's about." They took care of it all.

[Deleted]

Don't pay anything until you figure out if it should have previously been covered. It's ONLY $8, but still. DH and I have both had this happen and in the end it was an accounting error, not our responsibility.

[liverandonions]

I used to work collections and we often has small medical bills like that-usually a copay that someone didn't pay. If you've never seen it on your credit you're in good shape. Call the number and pay it and they'll send you something saying it's handled. We could report to credit after 30 days. If we called on a collection and the people were willing to work with us or pay it etc we didn't report. If they were total assholes we would.

Eta: obviously figure out if it's truly your bill first

[v]

Definitely call and explain your situation and ask them what the hell it is for. Don't pay until you know what you're paying.

My health insurer recently sent me collections over a $32 bill -- to be fair, I had meant to contest it (copay for something that didn't require a copay) but then forgot. I emailed the collections company and they were like "Oh wait -- we reversed that charge in June! You owe nothing!" Well then, thanks for the collections letter in September! At any rate, an easy fix and nothing is on my credit report. Good luck!