Was this bill forgotten by a medical provider, and do notices need to be sent before collections?
Seems like the straightforward answer is to call the provider and ask.  They should be able to tell you if you owe them or not.  Unfortunately, with small providers there is always a chance they won't get even that right; I would confirm exactly why they think you don't owe them anything if in fact you don't. Medical providers can go after you for years later, depending on your state; so don't assume just because it's been months that they won't eventually.  Smaller providers aren't terribly organized, but they do usually eventually go after most of those who owe them. Sometimes I think a question like this is one of moral versus legal.  The reality is that you know you owe the money because you received the services.  You're right that the bill should have been sent to you, and the natural urge for many people is to just count it in the win column when things like this happen and there's the chance to avoid paying. I suppose my question for you is, are you comfortable with the notion that you are not paying something that your heart of hearts tells you should be paid?  If roles were reversed and you, as a business owner, had forgotten to bill something for which you were rightfully due payment, wouldn't you hope they'd have the integrity to pay you anyway? The legal side of this can be a bit trickier, and much depends on the state you're in (assuming you're in the U.S.) because some have stiffer consumer collection and protection laws than others.  The rehab center could, when doing an audit of its accounts, discover that you didn't pay for these.  They could take the polite course of action and call you with a gentle reminder or send a bill, or they could be not so nice about it.  Either way, they can't send anything to collections for which you haven't been presented a bill and demonstrated an unwillingness to pay.  There's a process in place, regardless of the state, so they can't just automatically put it into collections. I will close with this question for you: did the rehab center help you with what you needed, and are you healthier and better because of their care?  If so, pay the bill.  That's my advice.  Keep in mind that unpaid medical costs just raise the prices for everyone else, because these providers will make up for the loss somewhere. I hope this helps. Good luck! "check the DATE OF SERVICE on all your invoices carefully.  It's possible you actually DID pay already. Sometimes when a medical provider gets ""mostly"" paid by a third party insurer, they just drop the (small) remainder, as it's more cost than it's worth if it is a trivial amount.  Alternatively, they wait until you show up for another office visit, and ""ding"" you then!"
You didn't buy it. Your mother did. You can try to cancel it if it was purchased in your name; if your mother purchased it she would have to cancel it. Either way, the company has done it's part by carrying you until that cancellation and you have no grounds for demanding a refund for time already covered. If your mother was spending your money, that is something you need to take up with her unless you want to bring charges against her for theft/fraud. If she was spending her own money, then you may want to talk to a lawyer about getting her declared incompetent so someone else can control her spending. But the money paid is probably gone. It isn't the insurance company's fault that you didn't want it doesn't, and if you don't bring charges you can't complain about their having accepted stolen money. Even if you do bring charges and win, it isn't clear you can get a refund. If you really want to pursue any of this, your next step is to talk to a lawyer. I actually did this once. I wrote a large check along with a letter indicating that I would not be around to receive the next bill so I was prepaying. Not only did they credit the entire check, they didn't send that bill and listed the charges on the next month's bill. They must have done that by hand because there's no way the machines would have understood. This might be a good reason to check that box saying you want paper reports for those monthly statements. After all, you don't get any cost savings for opting for electronic files. Otherwise you are stuck arguing without documentation that you lost those files proving my account balance in the EM event. A person name Matthew Drury or a similar name owes money on their loan, and it has gone to collections. The collections company is trying to match the account to a real person with money. They sent a letter to somebody (your grandmother) with the same last name. The debtor may have even lived in that town at sometime.  The reason you received the letter is because your grandmother forward it on. Because the rest of your info (SSN and birth date) don't match the loan it is unlikely they can attach the debt to you. Unless you provided your address to the company you could in the future receive a letter from them. But I doubt they are going to send letters to everybody with the same name. I would not worry about it unless they actually send a letter or call you directly. "The presenter suggested we keep records of our claims for 10+ years in paper form. This seemed to be overkill. It would be overkill if you're taking distributions regularly and you have enough valid (and otherwise unreimbursed) medical receipts each year to correspond to your distributions. However, if you are pumping money into the HSA without regular distributions, then you may need to keep receipts for a long time, possibly since the beginning of your HSA. For example: If the IRS was to audit my HSA deductions would the Aetna online claims be adequate? It's better than nothing, but it is not ideal. You need to provide proof of what you actually paid, not just what was billed. (How would the IRS know if you actually paid the bill?) So, the bill and receipt together would be preferred. Also, there are many eligible expenses for HSA that would not be covered by your health insurance and would not appear in your Aetna statements (dental work for example). Personally I have an excel spreadsheet with every eligible expense listed, every contribution and distribution I make, and a box of receipts since I opened the HSA account. Should I also archive screenshots of these claims digitally somewhere? If you have the time and diligence to do it, then it wouldn't hurt. I personally am only one house fire away from having to make a lot of phone calls if I wanted to re-build my receipts folder from scratch. I actually have ""scan my HSA receipts"" on my todo list (where's it been for years as a pretty low priority). Lastly it makes sense to spend the money in my HSA on anything eligible because you can never roll it over into a retirement account, its shaky if another person (spouse) could get reimbursed for eligible medical expenses if you die, and if you lose your receipts you may not be able to spend all of the HSA money tax free. Is this an accurate assessment or is there a reason why I should not touch the HSA money at all and wait to reimburse my eligible expenses. First off, if you are married the HSA can be transferred to your spouse. But in general, it really depends on what you would do with the money if you distributed it right away. If you need the money to pay debts, bills, etc, then it might make sense to take it, but if it would be extra money that you would invest somewhere, then you should leave it in the HSA because it grows tax free while it's in there and (probably) wouldn't if you take it out. The caveat though is that you need to find an HSA administrator that offers your preferred investment choices. As for your worry that you might lose your receipts, well, that's a valid point- but I wouldn't drive my decision based on that- I would archive them digitally to remove that concern completely. ...Should I reimburse myself from ... the HSA funds if I am not hitting the 401k limit yet? It depends. If it's a Roth 401k, all other things being equal, (you are able to choose the same investments with your HSA as you can choose in your 401K, and the costs are the same), then you are better off leaving the money in your HSA rather than pulling it out and putting it into the Roth 401k. The reason is that there is no tax difference, and once you put it into the 401K you (probably) can't touch it (for free) until you retire. With the HSA, if you could have taken a distribution but chose not to, then you can take that amount of money out anytime you want to without any consequences, just like your normal checking account. However, if you have a traditional 401k, and if taking HSA distributions would increase your cash flow such that you could afford to contribute more to the 401k, then this would lower your tax burden that year by reducing your taxable income." Hey, I was thinking back to that X-Ray you got done at the hospital, that you said was cheaper than 90% of the population. I am wondering if maybe that hospital wasn't one of the many that qualify for DSH reimbursement payments. What could have happened is that they saw that you are uninsured, and made a decision that they would only charge you for the portion that they didn't think Medicare / Medicaid would reimburse. If that happened, it wouldn't even show up on your credit report, as the hospital is the one that would file a credit claim. Likely, if they have to go through this a lot, they wouldn't even waste time filing a credit claim, they would just go after a reimbursement through Medicare / Medicaid. And thus, to you, it would just look like a very small bill, but in reality it would only represent a smaller portion of the true bill.   I would also wonder, if they do a lot of these, if they aren't also one of the hospitals that article I linked to showed was super-inflating the prices of uninsured in the hopes of getting a larger portion reimbursed. I just want to point out something that seems to be generally true: If you are supposed to report something to the IRS, and you don't, the IRS will probably send you a letter assuming the maximum possible tax liability, and it's up to you to prove that scenario is incorrect. In your case you obviously owe no tax, but since you didn't report it, the IRS simply assumed that you do owe tax until you prove otherwise. You're one form away from fixing the issue. I have first hand experience that this is also true if you forget to report an HSA distribution. I received a letter considering my entire distribution as if it was for non eligible medical expenses. This made the amount taxable and had an additional 20% penalty to boot. Of course I have medical receipts for all of the distributions which makes them not taxable, and had I simply put the correct number on my return to begin with I wouldn't have had to fill out the additional form to correct my mistake. "I would start with actually talking to the collection agency.  Say what you are saying here,  namely:  ""I'm willing to pay the debt if the creditor can prove to me that I owe them"". You can also talk to the health facility, ask them for information or records.   You can start there and see what happens.  Once you are ready to pay the debt you can negotiate to have the negative mark removed from your report.   It really depends on the collection agency.  They could be reasonable, or the could be total scum." You are making an assumption that may not be true: Unbeknownst to me, some apartment debt I paid had already been sold to a collections agency before I actually paid it. Typically debts are sold to a Debt Buyer, whereas a Collection Agency works on commission to collect debts on behalf of the creditor. If your debt was actually sold, you should have been notified in writing of this fact, and who the new creditor was. I suspect your debt was not sold, because if it was the apartment complex would not have been legally allowed to cash your check when you finally paid them. Therefore, it is most likely that the collection agency was working on commission, and the apartment complex never informed them that you had settled your debt. As for what to do about it, here are 3 options, ordered by likelihood of success: Good luck, and if you don't mind, please update us later on what you did and what the result was. Your experience will be helpful for others having this issue in the future. "I had about $16k in student loans. I defaulted on the loans, and they got  > passed to a collection type agency (OSCEOLA).  These guys are as legitimate as a collection agency can be. One thing that I feel is very sketchy is when they were verifying my identity they said ""Does your Social Security Number end in ####. Is your Birthday Month/Day/Year.""  That is not sketchy. It would be sketchy for a caller to ask you to give that information; that's a common scheme for identity theft. OSCEOLA are following the rules on this one. My mom suggested I should consider applying for bankruptcy Won't help. Student loans can't be discharged in bankruptcy. You have the bankruptcy ""reform"" act passed during the Bush 43 regime for that. The loan itself is from school. What school? Contact them and ask for help. They may have washed their hands of your case when they turned over your file to OSCEOLA. Then again, they may not. It's worth finding out.   Also, name and shame the school. Future applicants should be warned that they will do this.  What can I do to aid in my negotiations with this company? Don't negotiate on the phone. You've discovered that they won't honor such negotiations. Ask for written communications sent by postal mail. Keep copies of everything, including both sides of the canceled checks you use to make payments (during the six months and in the future). Keep making the payments you agreed to in the conversation six months ago. Do not, EVER, ignore a letter from them. Do not, EVER, skip going to court if they send you a summons to appear. They count on people doing this. They can get a default judgement if you don't show up. Then you're well and truly screwed. What do you want? You want the $4K fee removed. If you want something else, figure out  what it is. Here's what to do: Write them a polite letter explaining what you said here. Recount the conversation you had with their telephone agent where they said they would remove the $4K fee if you made payments.  Recount the later conversation. If possible give the dates of both conversations and the names of the both agents.   Explain the situation completely. Don't assume the recipient of your letter knows anything about your case. Include evidence that you made payments as agreed during the six months. If you were late or something, don't withhold that.  Ask them to remove the extra $4K from your account, and ask for whatever else you want. Send the letter to them with a return receipt requested, or even registered mail. That will prevent them from claiming they didn't get it. And it will show them you're serious. Write a cover letter admitting your default, saying you relied on their negotiation to set things straight, and saying you're dismayed they aren't sticking to their word. The cover letter should ask for help sorting this out. Send copies of the letter with the cover letter to: Be sure to mark your letter to OSCEOLA ""cc"" all these folks, so they know you are asking for help. It can't hurt to call your congressional representative's office and ask to whom you should send the letter, and then address it by name. This is called Constituent Service, and they take pride in it. If you send this letter with copies you're letting them know you intend to fight.  The collection agency may decide it's not worth the fight to get the $4K and decide to let it go.   Again, if they call to pressure you, say you'd rather communicate in writing, and that they are not to call you by telephone. Then hang up.  Should I hire a lawyer?  Yes, but only if you get a court summons or if you don't get anywhere with this. You can give the lawyer all this paperwork I've suggested here, and it will help her come up to speed on your case. This is the kind of stuff the lawyer would do for you at well over $100 per hour. Is bankruptcy really an option Certainly not, unfortunately. Never forget that student lenders and their collection agencies are dangerous and clever predators. You are their lawful prey. They look at you, lick their chops, and think, ""food."" Watch John Oliver's takedown of that industry.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxUAntt1z2c Good luck and stay safe." "Is it common in the US not to pay medical bills? Or do I misunderstood what had been said? I would feel comfortable saying that most people who face medical bills don't pay them.  They are unable.  If they were able, they would have gotten medical insurance.  In America, something like 55% of individuals do not have even $500 of savings, so when a big medical bill rolls in especially on top of lost work hours, they don't have a lot of options.  Hospitals charge reasonable prices to insurance companies and Medicare. These fees are negotiated in advance and reflect the hospital's actual costs.  This is called ""usual, reasonable and customary"".  Hospitals charge a wildly inflated, criminally outrageous ""cash price"" to the uninsured. For instance back when Medicare paid about $175 for an ambulance ride, a friend was billed $1100 for the exact same thing.   The hospital aims to scare the living daylights out of the patient (caring nothing about what that does to their health!) Perfect world, the patient pays them the $1100 instead of paying their rent.  If the patient puts up a fight, they hope to haggle them down to something like $400, remember it really costs $175. This tactic is a huge profit-center for hospitals, even the ""charity"" hospitals, and they feel justified because so many uninsured don't pay at all (the hospital considers them ""deadbeats"".) Well, patients don't pay because cash prices are unreachable, so they just give up. Anyway, your friends are correct, don't even think of paying those cash billing amounts. Research and find out what Medicare pays, offer 60% of that, and haggle it to 100%.  And sleep well knowing you paid what is fair. Not all services are as overpriced as my example, but most are at least 50% too high.  The hospital does send you all the bills as a formality, even while they submit them to your insurance company. And then the insurance company usually pays them, so it is correct to ""not pay that bill"". A lot of medical offices will check with your insurance company even before you leave the office, and ask you to immediately pay anything the insurance won't cover.  For instance they often have ""co-pays"" where you pay $20 and they pay the rest. To be clear: if your insurance company negotiates a rate with the hospital, say $185 for the ambulance ride, that is your price, which you are entitled to as a member of that insurance system. A lot of people get their livelihood from the inefficiency in medical insurance and billing.  Their political power is why it's so hard for America to install a simpler system (or even replace Obamacare in an ideal political environment).  It is also a big part of why America spends 18% of GDP on healthcare instead of 7-11% like our European peers who do not have to account for every gauze or rebill multiple insurers.  Sorting out ""who pays"" would be expensive even if everyone did pay." To me this is a simple cost/benefit analysis... I'm guessing you will spend a whole lot more time and effort trying to fight the collection agency than the $55 is worth. In this case I would just go ahead, pay it and be done with it. Had the amount been higher, this would change. But that's me; you should do your own analysis based on your circumstances (including how much it's worth to you to be right) and let that inform your decision. "The first thing you should do is write a letter to the collection company telling them that you dispute all charges and demand, per section 809 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, that they immediately validate and confirm any and all debts they allege you owe. You should further request that that they only communicate with you by mail. Section 809 requires them to examine the legal documents showing you allegedly owe a debt and they are required to send this to you. This all creates a useful paper trail. When you send the letter, be sure to send it as certified mail with a return receipt. From your description, it doesn't sound like this will do anything, but it's important you do it within 30 days of them contacting you. This is because the law allows them to assume the debt is valid if you don't do it within 30 days of their initial contact. I recommend you speak with an attorney. Most states have a statute of limitation on debt of about 4 or 5 years. I don't know if that applies to courts though. Whatever you do, be very careful of the language you use when speaking with them. Always refer to it as ""the alleged debt,"" or ""the debt you allege I owe."" You don't want them misconstruing your words later on. As far as proving you paid it, I would look through every scrap of paper I'd ever touched looking for it. If that proves fruitless, try going to the courthouse and looking through their records. If they're saying you didn't pay, that's a long shot, but still worth a try. You could also try bank records from that time, like if you have a Visa statement showing $276.17 paid to the Nevada Court or something like that. If all else fails, the law allows you to send the collector a letter saying that you refuse to pay the debt. The collection company then legally must stop contacting you unless it's to tell you they are suing you or to tell you they won't contact you again. I strongly advise against this though. Your best bet is going to be speaking with a qualified attorney. Edit: You should also pull your credit reports to make sure this isn't being reported there. Federal law gives you the right to have a free copy of each of your credit reports once every year. If it is being reported, send a certified letter with return receipt to each bureau which is reporting it telling them you dispute the information. They then are required to confirm the information. If they can't confirm it, they must remove it. If they do confirm it, you are legally entitled to put a statement disputing the information next to it on your credit report. I am not an attorney. This is not legal advise. You should consult an attorney who is licensed to practice law in your particular jurisdiction." "I am looking at a 1040A. Line 11a asks for total IRA distributions. 11b asks for the taxable amount. Enter ""QCD"" as explanation and remove the Qualified Charitable Deduction amount from 11a to get 11b which is added to your income if there's any positive balance." "Great. 10% of the pre-tax 450 you'd make in a week of 40 hours' work means you could buy about 2 shares a month. I assume they pay bi-weekly, so you can qualify to buy a share.   25% 401k contribution off less than 30k annual salary is peanuts to the company, and peanuts to the employee by retirement. Competitively speaking, thats actually a rather bare-bones retirement package, isn't it?  I hope that health care waves covers deductables 100% - otherwise a yearly checkup will be 10% of your takehome that week in addition to the hours you take off work and get ""points"" under their draconian ""no days off ever"" policy."