My medical bill went to a collection agency. Can I pay it directly to the hospital?
Short Answer Collections agencies and the businesses they collect for are two different animals. If you don't want this to hurt your credit I suggest you deal directly with the hospital. Pay the bill, but prior to paying it get something in writing that specifically says that this will not be reported onto your credit. That is of course if the hospital even lets you pay them directly. Usually once something is sold to a collections company it's written off.  Long Answer Credit reports are kind of a nightmare to deal with. The hospital just wants their money so they will sell debt off to collections companies. The collections companies want to make money on the debt they've bought so they will do what ever it takes to get it out of you, including dinging your credit report. The credit bureaus are the biggest nightmare to deal with of all. Once something is reported on your credit history they do little to nothing to remove it. You can report it online but this is a huge mistake because when you report online you wave your rights to sue the credit bureaus if they don't investigate the matter properly. This of course leads to massive amounts of claims being under investigated.  So what are your options once something hits your credit history? I know this all sounds bleak but the reason I go into such depth is that they likely have already reported it to the credit bureaus and you just don't see it reported yet. Good luck to you. Get a bottle of aspirin.
From accounting perspective, an unpaid bill for internet services, according to the Accruals Concept, is recorded as a liability under 'Current Liabilities' section of the Balance Sheet. Also as an expense on the Income Statement.  So to answer your question it is both: a debt and an expense, however this is only the case at the end of the period. If you manage to pay it before the financial period ends this is simply an expense that is financed by cash or other liquid Asset on the Balance Sheet such as prepayment for example. For private persons you are generally given some time to pay the bill so it is technically a debt (Internet Provider would list you as a debtor on their accounts), but this is not something to worry about unless you are not considering to pay this bill. In which case your account may be sold as part of a factoring and you will then have a debt affecting your credit rating. Get answers from your equivalent of the IRS, or a local lawyer or accountant who specializes in taxes.  Any other answer you get here would be anectdotal at best.  Never good to rely on legal or medical advice from internet strangers. "I had a similar issue take place at a hospital when the repeatedly billed the ""wrong me"" -- a stale insurance record left behind from when I was a dependent on my parent's insurance a decade earlier. They ended up billing me for anesthesia when I had a major surgery (everything else was billed to the correct insurance.) The outsourced billing people were pretty unhelpful (not usually the case with hospitals), so I became the squeaky wheel. I sent certified letters, had my priest rattle the cage (it was a Catholic hospital) and eventually talked myself into a meeting with the VP of Finance, who started paying attention when the incompetence of his folks became apparent. Total cost: $0 + my time." I was in a similar situation years back and I refused to pay the bill. My point of view was that I provided the hospital with all information needed to submit the claim in a timely matter and that I should not be held responsible for their failure to do so. In the end they waived the charges. So while technically I might have been responsible for paying the charges, in reality I think they decided it wasn't worth the hassle of making me (I would have fought it all the way up to the top). Not sure that I would recommend this approach though :) If they had told me that I owe them $10,000 from 3 years ago, I   wouldn't have anything to fight back. Why? First thing you have to do is ask for a proof. Have you received treatment? Have you signed the bill when you were done? This should include all the information about what you got and how much you agreed to pay. Do they have that to show to you, with your signature on it? If they don't - you owe nothing. If they do - you can match your bank/credit card/insurance records (those are kept for 7 years at least) and see what has been paid already. Can a doctor's office do that? They can do whatever they want. The right question is whether a doctor's office is allowed to do that. Check your local laws, States regulate the medical profession. Is there a statute of limitation (I'm just guessing) that forces them   to notify me in a certain time frame? Statute of limitations limits their ability to sue you successfully. They can always sue you, but if the statute of limitations has passed, the court will throw the suite away (provided you bring this defense up on time of course). Without a judgement they cannot force you to pay them, they can only ask. Nicely, as the law quoted by MrChrister mandates. They can trash your credit report and send the bill to collections though, but if the statute of limitations has passed I doubt they'd do that. Especially if its their fault. I'm not a lawyer, and you should consult with a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction for definitive answers and legal advice. If it was me, I'd wait until/if you get contacted again by the collection agency.  Once you do, I'd offer to settle for less.  Perhaps 1000-1250 to start, and I would not go any higher than 2K.  Get it in writing that this settles your debt in full, and do not give them direct access to your checking account. You can pay them by certified check or with a prepaid credit card or something.  If you do the latter, throw that prepaid card away, and never use it again. You may also try to get them to agree that you do not owe the full 5K, and again get that in writing.  Otherwise, you will be 1099'd for the difference between it and the amount you settle and therefore it will be treated as income.  I'd stick 2k in a bank account for a while, perhaps two years, and you are free to use the remaining 3K to meet other goals.  After two years, I would check my credit and see if it is still in the report.  You might also choose to dispute the collection and see what happens there.  If it is successful it will come off your report. Prior to a big credit decision (aka buying a home), I would check on the status of this collection.  Only at that time would I contact that collection agency and again try to settle.  If I contacted them, I would start the negotiations around 500 or so. In short, no, or not retroactively. There really are multiple companies involved, each of which bills you separately for the services they provided. This can be partly avoided by selecting either a high-end health plan with lower out-of-pocket maximum, (costs more up front, of course) or by selecting a genuine Health Management Organization (not a PPO) which gathers more of the services into a single business. Either of these would result in fewer cash payments needing to be sent.  But I don't know of any way to simplify things after the fact. Even if there was a consolidation service, you would have to forward the bills to them, which really wouldn't be any easier than just paying the bills. (I'm assuming you are in the US, where we have a health insurance system rather than a health system. Other countries may handle this differently.) I understand that if I have multiple health insurance policies, I can only make claim from only one of them if ever I incur medical expenses (I'm from the Philippines). In the US, you cannot simultaneously submit a claim for payment of a medical bill, or request reimbursement for a bill already paid, to multiple insurance companies, but if you are covered by more  than one policy, then any part of a claim not paid by one company  can be submitted to another company that is also covering you. In fact, if you have employer-paid or employer-provided coverage, most  insurance companies will want your employer-provided insurance company  to be billed first, and will cover whatever is not paid by the employer coverage. For example, if the employer coverage pays 80% of your doctor's bill, the private insurance will pay the remaining 20%. But, the private  insurance policies are also quite expensive.  Some professional groups in the US offer major medical coverage to  their US members, and might be offering this to non-US members as well (though I suspect not).  These policies have large deductibles so that coverage kicks in only when the total medical expenses in that year (whether wholly or partially reimbursed, or not reimbursed at all) exceed the large deductible.  These types of policies actually pay out to only a few people - if you have more than, say, $20,000 of medical expenses in a year, you have been quite ill,  and thus the premiums are usually much smaller than full-fledged coverage  insurance policies which pay out much more frequently because of much smaller deductibles. If you read all that paperwork they made you fill out at the emergency room, there is probably something in there explicitly stating that you owe any bills you rack up regardless of what happens with the insurance company. They generally have a disclaimer that filing for you with your insurance company is a courtesy service they offer, but they are not obliged to do it.  Ultimately, you are responsible for your bills even if the provider slow-billed you.  Sorry. "They have forever to collect a balance from you.  Furthermore they can add whatever penalties and fees they wish to increase that balance.  Worst of all, they don't have to remind you or send you bills or any other notification.  You owed it when you left the office.  (There very well could be local laws that require notifications, but that isn't really the issue here.) That dentist has every right to deny you service until you settle the account.  Forever. The statute of limitations on collecting that debt via court: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/savings/when-does-your-debt-expire.aspx Which covers the rules on HOW LONG they have to collect the debt.  Owing the money is one thing, but the rules and tools that you creditor has to collect the debt are another.  You are probably worried about them suing you. But if you don't pay the debt (or settle in some way), that dentist can refuse to provide services to you, even if they write off the debt. Ways you can be punished by your dentist for not paying the bill are: Depending on your jurisdiction and/or type of debt, they typically only report it on your credit (if they are reporting at all) for 7 years.  Even if you pay and settle the account, it will still be reported on your credit report for 7 years.  The difference is how it is reported.  They can report that ""user133466 is a super reliable person who always pays debts on time"".  They can say ""user133466 is a flake who pays, but takes a while to pay"".  Or they can say ""user133466 is a bad person to provide services before collecting money, because user133466 don't pay bills"". Other people considering lending you money are going to read these opinions and decide accordingly if they want to deal with you or not. And they can say that for 7 years.  The idea of credit reporting is that you settle up as soon as possible and get your credit report to reflect the truth. One popular way to collect a debt to is to sue you for it.  There, each state has a different time period on how long a creditor has to sue you for a debt. http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/state-statutes-of-limitations-for-old-debts-1.aspx If you pay part of the debt, that will often reset the clock on the statute of limitations, so be sure any partial or negotiated settlements state very clearly, in writing, that payment is considered payment in full on the debt.  Then you keep that record forever. There are other interesting points in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  See Debt collectors calling? Know your rights.  They can only contact you in certain ways, they must respond to you in certain ways, and they have limits on what they can say, who they can say it to, and when they can say it.  There are protections from mean or vicious bill collectors, but that doesn't sound like who you are dealing with.  I don't know that the FDCPA is a tool you need to use in this case. You should negotiate your debt and try your best to settle up.  From your post, both parties dropped the ball, and both parties should give a little.  You should pay no or minor late fees, and the doctor should report your credit positively when you do so.  If you both made honest mistakes, they both parties should acknowledge that and be fair, and not defensive. This is not legal advice.  But you owe the debt, so you should settle up.  I don't think it is fair for you to not pay because they didn't mail you a paper.  However I also do not think it is fair for the doctor to run up fees and not remind you of the bill. Finally, you didn't bring up insurance or many other details.  Those details can change the answer." As far as I can tell, the direct deposit option would require you to have a US bank account, which you don't have. So wire transfer is your only option unless you can ask them to try something else, like one of the cheaper money transfer services around. The charges for wire transfers tend to be fairly significant (typically low tens of USD). Depending on your relationship with the payer and the nature of the payment, try to get them to send it with all charges paid so you actually receive the amount you are owed and they cover the charges. Collections companies buy debt for a fraction of the face value of the debt (as little as 5-7 cents on the dollar), and you can often settle debt for a fraction of the face amount (perhaps 10-25 cents on the dollar). But there are several considerations.  Do you owe the debt (is it a legitimate debt), can you afford to pay the debt, what is the age of the debt (remember, there is a statute of limitations on debt, varies by state), and what are the consequences of non-payment or settlement of the debt. Rather than confirm that you owe the debt, tell the debt collector that you need proof that the debt is yours (you should do this by certified letter).  Be careful not to confirm the debt, or agree to pay it, or make any payments (yet). You said that your doctor ordered the product for you. You said the company sent you a product (you have the product). Once you have confirmed that the debt is yours, you should determine the age of the debt (when was the last time you paid on the debt).  Each state has statute of limitations on debt, depending upon the age of the debt (this is why it is important not to send the collector money until you have verified the debt). You did not state when the debt was incurred (assume under SoL). Ask yourself whether you can afford to pay the debt.  The amount of the debt, and your ability to pay, and whether you want to avoid the time and expense of dealing with the collector (they are trained to be annoying) are all factors to consider.  You should also consider the negative consequences (credit score effects), and whether the cost of a derogatory entry is worth fighting the debt. You did not explain your financial situation; paying the $55 may be trivial, or it may be a hardship. Before you settle any debt, you should send a letter (keep a copy and proof you sent it, certified), and demand that the debt collector provide proof that you owe the debt.  Often this proof does not exist, or is insufficient to gain a judgement (you would need legal help here).  And should a debt collector agree to settle the debt for a lower amount, you need to get that agreement in writing.  Be aware that when you settle a debt, the collector can (and will) send you a 1099 for the portion of the debt which has been forgiven, and can report to the credit bureaus that you settled a debt for less than the full amount (negative mark against credit).  Derogatory credit items will haunt you for years. Decide whether saving $20, $30 or even $55 is worth the trouble.  Probably not. Learn from this. When a company sends you something you did not order, contact them, and send it back or demand they pay shipping, and send them a letter demanding $5/day storage and $20 handling fee to ship it back to them. Disclaimer: Heed the insane ravings of a deranged heretic at your peril... hire a lawyer. It is important to understand that when or before you received services from your medical provider(s), you almost certainly signed a document stating that you understand that you are fully responsible for the entire bill, even though the provider  may be willing to bill the insurer on your behalf as a service. In almost all cases, this is the arrangement, so it is very unlikely that you will be able to dispute the validity of the bill, since you did receive the service and almost certainly agreed to be fully responsible for the payments. With regard to the discounts, your medical provides have likely contracted with your insurer to provide services at a certain price or discount level, so I would base all of your negotiations with the providers and/or the collectors on those amounts. They can't legitimately bill you for the full amount since you are insured by a company they have a contract with, and you are not self-pay/uninsured, and the fact that they haven't been paid by your insurer doesn't change that, because the discount likely depends on the contact they have with your insurer and not whether or not they are billed/paid by your insurer. Please note - this is a common arrangement, but I'd recommend that you verify this with your insurer. Unfortunately, payment in 90+ days is often typical by insurance standards, so it's not yet clear to me whether or not your insurer has broken any laws such as a Prompt Pay law, or violated the terms of your policy with them (read it!). However, you need to find out which claims rep/adjuster is handling your claims and follow up with them until the payments are made. It's not personal, so make this person's life miserable until it is done and call them so often that they know it's you by the caller ID. I would also recommend contacting the collector(s), and letting them know that you don't have the money and so will not be able to pay, provide them with copies of the EOBs that state that the insurance company plans to pay the providers, and then ignore their calls/letters until the payments are made. When they call, simply reiterate that you don't have the money and that your insurance company is in the process of paying the bills. You have to expect that you will be dealing with a low-paid employee that is following a script. You are just the next person on their robo-call list, and they are not going to understand that you don't have a pile of money laying around with which to pay them, even if you tell them repeatedly. Make sure that you at no point give them access to any of your financial accounts, such as a checking or savings account, or a debit card - they will access it and clean you out. It is likely that your insurance provider will pay the providers directly since they were likely billed by the providers originally. If the providers have sold the debt to the collectors (and are not just employing a collector for debt they still own), you may have to follow up with the providers as well and make sure that the collection activity stops, since the providers may also need to forward the payments to the collectors once they are paid by the insurance company. Of course, if the insurer refuses to pay the claims, at that point I would recommend meeting with a lawyer to seek to force them to pay. Due to the fact that months have gone by since the item was shipped to you it will be hard to resolve by sending it back.  The collection agency is now only interested in getting as much of the money as they can from you. They may have sent a percentage of the debt to the original company when they bought the debt. They may also be working on a commission. Therefore they are not interested in having everybody happy with the result. They need to follow the law, but they don't care if you are a happy customer.  The longer you wait to resolve it, the longer it will remain on the credit report. The fact that it went to collections has already hurt your score.  Yes, make sure that they update your credit file to reflect that you have paid the debt. Get it in writing. Also check with your health insurance company to see if this is at least partially covered by insurance. They generally won't cover the $12 in fees from the collections company, but they might cover part of the original bill. Depending on the item, it might also be an allowable expense for your FSA (Flexible spending account) or your HSA (Health Spending account). I don't quite understand the NYSE argument that the credit system helps NASDAQ undercut NYSE on pricing and force brokers to trade on NASDAQ. I thought if you were trading a stock listed on NASDAQ, you traded through them and if you were trading a stock listed on NYSE, you'd trade over there. The choice of exchange coming down to the stocks you want to trade more than anything. Are the exchanges also acting as endpoints on trades for securities listed on the other exchange?