Dear Eileen,

Unfortunately, some businesses report unpaid bills to a collection agency as soon as their billing cycle shows those charges as late, and others turn the bills over to a so-called "in-house" collection agency.

This "in-house" agency is used solely to get your attention. It is still the same facility trying to collect payment, but doing so without hiring an outside agency. Once the bill is sent to an outside agency, the collecting facility must "pay" a portion of your bill to the company who finally gets payment from you.

Please email me, if that was confusing. Let me try again...

In other words, your doctor (hospital, radiologist, etc...) will threaten you first with a collection notice that is in fact part of their billing department. If you will call, (yes, sometimes kiss ass), they will work with you and try to figure out the problem. If you don't make an effort to communicate with this department over a certain period of time, sometimes 30-60-90 days, they will officially turn it over to a full-fledged collection agency. The facility is usually more than happy to deal with you first, because it takes less money out of their pocket in the long run.

As far as something being illegal in an attempt to collect a debt, I'm not sure. If you have evidence (returned checks, receipts of payment...etc.)that the facility has accepted, I know these can be used in your defense of trying to re-pay the debt.

I hope this helps,
Mandi