So, back in October, I had to go to the ER because my gallbladder had the nerve to be full of stones, one of which it allowed to escape, and while it may not have killed me, it sure felt like it was trying to.
Then, as you know, about the middle of October I had my gallbladder removed.
Well, as most of you know, Kyle works for a major airline and has taken major pay and benefits cuts over the past few years. Our insurance pays less than ever, costs more than ever, and Kyle makes less money than he has in 15 years now while doing a job with more responsibility. AND I am now working full time again.
The point? We have some debt from the ER visit and the surgery. Total, our portion was around $1700. We have been paying roughly $200 a month to the hospital toward this debt (since November). Of course, the hospital has been taking our payments, BUT they turned us over to collections.
For the past week, the collection agency has been calling me incessantly while I am at work, so I have not had a chance to call them back. I called them this morning, and it was terrible. We now owe a little more than half of our original balance, and so the guy said we needed to pay it in full today. I laughed and told him if we could do that, we would have never paid payments to begin with. So, he said, tell me what you can pay, and we'll take that and settle this. So I said half (which would be about $500). He put his supervisor on the phone, and the supervisor tells me that they'll take the $500 and we can pay the other $500 next month.
I told him no that the first guy had said the $500 would settle it, and the supervisor said no they would not do that. So, then he says, Oh you have great credit (and called out our credit score) and then he told me just to put it on a credit card. I said uh no are you crazy! That's why we have great credit. Then we decided I'll pay him the $500 today and make three more payments over the next three months to pay it off. And I ask, Where do I mail the check? He says oh no, we don't take checks. WHAT? He wanted to debit my checking account (CAN WE ALL SAY HEEEELLLLLL NO?) or charge my credit card every month (ANOTHER HEEELLLL NO). He was so rude and condescending to me, telling me he wouldn't risk his job of FIVE years (BIG F'ing DEAL! My husband's had his job 22 years 
) on a check payment. Whatever. So I ended the call by telling him not to call my house or any other number he has for me EVER again, and I told him, Since you have been on your job FIVE WHOLE YEARS you should know Georgia law, and since I told you not to call again, then you know if you do, you'll be in violation of Georgia law. You wouldn't want to risk your job for that!
I have a call in to the hospital about it, and will try to deal directly with them.
But what frustrates me is the fact that WE HAVE BEEN PAYING this debt and they have accepted our payments and then they do this to us?
We do have good credit. We pay our bills. We work hard. We don't shrug off our responsibilities, and then this guy calls and treats me like crap, like a moron? I know this is how they work, and I get that part about the collection agency, but why did the hospital do that to us?
And dang, it's not like I wanted to go the ER or get sick and have surgery. It's not like we bought a luxury yacht and defaulted! I didn't have a choice in the matter.
Then, as you know, about the middle of October I had my gallbladder removed.
Well, as most of you know, Kyle works for a major airline and has taken major pay and benefits cuts over the past few years. Our insurance pays less than ever, costs more than ever, and Kyle makes less money than he has in 15 years now while doing a job with more responsibility. AND I am now working full time again.
The point? We have some debt from the ER visit and the surgery. Total, our portion was around $1700. We have been paying roughly $200 a month to the hospital toward this debt (since November). Of course, the hospital has been taking our payments, BUT they turned us over to collections.
For the past week, the collection agency has been calling me incessantly while I am at work, so I have not had a chance to call them back. I called them this morning, and it was terrible. We now owe a little more than half of our original balance, and so the guy said we needed to pay it in full today. I laughed and told him if we could do that, we would have never paid payments to begin with. So, he said, tell me what you can pay, and we'll take that and settle this. So I said half (which would be about $500). He put his supervisor on the phone, and the supervisor tells me that they'll take the $500 and we can pay the other $500 next month.
I told him no that the first guy had said the $500 would settle it, and the supervisor said no they would not do that. So, then he says, Oh you have great credit (and called out our credit score) and then he told me just to put it on a credit card. I said uh no are you crazy! That's why we have great credit. Then we decided I'll pay him the $500 today and make three more payments over the next three months to pay it off. And I ask, Where do I mail the check? He says oh no, we don't take checks. WHAT? He wanted to debit my checking account (CAN WE ALL SAY HEEEELLLLLL NO?) or charge my credit card every month (ANOTHER HEEELLLL NO). He was so rude and condescending to me, telling me he wouldn't risk his job of FIVE years (BIG F'ing DEAL! My husband's had his job 22 years ) on a check payment. Whatever. So I ended the call by telling him not to call my house or any other number he has for me EVER again, and I told him, Since you have been on your job FIVE WHOLE YEARS you should know Georgia law, and since I told you not to call again, then you know if you do, you'll be in violation of Georgia law. You wouldn't want to risk your job for that!I have a call in to the hospital about it, and will try to deal directly with them.
But what frustrates me is the fact that WE HAVE BEEN PAYING this debt and they have accepted our payments and then they do this to us?
We do have good credit. We pay our bills. We work hard. We don't shrug off our responsibilities, and then this guy calls and treats me like crap, like a moron? I know this is how they work, and I get that part about the collection agency, but why did the hospital do that to us?
And dang, it's not like I wanted to go the ER or get sick and have surgery. It's not like we bought a luxury yacht and defaulted! I didn't have a choice in the matter.
A little virtual 
is also acceptable.
