Politicians love grabbing easy votes by condemning the evils of going after bills. This is in no way surprising since there are many more voters who owe money than those who are owed. This time it is a bad Hospital.
What did the Hospital do? They demanded payment for services from patients who were not insured. Even worse, according to the Senator, they were a Non-Profit Hospital.
As a business owner, you are aware that even a Not for Profit company has to pay bills? The Doctors, Nurses and Staff will not work for free. Food, medicine and cleaning supplies will not spring up from the ground. Everything they provide has a cost.
The Senator made no attempt to provide a solution for the Hospital for the loss of income that free service would cause. There is only one I can think of; increasing prices for everybody else. The Hospital does accept charity cases, but the people in debt collection did not meet the charity requirements.
That didn’t seem to matter at all to the Senator. Here was his chance to gain some big time press coverage as a hero. It is so very easy to lift up the downtrodden at somebody’s expense.
The poor DO need help and as individuals and a society we should feel morally obligated to do everything possible. Businesses should also help. This can only be done, however, if the Business can remain in operation.
The Debt Collection industry has been an easy target for politicians for years. In fairness, some collectors are nasty and some lie. I am all for getting them out of the business. Politicians, however, find it easy to condemn all Agencies and it is reflected in poorly defined laws.
For example, our letters have to be understood by the least sophisticated reader. I don’t know who that person is. Neither does any Judge.
Welcome to the club. The political trend seems to be spreading. Now it is a Hospital. At some point in the future will a politician wag his finger at you, your company or your industry about going after the poor, helpless consumers who don’t pay your bill?
Now might be a good time to speak to your business organizations about the problem. Helping the poor is not related to collecting legitimate debts.
You probably screen consumers to make sure they can pay your bill before you provide credit. You probably try very hard to resolve all problems relating to unpaid bills. You only want what was promised to you when the consumer agreement was signed. Have you no right to proceed against the consumer if the bill isn’t paid?
You don’t need some politician grandstanding about your company or industry as evil for proceeding against consumers who don’t pay. It isn’t accurate. It isn’t fair.
It isn’t good for you or your business.
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Executive Credit Management is a full-service Debt Collection and Applicant Screening agency with over 20 years experience located in Central New Jersey. We provide excellent service in the following areas: Employment Screening, Business Screening, and Tenant Screening. Executive Credit Management belongs to a number of Skip Tracing databases and offers services to help locate and confirm the current address of missing debtors. Other services provided are: litigation evaluation on all lawsuit decisions, improvement of the quality of the applicant data, Lawsuit Monitoring, Handling of Debtor Disputes. Executive Credit Management features the best Call Monitoring System in the Debt Collection industry.