Hi Personal Finance, my siblings and I are in a predicament around debt collection, and i am wondering if there is any advice.
Every time I went back to visit my hometown while in college, my mom scheduled me for several appointments in our local hospital, stuff such as general checkups and a flu shot.
I didn't know how much these things would have cost and was under the impression my dad was paying them. That's how it had always worked growing up. I was on his plan with a 5k deductible at the time and looking back, everything would have been full price and there's no way I could have covered those costs.
I got shocked a month ago when I got a lot of bills from collectors totalling about 2k, representing every college appointment I had. None of them were paid.
If this were the only problem I could take care of these bills myself. However I found out recently that at one, probably both, of my younger siblings are in the same situation, and are much less able to handle it.
They graduated college as well under my parents' care and insurance, and they had many counseling sessions in addition to regular checkups. Now all 3 of us have debt collectors. Neither of my siblings can afford these bills right now. One of them has psychological issues and does not have stable employment, the other does not make much money and is planning on taking the credit hit.
None of us 3 ever saw the bills due to what looks like a communication breakdown. My parents divorced right before I entered college and it was a bad divorce. My dad then moved 8 hours away from my mom.
My mom got all the bills delivered to her as the hospital used our permanent address. She claims she gave all the bills to my dad, and it was his responsibility to pay.
My dad says my mom never gave him any bills.
Caught in the middle of all this, my siblings and I are really wishing we had been given our own bills.
So my question is: i am wondering if my decision to pay and that of my siblings to ignore the collectors seems wise, and if there is anything else we can consider doing.
Thanks!
Submitted January 03, 2018 at 07:07AM by you-are-not-yourself http://ift.tt/2Cy2rWO
