It is true that kind of stuff can happen to careful people..........alas there is a large contingent of people who immediately believe if there is credit action against you that you are a dead beat.
True. Also, alot of credit actions are for unpaid medical bills for unexpected catastrophic injuries, etc...hardly the kinda stuff that calls for ruthless collection practices.
That is true. Two years ago I went to a local emergency room and was billed, as was my insurance. The insurance company sent my form showing how much the hospital charged, how much was allowed under their contract with the hospital, and how much I owed.
The form stated that for no reason was I to pay the difference between what the hospital charged and the amount the insurer and the hospital had agreed, which amounted to something like $73.00
I paid my portion and thought that was that.
I then got a bill from the hospital which demanded immediate payment of the $73.00. I wrote back that I didn't owe it and to take it up with the insurance company.
Next month I got a call from a collection agency. Some weasel making threats and snarling on the other end of the phone is always greeted with a rude remark and a hangup by me. I told him the situation and hung up.
A few months later, I checked my credit report. There is was: two or three lines that confirmed my dead beatness to the world. The collector had reported my delinquency, all $73.00 of it. Fuming, I gathered my insurance docs and hospital bills and started doing the math, all ready to sue the SOBs.
That's when I found MY error. Because of deficient math skills, I had underestimated what I owed to hospital by........$73.00. I had paid them almost $300, but came up $73.00 short. Of course, I felt like an idiot.
I wrote the hospital a check the next day. I wasn't a dead beat or a bad credit risk, far from it. But, I had made an honest mistake.
Dang. This turned into a long post.