look for big bhn news soon

[iceturkee]

don't know the rules about student loans because my parents were kind enough to pay for my college.

more on pivot.................if the cable companies don't resolve the apparent serious problems with sprint, then i have to agree. as i told my bhn contact, if i'm having this kind of trouble now......what the heck will happen if i ever get the service? i don't need the hassle or the increased expenditure.

 

[skottey]

They will start intercepting your tax return at some point with student loans.

Sorry for the off topic, but since we were talking about debts, what about student loans, are they the same as credit card company? If you don't pay, do they come after you harder or put you in jail?

 

[skottey]

Student loans are worse for your credit than credit cards and defaulted student loans stay on longer (10 years). Remember, they are government guaranteed. They do affect the score, as do medical credit entries nowadays. Medical credit entries didn't back in the day but they do now.

Student loans also if im not mistaken like medical records do not affect your "credit score" But I could be wrong on that

 

[LonghornXP]

I could be wrong on this but I also think I read in a newspaper a while back that student loans unlike in the past no longer have a SOL anymore. So even though it may get taken off your credit after 10 years you will always owe that money and can always be sued for it in court even after 50+ years.

Beyond the above they can do what skottey has said and even more. They can take your tax returns for the rest of your life (until loan is paid off). Beyond that they can now also garnish a specific percentage of your paycheck as well. Also if you default on a student loan you cannot get SSI, SSDI etc either until you become current on your student loan payments. I believe they can do more stuff than this but those are the key things they can do. I believe this only applies to a federal student loan though. If you just got a normal loan or used a credit card it would be like defaulting any credit card. It will just wreck your credit because your paycheck nor tax returns would be garnished.

Edit...Medical collections will hurt your credit just as bad as say a credit card collection but only in the short term. The medical debt will have an overall lower impact on your credit score after the first two years unlike a credit card collection. So a medical collection of 5,000 might only greatly impact your overall credit score for only the first 2.5 years of the 7 years while a credit card collection would greatly impact your credit report for say 4-5 years of those 7 years. Just a rule of thumb that your overall credit score will be very close to normal (as if you didn't have any collections) "if" you only have one or two total collections, all of them are 4+ years old "and" all collections combined are less than say 15 grand.

As you might guess the lower the debt amount and the longer it has been on the report will greatly impact how much it lowers your scores. Again a medical debt (only collection on report) of say two grand that has been on your report for say 4.5 years most likely would have very little impact on your credit score "if" you have built credit on other accounts and have paid on time for at least two of those four years. Your score would be lower but were talking about having a score of 715 instead of 720 for example. Yes its lower but honestly it ain't doing ya any harm in the whole scheme of things is it.

Now the above is a general rule of thumb and for most cases its a good accurate overview of things "but" on a single case basis it could be all wrong. Plus it doesn't help when FICO scores have an error rate of around 70% to start with.

 

[skottey]

Medical collections will hurt your credit just as bad as say a credit card collection but only in the short term.

I hope you are right about this. My father had a very high credit score which fell below 700 after he was mistakenly charged a medical bill that the insurance should have either paid or they shouldn't have charged in the first place. He has been fighting with the insurance and hospital for 2-3 years and refuses to pay (as he shouldn't in this case). Hopefully, what you are saying about the short term is true (2.5 years).

 

[LonghornXP]

I hope you are right about this. My father had a very high credit score which fell below 700 after he was mistakenly charged a medical bill that the insurance should have either paid or they shouldn't have charged in the first place. He has been fighting with the insurance and hospital for 2-3 years and refuses to pay (as he shouldn't in this case). Hopefully, what you are saying about the short term is true (2.5 years).

If your father is without a doubt sure his insurance would have paid it or if he is sure he doesn't owe the money I'd suggest going to small claims court. At that point they would have to prove under oath that your father owes that money which they cannot. Also if the bill is say over a grand I might even consider filing a police report for theft and insurance fraud. If the insurance should have convered it and they aren't paying it or billing it I'd say that falls under fraud or insurance fraud. Also if his insurance is Medicare you might look into this even more because it would very well be fraud against the federal government. These all above are worst case options but right now this process shouldn't be taking this long to get settled that is for sure.

Also have your father send in a request to Transunion etc for debt validation. Also have this debt validation letter state that insurance should have paid this deft. Once this occurs the company who sent the account to collections would have to prove that the insurance company wouldn't cover it and I'd bet they cannot prove that. If you have done the following and lost than I'd be thinking that his insurance had sometype of loophole with regards to coverage. At this point your forcing the hospital most likely to prove "with" legal paperwork that your insurance company wouldn't cover it. You can call them all you want and they will say anything "until" you make them say under oath via legal paperwork that you owe it.

My advise is general advise and I'll admit I could be wrong on some of this. Either way its worth keeping in mind and trying at the least.

 

[jcarrera]

We are way off topic with these latest posts, but I will add...

Every medical place I go has you sign things before you receive service. Invariably it includes words saying that YOU are responsible for payment. In such a case, if insurance doesn't cover your bill (rightly or wrongly), it is still YOUR responsibility for the bill to the medical provider.

You may have a cause of action against the insurance company if they have not fulfilled their agreement under which you are insured, but it is not the provider's responsibility to fight the battle with the insurance. They often will FILE the claim FOR YOU to YOUR insurance company, but if ins doesn't pay, you were the one receiving the service; you are responsible for the bill.

 

[iceturkee]

good point as this sub topic seems more appropriate for the pit.

 

[skottey]

We are way off topic with these latest posts, but I will add...

Every medical place I go has you sign things before you receive service. Invariably it includes words saying that YOU are responsible for payment. In such a case, if insurance doesn't cover your bill (rightly or wrongly), it is still YOUR responsibility for the bill to the medical provider.

You may have a cause of action against the insurance company if they have not fulfilled their agreement under which you are insured, but it is not the provider's responsibility to fight the battle with the insurance. They often will FILE the claim FOR YOU to YOUR insurance company, but if ins doesn't pay, you were the one receiving the service; you are responsible for the bill.

You are right. They make you sign... blah blah blah, you are responsible if the insurance doesn't pay. In my father's case, he was told by the insurance that they were paying for home health aids to come after a surgery and then they didn't pay up. It is a total mess. I don't know specifically what he is doing about it nor am I that involved with the situation. I was just relaying how a medical mess like such can drop your credit score. You are also right that many of us got way off topic... haha... I am going to post again now back on topic.

 

[skottey]

Nothing New TV wise with BHN

There is NOTHING NEW that the CSR knows about at BHN.

After reading another post today, it dawned on me that I am getting a handful of HD channels as part of my $20 HD package with Dish that I was also paying $6 a month for separately with BHN. I was getting ESPN1/2, HDNet 1/2, Universal, and Mojo with BHN as part of their HDPak. Well, I get all those except for Mojo (which I never watch) as part of Dish so I called to scrap them and lower my bill today.

While I was on the phone with Sales I asked yet again about Cinemax HD, which I have asked about for the last few years every time I call for something. Nope, no word yet. I asked about the 26 HBO and Max multichannels going HD and whether or not they would carry any.. nope, no word. How about any new national HD channels at all?? Nope.. nothing he has heard about. Of course I ranted and said BHN is falling behind to Dish and Verizon FIOS will one day soon be in my city. He said he would pass the message along to management "as I always do."

Seriously people. BHN is getting their priorities out of whack by messing around with cell phone service. I am more than willing to spend money on TV with them but they are falling way behind with channel adds. I want my Cinemax HD, the new Discovery Channels in HD, etc. Dish has all that, but I keep my Cinemax subscription with BHN for the On Demand. But it has gotten to the point where I can't watch anything but the news in standard def without being annoyed by the PQ and Pan and Scan.

Give me more HD or we will be parting ways!

 

[iceturkee]

i wish i had something upbeat to report.

 

[iceturkee]

if anyone is interested in my final outcome to get pivot service read on. i finally got the past due payment which was made aug 1 squared away with the credit bureaus and sprint. so i call again to order pivot, and i finally get past the flag. but i only get so far as my order couldn't be completed. the excuse i get now was........gosh, we're really happy your previous balance with sprint is zero dollars but you still can't have our service. WTFO?

i told them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine. sprint did offer me service with a small deposit. whoppie, that was a waste of money. don't misunderstand, i would pay my debts but living on a fixed income from the government is hard enough. when i checked my credit, the bad stuff was medical bills i incurred for some visits to the emergency room a few years ago. i was told the VA would pay and they didn't. i refuse to pay.

anyhow, i'm told again that there are still major issues that bhn is having with sprint over this program.