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SENATE BILL INTRODUCED TO DELAY REPORTING UNPAID MEDICAL DEBTS OF VETERANS
- A bill has been introduced in the Senate that would require a one-year delay in reporting the unpaid medical debts of veterans who are accessing healthcare through the Veterans Choice program to credit bureaus. The Veterans Choice program allows veterans to be reimbursed when visiting a non-VA doctor if the wait for an appointment is more than 30 days or for going to a non-VA hospital or clinic if they live more than 40 miles away. In many cases, the VA is not paying the bills fast enough, which is damaging the credit ratings of veterans using the program.
COLLECTION AGENCY ACCUSED OF NOT REMITTING NEARLY $200K TO SCHOOL BOARD
- A Florida school board is getting ready to sue CheckCare, a collection agency, for allegedly not remitting nearly $200,000 in collected funds. CheckCare was hired more than a year ago to collect on unpaid school lunches, field-trip fees, after-care programs and other assorted school expenses. CheckCare was supposed to take out a $300,000 bond prior to the agreement being signed, but the school board did not verify this before signing the contract.
FTC BANS TWO COLLECTION OPERATIONS, ASSESSES MORE THAN $4M IN FINES
- The Federal Trade Commission closed the book on two cases against debt collection operations, which included lifetime bans for all involved and a $4.4 million fine against one of the companies. In both cases, the defendants threatened or harassed individuals into making payments, while one group impersonated law enforcement officials and the other made threats to friends and family members of those individuals from whom it was trying to collect.
MASS. STATE COURT RULES CALLING, BUT NOT LEAVING VOICEMAIL, COUNTS AS COMMUNICATION
- Reaching an individuals voicemail but not leaving a message constitutes a communication in the state of Massachusetts, and a state judge has awarded summary judgment against a debt collector for doing just that. The law in Massachusetts limits collectors to “two communications within a seven-day period.” In this case, a collector spoke to an individual, and then made two attempts to reach the individual five days later and two more attempts the following day. Each of those attempts constitutes a communication, according to the court, even after the defendant argued that a communication requires the transmission of information, which did not happen because no message was left and no conversation was had.
WORTH NOTING: Women in movies still speak less and take their clothes off more than men, according to a new study … Google has a really cool plan to stop aspiring ISIS recruits … For every hour that doctors spend seeing patients, they spend two hours doing paperwork … Formula One was sold for $4.4 billion … The economy expanded in July and August, according to the Federal Reserve Board’s Beige Book report … Eight great tactics for following up with potential sales targets … A first-hand report of the new iPhones … Matt Lauer got blasted for his handling of interviews with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump … The No. 1 cause of financial misery in every state … The NFL season starts tonight. Here is a ranking of all 32 teams … Amazon is testing a 30-hour work week for some of its employees … An employee badge that not only knows where you are, but who you are talking to.
An overview of the new iPhone
Meet the new “Most Interesting Man in the World”
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The Daily Digest is sponsored by TCN, a leading provider of cloud-based call center technology for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs, and collection agencies worldwide.
