oc sending to ca

[gapinky]

i am 90 days past due on a dentist bill for my son (600) the oc called today wanted to set up payment today i told he i could not till the first of the month then i would love to get this paid with arrangements she said if nothing is paid by the 29th it will go to collections, i guess my question is can it go to collections at any time? She wont wait till the first because it is the end of the month.

[Robert Nashville/Savannah]

A creditor can send an account to an outside collection agency at any time; one year late or one hour late with a payment really doesn't matter. They also don't ever have to send an account to a CA at all if they don't want to do so.

As a practical matter of course, most businesses have some sort of policy as to how/when certain actions are taken...the person you were talking with may have been blowing smoke or may have just been following their SOP.

If you are able and willing to pay with some sort of payment arrangement, ask if you can speak with the dentist or whoever this women (you were speaking with) answers to or even this woman herself...it's a lot harder to say "no" when the person asking for a little mercy is sitting on a chair on the other side of the desk.