So what do I do now?

[ArtemisLamprig]

So,

I live in Utah, and someone on the doctor's end forgot to call and tell insurance that my newborn son was getting his in-hospital hearing test, so I've got to pay 41 dollars.

They send 1 letter and called me, I gave them my credit card info. They just called me back 1 hour before their office closed telling me they took my credit card info down wrong, so if I don't get back to them in the next hour they were sending my debt to collections. I got the voicemail 15 minutes after they closed.

I think at this point I just have to wait until monday to call them back, but I'm trying to figure out what this means. The mistake was on their end (twice,) and it's been a couple months, not the 180 days I thought was required to send things off to collections. Not to mention it's 41 dollars. Can they really send me to collections? Is there a way I can pay them back and have them reverse the damage their doing to my credit score over their (twice) mistake? This seems like the dumbest reason in the world to send collections after me, and I'm trying to figure out what I can do about it.

Thanks.

[Coltfan1972]

They can send you to collection for one cent and one hour past due if they want. Your confusing the 180 day time frame where they are required, for accounting purposes only, to charge off the debt.

If the debt was past due and reported as past due that is correct reporting. It won't matter a few days later. It's all the same. It's being reported past due. You can try a pay for delete offer, but it's a huge long shot for what you just wrote.

Also, they should assist you and take some responsibility for billing insurance, but at the end of the day, legally, your responsible for making sure the billing and notification is correct. I'm sure they are like all doctor's and state they provide, as a courtsey, billing direct to the insurance company.