It has been suggested before to ignore them. If coming to your home, send it back with "no longer living at this address". These collection agencies can be aggressive and use tactics that are against FTC regulations. You do not want them hounding you. Like said, they really can't sue Mom. It costs more to go to court sometimes then the debt for these agencies. I don't think contacting them will change things, they are not getting their money.
If going to her nursing home ignore. If they ever call there they will be told that Mom is a resident of a Nursing home.
My mother got a bill in her ALF during Covid that I didn't see for 9 months. It was for $16.53. Believe it or not, the company sent the bill to a collection agency after billing mom for 9 months straight, which was at least $5.00 in postage, not including time and supplies. The collection agency billed mom for another 5 months when I got a hold of ALL the bills. I paid the stupid $16.53 to the collection agency along with a note explaining the situation, and that the company was billing a 94 year old elder with dementia residing in a MEMORY CARE facility, which was ridiculous to begin with. No response. That was in April. The check was cashed 1 week later.
Now, mom is getting billed by BOTH the original company and the collection agency on a monthly basis ever since. At the Memory Care AL. Which should never have been the address in the first place.
Moral of the story: ignore bills from collection agencies. They just multiply and spread like cancer, even after they're paid. 😆
The bad news: If there is 1 debt collector looking for her, likely there will be another…..
The good news: mom is judgement proof from debt collectors except for the supercreditors which are IRS and state tax authorities. If her only income is Social security or another governmental type of retirement those cannot be attached by a debt collector or attached if she gets a judgement against her. So that debt collector really can’t do squat to mom / you but be a nuisance & that they will be for weeks till this particular debt is sold to yet another debt collector group. Can’t do anything to you either unless you co-signed on the debt, or you make the mistake of agreeing to pay off her debt to the collector or you say that your responsible for her debts. What Mrstbill & Alva wrote is mucho importante on that front.
what to do, well personally I’d sent them a certified letter with the return registered card ASAP. Like $8.00 to mail. In the letter you keep it short and terse: Mary Jane Smith, aka Mrs Frank Smith, 93, is currently an impoverished long term care resident in a NH (do not mention the NH name) on a fixed income of Social security which has the NH as her required payee as per State of Whatever Medicaid LTC program. As such, she has no income or assets to pay this debt. This letter is your notification that her social security is a legally protected as exempt from creditors or any judgment, excluding the IRS. The above referenced debt is wholly hers and she has no resources to pay the debt. TY for your attention to this.
If you think that this is just the start of a slew of debt collection issues as mom defaulted on mortgage, utilities, credit cards, etc as her finances went haywire due to dementia, I’d suggest that you rent a mail box from a packing & shipping type of store (UPS store) and use this as moms new address for all debt related mailings. But if you really think this is likely to be the only bad debt out there, do the letter but do not put your personal Address on the actual letter. Now that green card, the return registered receipt card, that one you do need to put your address on as that’s how it gets mailed back to you. Keep the debt letter, a copy of the letter and the green card and the receipt. You just want to have it handy to show you are doing your good fiduciary duty as the POA & if someone else in the family get a letter as collections is casing a wider net to find someone, anyone to pay, they can use it as their template.
If this is a bigger amount, the original creditor can issue a 1099 Cancellation of Debt to mom for the tax year it was written off by them. If that should happened, do a fresh post as folks will have suggestions as to how to deal with this.
Tell them the truth. Let them know she has no assets and is on medicaid in a nursing home. Then if they choose to get a court judgement against her they cannot get her social security whether it is going to a Nursing Home or not. She is completely judgement proof. So they ruin her credit. So what? WHATEVER YOU DO, NEVER NEVER NEVER make a payment to them out of your own money using your own name. That could be considered to assume the debt and then they will come after you. After you communicate the truth to them once then never speak to them again. Debt collectors buy this debt for pennies on a dollar. They are pretty bottom of the barrel. Ignore them.
You can call them and tell them your mom is incapacitated and has no assets, or you could just ignore them. Regardless, don't let them convince you that you have to pay them from your own money. You don't, so please don't send them anything from your own assets.
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If going to her nursing home ignore. If they ever call there they will be told that Mom is a resident of a Nursing home.
Now, mom is getting billed by BOTH the original company and the collection agency on a monthly basis ever since. At the Memory Care AL. Which should never have been the address in the first place.
Moral of the story: ignore bills from collection agencies. They just multiply and spread like cancer, even after they're paid. 😆
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This is your mom's debt (and if it's more than three years old, the claim is invalid anyway), not yours. Do not deal with it at all.
The good news: mom is judgement proof from debt collectors except for the supercreditors which are IRS and state tax authorities. If her only income is Social security or another governmental type of retirement those cannot be attached by a debt collector or attached if she gets a judgement against her. So that debt collector really can’t do squat to mom / you but be a nuisance & that they will be for weeks till this particular debt is sold to yet another debt collector group. Can’t do anything to you either unless you co-signed on the debt, or you make the mistake of agreeing to pay off her debt to the collector or you say that your responsible for her debts. What Mrstbill & Alva wrote is mucho importante on that front.
what to do, well personally I’d sent them a certified letter with the return registered card ASAP. Like $8.00 to mail. In the letter you keep it short and terse: Mary Jane Smith, aka Mrs Frank Smith, 93, is currently an impoverished long term care resident in a NH (do not mention the NH name) on a fixed income of Social security which has the NH as her required payee as per State of Whatever Medicaid LTC program. As such, she has no income or assets to pay this debt. This letter is your notification that her social security is a legally protected as exempt from creditors or any judgment, excluding the IRS. The above referenced debt is wholly hers and she has no resources to pay the debt. TY for your attention to this.
If you think that this is just the start of a slew of debt collection issues as mom defaulted on mortgage, utilities, credit cards, etc as her finances went haywire due to dementia, I’d suggest that you rent a mail box from a packing & shipping type of store (UPS store) and use this as moms new address for all debt related mailings. But if you really think this is likely to be the only bad debt out there, do the letter but do not put your personal Address on the actual letter. Now that green card, the return registered receipt card, that one you do need to put your address on as that’s how it gets mailed back to you. Keep the debt letter, a copy of the letter and the green card and the receipt. You just want to have it handy to show you are doing your good fiduciary duty as the POA & if someone else in the family get a letter as collections is casing a wider net to find someone, anyone to pay, they can use it as their template.
If this is a bigger amount, the original creditor can issue a 1099 Cancellation of Debt to mom for the tax year it was written off by them. If that should happened, do a fresh post as folks will have suggestions as to how to deal with this.