Refusal to Use Collection Agencies Has Cost County Nearly $1 million

Published on:
12 September 2006 at 10:20 a.m. ET

Written by: Unknown Author –

http://www.insidearm.com/news/00023830-refusal-to-use-collection-agencies-has-co/

Bladen County (NC) has lost almost $1million because of a policy against pursuing ambulance debt, County Manager Greg Martin said Monday.

“There is a concern about the outstanding debt,” Martin said. “The debt-setoff program is a means to collect that revenue. It is not nearly aggressive as a collection agency.”

In March 2002, the board decided it did not want to turn over delinquent ambulance bills to a collection agency because of what that could do to residents’ credit ratings and because people might be harassed by the agencies. The county’s policy is to send three bills asking for payment.

For this complete story, please visit http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=226918.