Did you get a notice from RMB Inc. in the mail? Or did you get a call from RMB, a collection agency? If so, you are not alone.
About a year ago, I received a notice from RMB about a debt they were collecting. Now this caught me by total surprise, because I am always a debt-free kind of guy. I mean, I use credit cards, but pay off the balance. Generally speaking, I prefer to have no debt (unless of course, I have a 0% interest rate, or something similar).
Nevertheless, the RMB collection agency had been calling my house for probably a good month or two before I received a notice in the mail. I never answered the phone during that entire time, simply because my wife and I had moved into a new house a couple of years before, and the new number we got received TONS of calls for people I’d never heard of (many of them debt collections). So I was in the habit of not answering strange numbers. I run a home business anyway; I’m busy.
RMB Inc. Debt Collection Notice
Anyway, after a month or two of not answering their number, I received a debt collection notice in the mail. They threatened that if I didn’t pay a sum of money mentioned in the letter (around $350), that I’d be turned over to the collection agency, and it would affect my credit score negatively.
What? Seriously?
I was livid. I’d worked hard to keep debt-free, and maintain a healthy credit score. So I was not a happy camper.
As it turns out, the letter was for real, and this was a legitimate company. Here’s what happened:
My wife and I had new insurance (it seems her work was changing new health insurance companies yearly at that time), and I had went to the dermatologist for my hives and also to have a mole removed (this was when I was suffering terribly with Cholinergic Urticaria). While I was there, I specifically TOLD them my new address (my wife was even there with me).
Well, after a while I seen the amount pop up on our insurance, but we never received a bill. My wife and I were perplexed, and the health insurance statement was utterly confusing (in fact, health insurance itself is the most confusing thing I’ve ever dealt with). It listed all these figures and I didn’t know if this charge was covered by the insurance, supposed to be paid by us, or what.
So I waited and waited for a bill. No bill came. I assumed it was covered by the insurance. I even quipped to my wife, “Well, they have our address and phone number, so if we owe something surely they’d let us know. The insurance must be covering it.”
I was wrong.
What happened? I do not know. Perhaps the clerk entered our address in wrong, or something. I don’t know. But somehow the dermatology clinic sold our account to this debt collection agency, RMB Inc.
How To Respond to Debt Collection Notices by RMB, Inc.
Since this stunned me, I quickly took action to resolve the problem. I recognized the debt amount, and they listed the dermatology clinic as well. I then realized what had happened.
So I called them at the number in the letter, and they assured me that it had not yet went against my credit score. I was relieved. I immediately paid on their website with my credit card.
All in all, it was very easy, and after I paid the balance in full, I called a few days later to confirm that the payment cleared, and again that it hadn’t posted to my credit history. The payment did clear, and it did not affect my credit history.
What an aggravation!
So yes, this is a legit debt collection company, and they were nice. As for the dermatology clinic, well, I’ll never be back. I thought that was pretty dirty of them, and terribly irresponsible. I did my part, they should have done their part. I mean, even the debt collection people were able to contact me, why couldn’t they? They had my number because they even called to let me know that the mole they removed had ‘abnormal cells’ in it. Yet they never sent one letter or called my home during this entire fiasco.
In conclusion: If you ever receive a debt collection notice, here’s what I recommend:
- Verify the debt. They should have the amount, and the debtor named on the statement (or on the phone). This helped me to quickly realize it was legit.
- Verify the debt company. After I received the letter, I quickly did a search online and verified this was a legit company.
- Call them to find details. I called to confirm the details, and to ensure the total balance I needed to pay. I also made sure it didn’t affect my credit score.
- Pay the Debt As Soon As Possible. Once I realized I had an unsettled debt, I quickly moved to take care if it. If you find this is legit and you owe a debt, do everything you can to work with the company to either pay it off immediately, or if you can’t, then start making payments. Basically, do everything you can to preserve your credit history.
So that’s my little story of RMB, Inc., a debt collection company. And also how the dermatologists overcharge for mole removals!