Paying off debts is important, but the last person you’d expect to pay their bills would be a child still in elementary school. Yet, a debt collector is reportedly attempting to force a 9-year-old boy in Tennessee to pay his medical bill of $3,000. According to his dad’s post on Reddit, the child had received some sort of testing from a specialist, but the family’s insurance denied the claim. As a result, the medical company bizarrely sent the bill under the son’s name.
The dad sent a letter to the company, explaining that he was responsible for the bill, not his son, a minor ineligible to be held liable for the debt. After three months of radio silence, the father soon learned that this $3K medical debt had been sold to a collection agency. Like before, it sent the same bill in full to be paid under the 9-year-old’s name. “This entire process feels needlessly bureaucratic,” the dad complains, saying how he’s willing to pay the debt but doesn’t understand why the bill keeps getting sent under his son’s name.
Thankfully, the comment section seemed to be offering some solid advice. First off, the top commenter and multiple others strongly recommended that the Tennessean avoid admitting any sort of responsibility for the debt, as that has already been shifted onto his son by both the medical company and now the agency. Offering to make the payment is also off the table, as that would leave the dad vulnerable to being taken advantage of. “All you have to say is your son is a minor, he cannot be responsible for the debt,” the top commenter concludes.
“Exactly,” echoes a reply. “Let the collection agency try to summons a 9yo to court. 😂” A few other highly upvoted comments suggested another idea: Submit the story to a local news station. Often news outlets will publicize stories about “shady billing or business practices,” and this Tennessean dad’s issue definitely fits the bill, literally. “Once it goes public with bad press, things tend to get straightened out pretty quickly,” remarks a commenter.
Despite the initial advice, the dad has mentioned in his post that he unfortunately already told both the company and the collector that he would be willing to pay the debt. Hopefully, his honesty and openness with the bill won’t come back to haunt him later.
