Pete received a bill in the mail that has him slightly offended and amused. A health care provider has sent his balance to collections after a payment arrived late a few years ago. They will clearly be hurting if he doesn’t pay his overdue balance of ….four cents.

Yesterday I got a collections notice in the mail from a collections group on behalf of my health provider – it took several calls to determine this was based off a debt from 2004 where a payment was late, but paid after notice – they didn’t alert me to the exact amount – leaving a few cents on the bill.

After calling the collections company about this – they laughed and said to treat this, and the next three notices with the same information as a Origami trainer and ignore it.

This came in a regular envelope, which suggests a 40 cent mailing cost + paper + envelope X 4 notices – many more times than the debt itself! Add to that the suggestion that I may be able to get the debt reduced to 50% If I respond in time!

Reduced to half, really? Are you sure you don’t want to take them up on this offer?

Automated letters save a lot of work, but result in some ridiculous situations.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.