How to handle debt collectors, with the TikTok Mom and a legal expert

An Arm and a Leg

Society & Culture, Medicine, Health, Health & Fitness, Documentary

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There's a reason Shaunna Burns went viral with her videos about dealing with debt collectors: She used to be one, so she knows a few things. (Also she's smart and funny.) We fact-checked her advice with a legal expert: Jenifer Bosco, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center. Who said: Yep, most of Shaunna's advice totally checks out.

This one's full of useful tips—and it's fun— so please pass it around. Debt collectors are out in force, and as you'll hear in this episode, they can be super-unscrupulous. But, as you'll also learn: We've got rights.

You don't need to have heard our earlier episode about Shaunna and her story; you can just start right here. (There's lots of strong language in both this and the previous Shaunna episode, so maybe save them for when the kids aren't around.)

Meanwhile, here's a bunch of links to resources:

The National Consumer Law Center, where Jenifer Bosco works, publishes the book Surviving Debt

There are chapters on medical debt, dealing with debt collectors, and what to do if you get sued
The book is updated every year
It's free to read online at https://library.nclc.org/sd

Consumer-finance expert Gerri Detweiler, who helped fact-check one big question for this episode, has a VERY useful-looking site: https://www.debtcollectionanswers.com/

She just published a new article with answers to questions like "Can medical bills be sent to collections if you're making payments?" (yep) and "How do I dispute a medical bill in collections?
There's another, more-general primer on medical debt/collections, also updated recently.
Gerri and co-author Mary Reed offer their e-book Debt Collection Answers as a free download. (It was published in 2015, so it may not be as up-to-date.)

Shaunna's dealing-with-debt-collectors TikTok videos

Be sure to note Jen Bosco's legal caveats, but these are great and will get you in a fighting spirit

Rapid-fire advice: They can't just call whenever they want. There's a statute of limitations on debt. You can— and should — demand documentation.
If they can't document that this debt is valid... you've got options.
You're under no obligation to give them any information.
If the debt is valid, BE NICE. Take their calls. You may eventually be able to work out an OK deal.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there. Quick heads up. This episode includes a bunch of cuss words, which we have not beeped because they are perfect just as they are.
0:07.4	So if you're listening with little kids right now, maybe save this one for later.
0:11.2	Otherwise, please get ready for a freaking treat and a ton of great information.
0:19.7	Last time on this show, I talked with Shauna Burns.
0:22.8	She's a 40-something mom who's a star on Tik-Tok,
0:25.8	thanks in large part to a series of videos she posted
0:29.2	about dealing with medical debt.
0:31.3	She doesn't sing or dance, you just talks with lots of cuss words right. with But I held off on one of her big topics, how to deal with debt collectors.
0:45.3	Here's how Shauna describes her authority on the topic.
0:47.7	I did debt collection for many, many years, and I love it when the debt collector calls me,
0:51.6	because I'm like like I know your game
0:53.0	bitches. Oh insider stuff yes please also she's got some stories to tell and
0:59.2	we'll hear a bit of those but I went to fact-checked Shauna's advice and there seemed like there were maybe some legal complexities, gray areas.
1:06.5	The kind of thing I might want to run by a lawyer.
1:09.5	My name is Jennifer Bosco. I am a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center and I work on
1:15.2	medical debt advocacy Jen and her colleagues actually wrote a book called
1:18.9	Surviving debt they revise it every year and it's free to read online.
1:23.0	There's a chapter on medical debt, a chapter on dealing with debt collectors, a chapter on what to do if you get sued over debt.
1:29.0	It is great. We will link to it from wherever you're listening to this.
1:32.0	So yeah, I said to Jen, hey, I want your take on these videos and she was like,
1:36.6	This is great because I heard about these videos from my teenage daughter who knows that I work in
1:40.6	medical debt so I think medical debt became a little bit cooler once it had you
	...

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