Gareth, what you (and evidently the hospital) didn't realize was that collection agencies are allowed to add interest to the outstanding debt. The interest typically goes to the collection agency - the hospital doesn't get half of that. This is allowed by Federal Law. So, the hospital may have seen that your principal balance was paid, but they wouldn't have known about the additional interest charged.
I have yet to hear about any collection agency providing mailed statements to debtors -- they only provide statements to their clients. Had there been a question on your part as to how much principal balance you still owed, the hospital could have easily provided that to you. If you had questioned any additional balance owed on top of principal, the collector would have told you that it was interest added to the principal.
The company is not a scam. The $150-200 that is charged barely covers the cost of training materials/business cards/sales kit, etc. Compare that to the $10-100K+ in start-up costs for a franchise operation and it's quite the bargain.
arthur intel: 1099 employees on straight commission don't "report" income until April 15th on their tax returns -- if they are smart they pay quarterly estimated State and Federal taxes based on what they have earned in the previous quarter so they don't owe any underpayment penalties at the end of the year. If you haven't earned any commissions, you are still entitled to unemployment -- duh.
