If your spouse, sibling, child, or parent dies owing a credit card company, or even his or her phone bill, you’re under no legal obligation to pay that bill. But that won’t stop the debt collectors from trying to collect from you.

Debt collectors have always been able to file claims against estates in probate courts – sometimes truthfully, and sometimes with trumped-up charges that only the deceased would know were false.

But for those who die without enough assets to require a formal probate, the human touch is used to attempt collection.

A company called DCM Services in Minneapolis is just one of many that specializes in extracting money from the bereaved. Their clients include companies in banking, automobile finance, retailing, telecommunications, and health care.

DCM trains their new hires for 3 weeks in what the company calls “empathetic active listening,” so that they’ll be prepared to sound like they care while they work to collect money you don’t owe. They’ll even transfer the call to a grief counselor if the person appears to be consumed with denial or anger. Then they call back the next week.
By articlesnatch.com

Originally posted 2009-03-28 16:56:59.

Arthritis can be a debilitating, degenerative, crippling disease that only gets worse over time. Although there is no “cure”, it is essential to improve your bodies overall nutrition and health. Because of the processed foods we eat, and the sedentary lifestyle we live, most people lack the proper amounts of minerals, nutrients, and vitamins our bodies need to be completely healthy. If a person engages in the right amounts of exercise, combined with a consistent, well balanced diet, the body is able to fend off medical problems of all sorts. Inflammation is often a result of a weak immune system, and cartilage and bone will stay stronger, longer with the correct nutritional diet. A strong immune system also helps fight all types of infections, from viruses to bacteria. If a virus or bacteria is able to break past the immune system and infect the body, it can magnify the effects of a disorder like arthritis. Most people who are currently living a healthy, nutritious life have already heard this however…so what about the people who currently have arthritis?

Well, living a healthy lifestyle of diet and exercise can be even more important for those diagnosed with arthritis.
By articlesnatch.com

Originally posted 2009-05-02 23:46:57.