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Parent in long term skilled nursing care in California. Is on Medi-care and Medi-cal. All of social security goes for the care except $35.00 which is for the personal needs. Parent has credit card debt and I am POA. I have contacted credit card companies letting them know the situation & they have received the POA. No money or assets to pay. Question: when debt is sent to collection agency then they too want copy of POA. On one debit it went to two different agencies. Do you have to keep sending POA's when the debt gets passed on to someone else? What can I do? I know I'm not responsible for the debt. I've made an offer to settle but not accepted. How to handle when the debt keeps getting sent to different agencies?

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The debt collection industry will continue to resell the “paper” over & over. And to smaller and more fringe collections groups.

The debt is not yours. Make that your mantra.
As POA you have a fiduciary duty on their finances. And as they are on a federal at need program (Medicaid), your fiduciary is to make sure their copay or SOC (share of cost) goes to the NH first & foremost due to Medicaid compliance. This last sentence too becomes your mantra to any creditors who contacts you.

Parents income is SS and SS is fully protected income from creditors except for the super creditors (IRS & state governmental entities). The collections know that but will press, yell, wheedle that it’s your debt, your responsibility or imply as that as you sent them the POA you assigned yourself to be responsible. They will likely threatened and imply liens placed....yada yada....  You probably should Send a certified letter with the  return registered card (duet from uspo under $10) that states they are in a facility under federally required compliance for income & assets and as such defaulting on all debt & You are not responsible for any of this debt.  
You kinda need to do this letter each time a new debt collections buys the debt and seeks payment. It could take a couple of years to cycle out..... a real butt-rash. 

The only fallout will be when the OC (original creditor) does a 1099-C cancellation of debt who whatever the total a,property not of the debt, interest, fees etc tallies up to. 1009-c will come to whatever last address the OC ( like Macy’s, CapOne) has on file for folks in January for the year following the year written off. If they don’t get 1099-Cs by Feb on this year (2018) then it’s not getting written off till 2018 tax year, so you deal with 1099-c in 2019 tax filing. Post back on A.C. when that happens as folks will have suggestions as how to deal with.
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Thank you Igloo572. I have sent all creditors a certified letter with return receipt. Even before this just talking to one they credited the balance $1,000. Not worth for them to deal with. I still have 5 credit cards to deal with at least not a lot of money on them total $9,000. Each time the debit is sold to different company they request POA again thanks for letting me know I do need to send it each time which is a pain. Two companies I haven't gotten notice in mail it's when I've called credit card company I get transfered to another company. I am documenting everything too. I got parent mailbox too. No house no assets. Guess I will work thru the process.
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I was a collector for a private company. The collectors your dealing with are probably agencies who r under strictor regulations than I was. First you r not personally responsible for these debts. Medicare rules will not allow you to use any money towards paying these debts. Once a person is in a NH, even private pay, you can not use their money for anything but their care. When the creditor calls, tell them all the money they have is going towards their care and Medicaid is picking up the rest. Ask them then what they need to right off debt. Send them certified what they requested. Then tell them you do not want another call from them. That they can send their decision to you. They can not call you again. If they do, call the FTC and file a report against them. A POA is not responsible for debts just for handling the money. Once u send a POA that should be it. These companies can scan them right into their systems or note it. No reason to keep sending. Make sure everything u send is at least certified. That way you get a signature of receipt. These collectors get a cut of what they collect. The callers probably get a commission on what they collect so they will be persistant.
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Keep good records. Always ask who u talked to. Keep info, letters and certified receipt together for quick reference.
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