There are hundreds of situations that may result in unexpected expenses. In cases like these try to identify where you can reduce expenses to free up money to pay any emergency that appears. Explore your financial options and establish a plan to make payments for these kinds of emergencies.

Unexpected medical expenses
I you are going through a health crisis, you might be feeling great emotional and financial pressure; especially if you are receiving medical bills. If you are a full time employee or if you are self-employed and pay your own insurance, you are covered by Social Security and have the right to be treated by the public health of your country. If you are not covered by any of those health programs, and owns a private health insurance policy, you should be aware that they might not cover the entirety of your expenses, so you should identify non-essential costs and reduce them. 
Monitor medical expenses closely. It is not unusual for health providers and insurances companies to make mistakes, so review your expenses to avoid unnecessary addition to your bills.

• When you buy health insurance, review your contract, your policy, and the complementary information provided. Make sure you are receiving all services covered by your plan.
• Research which benefits you can receive through Social Security (CCSS - http://www.ccss.sa.cr/), and through the National Insurance Institute (http://portal.ins-cr.com/).
• If it is impossible to pay your medical bills (under the established terms), talk to your health provider, hospital or doctors about a payment plan.

Unexpected expenses with the car or the house
When your car breaks down, when your water heater doesn’t work, and you have a leak on your roof, your finances can be ruined at once.
Preventive maintenance could help on situations like these; however, when they happen, start by reducing other expenses to free up money for this emergency. Explore your financial options, and establish a payment plan to pay it off.

Creditors breathing down your neck

Usually, creditors will pass on your debt to a collection agency to obtain payment, if your account has a balance for some time. If you are going through rough times, and you cannot pay your total balance for that month, collection agencies, just like the original creditors, will probably work out a modified payment plan.
It is important that you keep in mind that on the other side of the line there is probably an attorney’s office who is in charge of the efforts for recovery, which means that the professionals involved should comply with the Professional Ethics Code.
Creditors have a limited amount of time to recover your debt. If a debt is not paid for longer than the determined time, it prescribes; which means that even if the creditor tries to proceed with legal action to recover the amount, debtor can argue that the debt has prescribed. The amount of time that takes for a debt to prescribe varies depending on the warranty given, and the material of debt (civil, fiscal, etc). However, there are debts that never prescribe, like taxes. Institutions delegate the recovery of that credit to private offices, so they can be in charge of recovery.  

Several institutions hire the services of private Collection Agencies, turning the accounts with outstanding balances to them for recovery. In accordance with the Ethics Code of the Association of the Latin-American Collection Agencies (http://www.latincob.org/), a debt creditor cannot harass, lie or deceive a debtor. Creditors have a limited time to collect debt. 

If a debt has remained unpaid for over the established time, it prescribes, which means that even if the creditor tries to bring a lawsuit over debtor, said debtor may argument that said debt has prescribed. The time for a debt to prescribe varies from country to country depending on the material of the debt (civil, fiscal, etc). However, there are certain types of debt (like taxes) that can always be collected, no matter how old they are.

If you cannot pay off your debt, you should contact the financial institution that granted you credit and you should agree on a period of time to settle it.

Your file could be sent to a collection agency or to judicial recovery.

Once the case is at judicial recovery, the case starts. Depending on the final resolution, the bank might write that debt off the books, against the estimate of uncollectable.
Some banks “sell” these “written off” expenses to third parties, other companies that specialize in collection. Depending on the negotiation reached, any recovery made would be credited to the bank like “other incomes”.