Got a letter today from a "Law Firm" (nowhere on it does it say it's a collection agency, no mini miranda) for an account (medical bill) I disputed with the OC because they're too effing stupid to bill our insurance. I would rather fight it than have the insurance get involved because I have a very limited lifetime amount which at this point has NOT been touched and I'd like to leave it that way. How do I dispute this with the "law firm"? Standard VOD letter? I have the CMRRR card from where I disputed the debt with the OC to which they never responded. They just referred the account to this "attorney".
Step 1: Read the FDCPA to see what the notices and information are required to be on the initial communication. Then read up on what they can and can't do to collect or contact you. Step 2: Keep a log and copies of everything Step 3: Be ready to sue them for FDCPA violations None of this changes the fact that you may or may not have to pay the debt, but it makes the process much more interesting. (This should be a FAQ, if it isn't already: "I got a notice of collections...what's next?")
I somehow thought it was not permissible for an OC to turn a disputed account over to collections. Haven't they deprived me of due process by not responding to my dispute by turning me over to collections? I will look for the FAQ thread.
Victory!!!! Got a letter back from the OC's attorney. They are ceasing further collection activity and have bounced my account back to the OC since I told the atty in so many words that "it's not my problem the OC can't figure out how to bill my insurance for this claim." in addition to all the verbiage in the sample letters here. I intend to be an a-hole about this whole thing. It's a bill for a very expensive medical procedure (in vitro fertilization which was about $13K) that FAILED and I have limited insurance coverage (should be gone now but they can't figure out how to bill) that I would like to keep intact so we can try again. They also did the entire cycle with no previous medical records and I intend to file a complaint with my state's medical board as well. It's not my problem they have a rectal cranial inversion. I handed my ins card to the drone @ the desk who copied it but the billing is outsourced and I believe therein lies the problem. I am thinking that if the OC bills me again, I send them their bill with "on file" written across it CMRRR and they send me to same collections again, I put the CMRRR # with date like I did before and we play this game again. Maybe the OC will just lose it. Another part of their billing unit told me they couldn't figure out why they'd billed me $7K and to just ignore it. That was for services in either April or May '07.
