I have not been here in forever but could certainly use my SMEs here to help me with this (purely hypothetical but here goes...thanks in advance for any help). 25 yrs ago, you were hospitalized after a bad car accident. After being released, you were unable to pay for the full cost of the visit. However, the hospital was a charitable organization and agreed to forgive the remaining debt. You have since forgotten about the debt and have planned your budget accordingly. Recently, you received a letter from a debt collector demanding the remainder of the balance. The letter informs you that you have the right to contest the debt, but the letter uses extremely harsh words, threatening legal action within ten days if you do not pay. Although you consider challenging the debt, you are afraid of the threatened legal action and decide to pay. You only find out later that the debt you just paid was never legally owed. What happened and what do you do next? Why?
Why was the debt never legally owed? Because the SOL had expired? Anything 25 years old has to be beyond the SOL. However, if I paid up knowing that the hospital originally agreed to forgive the debt and it was also beyond the SOL, then that would be my own fault. I guess I could complain to the FTC that the CA used some abusive collection tactics, but I'm not sure what else I could do beyond that.
Joshua....thanks for your help. This really is homework for a course that i am taking and that is what I was trying to determine as well....why is it illegal? Throwing me off. LOL! I need to find ot that part. #wouldlikeanA. LOL!
Perhaps because the hospital agreed (maybe in writing) to forgive the debt? If they did that, then they couldn't just change their mind one day and sell it to a CA that decides to collect after 25 years. What stands out even more is that it's illegal per the FDCPA for a debt collector to threaten legal action if no such action is intended and use "extremely harsh words" as you said. I believe there is case law that shows debt collectors have been slapped pretty hard in the face for taking the "we'll sue you in 10 days if you don't pay up" angle when trying to collect old debts.
