I got a call from a CA yesterday and they say I own $2,000 to a Hospital that is back in 2002. I told them it was passed the SOL. They said when you go to a hospital you sign a form that says you will pay the bill and that makes it a signed contract which in Arizona makes the SOL 6 years. They also told me that they would keep putting it on my CR for ever if I did not pay the bill. My question is, can they keep putting it on my CR forever or not?
I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure the FDCPA prohibits them from even saying something misleading like that. A CA cannot report forever. Even if it goes unpaid and you do nothing about the TL, it has to come off seven or seven and a half years after it was originally reported delinquent.
"They also told me that they would keep putting it on my CR for ever if I did not pay the bill." Such a blatantly illegal and erroneous statement should raise a red flag about all aspects of this debt. Are the charges legitimate and originally owed by you? Are they accurate? Were payments made accounted for? Were they incurred in Arizona? SOL may be different if not. See: http://www.carreonandassociates.com/articles/statute.htm#Arizona Did you have insurance coverage at the time? Was the bill submitted to insurance, and if so, was it paid? Was the hospital "in-network", under contract with the insurance company as to rates of charges for services, and required to submit claims timely?
The period of time that a collection account can be reported to the credit bureaus and the statute of limitations of your state are two completely different things. They CANNOT report beyond the legal time allowed (7 years in this case) This is clearly spelled out in the FCRA. The statute of limitations comes into play if they try to take legal action against you. It has nothing to do with how long they can report to the credit bureaus.
