Hi, everyone! I have a collection account I need help with. It is a medical bill for $119 from 1998. I honestly don't know anything about this bill and cannot connect to any service I've ever had. However, I found it on my credit report so I disputed it with the questionaire form. They wrote back and have a copy of a bill for services from a radiology group for a doctor I'm not familiar with. The attached date of service bill says the bill was not sent to insurance. (Note: possibly the ex-troll's wife strikes again..he is a truckdriver and it is likely they used this service at this time while on the road) Anyway, they responded with "We are under no obligation to answer your questionaire." They then went on to say they sent me a notice on 5/18/98 (I never received one) and that I did not dispute. They said they sent a second notice on 6/19/98 ( I never received one) and again they say I did not respond. They say I disputed this on 3/6/00 and that they verified the debt (again, I have no clue as to what they are talking about), they say on 6/6 I requested an itemized bill (NOT) Then they say I supposedly received $95.20 for this but the bill they sent me says no insurance was filed... Finally, the note 2 TU disputes and state they verified. How do I proceed?? I have no idea what this is for..while my name is on the bill (misspelled), I have no recollection of this service, nor any contacts. They obviously contradicted themselves when they state that I received money but say no insurance has been filed....help... Thanks!
I think I would ask them what address they have on record, that you have not received any correspondence from them. That might give you a clue. Are you talking to the doctor's office or the insurance company? breeze
What?? Is everybody waiting for me, LOL??? Let me see if I got this straight, since we have all weekend. You never saw this Dr., never got a bill. All of a sudden this collection account shows up on your credit report out of the blue, and you sent a validation letter to the collection agency. They refused to validate it. This has happened before because your ex's new wifey does what? Uses your name and your address? Uses your name and her address? Thus committing fraud..... Or uses her name and address, doesn't pay the bill, never responds, so the CA's put it on your report to try to make you pay it? Or CA's get you mixed up with her because her last name used to be your last name? If you don't know which it is, I think that would be the place to start. Didn't you say you had a fraud alert on your CR? They don't stay on there very long, you need another one - an ongoing one. Tell them not to take it off until you say so. I would contact the Dr. and find out what name and address is on the original account. If this gal is committing fraud, file some charges somewhere. I think you need to get at the source of the problem, if that's it. Othewise this is going to go on and on. Why threaten to sue the CA when you can attack the source of the problem, probably a lot more easily. Or have I got it all wrong?
Ok, it was a hospital imaging bill. My ex's wife uses my SS# and her name (since our last names USED to be the same, it passes by so many, it seems)...I have to first show it wasn't me (that's fun) so I think you are saying I should call the hospital. Looking back, it seems the date coincides with a time when my ex and the wifey visited my daughters in Illinois....amazing coincidence, eh? I will call the hospital and report this..it's getting mighty tiresome. It's dumb, I was trying to not have a situation that might be painful for the kids..but enough is enough...I have a flat spot on my forehead from smacking it, saying "Stupid, stupid" Thanks, Breeze!
well if that's it, file charges, then drop them in exchange for a written statement from her. That can preserve the family peace, and give you something to use against her if she does it again. breeze
Nana, Contact the hospital and ask them for a full copy of the record -- not only the amount due but also the procedure performed and the prescribing physician and all patient information (name, address, SSN and any other identifiers -- age, height, weight, medical history whatever they've got.) Tell them that you want copies of the original paperwork with your signature. Since you were the "patient," you're merely requesting your own medical records. If the hospital balks at this, see if they will send them to your own physician. If they are stil stonewalling, contact whoever is responsible for the oversight of hospitals and tell them that you are not being supplied with a copy of your medical records. Once you have that info, you will be in a better position to fight this with the hospital. Let them know that your information was fraudulently used and that you are being harmed by their and their agent's collection efforts. While you may not want to be the one to press charges for fraud, I wouldn't protect the "ex=troll" from other parties who do. He's harming you in a pretty significant way. Not only with blotches on your credit report but also he's stealing your time every time you have to fight to clear up the mess he left. Just my opinion on this one; if this last bit of advice is off the mark or over the line, please, no offense intended. It's just that liars and thieves tick me off -- they break the rules and other people are left holding the bad. But definately see if you can get your hands on that patient file.
I'm wondering something here that maybe you should wonder about too. I think the point needs pressing in order to be certain what is going on before you think about filing any fraud charges. Seems that any one of several things may be going on and you will need to get down to the nitty gritty before you can logically proceed. One possibility is that your ex is doing this deliberately. Another is that his present is doing it deliberately behind your back for whatever reason, maybe behind his back too. Then there is the possibility that it's simply hospital screw up. That's about equally or even more likely than your troll or his trolless doing things to you. Curiouser had some outstanding ideas that you should push to the limits in order to help come up with the most likely scenario before you go off doing something you may regret later if you don't have the facts pretty well in hand.
I think it is a good idea to get my proof in hand first. I agree. I know the ex knows about this...thinking back to my first inkling something was wrong was when I called my car insurance company to cover a car and they said I was already on another policy...that of my ex' with his wife as an additional driver. In other words, when they applied, she had a bad driving record. So, he gave them my ss # with her name as I had no tickets at all. They had his signature on the form that they filled in. From there, it just escalated.
Hey, I just had a brain flash..don't panic, I took aspirin..anyway.. I will contact the hospital but should I respond to the CA stating that, despite their list of contacting me (which did not occur as we know), they did not send proof as requested?? They simply said they don't have to reply to me. (They did send that statement attached o this but it shows no signature, nothing, except my misspelled name..even my address is misspelled).. Thanks for your thoughts.
No, NanaC, I think that's giving them far too much information. Play some mind games with them. Tell them how many times they broke federal law, file complaints with whoever you can including the BBB (and the dog catcher too if you think he might help somehow {LOL}). Then tell them that you have filed complaints with the FTC, the AG in your state and the state they have their offices in and that you fully intend to turn the matter over to your attorney for civil action against them for their illegal actions. Ask them how they intend to answer for their criminal actions in a court of law in the event you decide to sue them. Let it at that and let them stew for a week or two and see what comes back. You may be surprised at the offers to settle you might get back.
I think you are on the right page alright. Sorry I'm not going to be able to give you the answers you might like me to give. I don't know what has transpired between you and the creditor/ca, so I can only give you generalities. You have to know what it is they are supposed to give you, how they are supposed to act once you have made any given demand upon them. You have to have a pretty good idea what the FDCPA and the FCRA have to say and then compare that to what the creditor/ca/CRA has or has not done. So anything I might tell you at this time would just be conjecture at this time, but let me try. Let us take a hypothetical situation. You sent CA a validation letter of some sort. They sent you a letter stating that they called up the original creditor and he said you owed him the money and then demanded that you pay up or else. What violations of law would they have committed. I can think of at least 2, maybe even 3 or 4. Whatever violations the FDCPA or the FCRA says they committed is the violations you would cite. Did they send you a properly constructed acknowledgement letter. Did the reply you got fulfill the demands of the law? Was it timely or was it several months late? Did they contact you demanding payment during the dispute process. That and maybe more depending upon what transpired and how many times it transpired. But above all, never attempt to teach them how smart you are. That's not going to gain you much. You want them to show you how smart they are, so you give them just enough information for them to comfortably hang themselves with and that's all. The more you keep them guessing as to what you want yet clearly state what you want, the better off you will be.
