Hi everyone ... I was in the hopital in 99 and in 2000 the hospital sent the bill to a collections agnecy. at the time i didn't know all of my rights and talked to them on the phone. they said they were going to garnish my wages if i didn't pay them upfront and i said i needed to set up a payment plan and they wouldn't do that. so i said fine, tomorrow i file for bankruptcy and then you get nothing. so they did say they woudl take $100/month payment plan. last year in novemeber i had it set up so that they would just take directly from my bank account, which they have been doing since then. well i noticed that it didn't go through thi month so i called to see if there were technical problems. the rep said that the agreement to take direclty from thr account ended and they didn't hear from me this month so this agreemnet is null and void. they said they never received a down payment from me and in order to move on with the $100 month, they would need a down payment. i asked to speak to a supervisor. he got on the phone and of cousre was an *******. he tried telling me the same thing. i said, if the agreement ran out to take from my account, why didn;'t you just call me? and he said, it's not our responsiblity to do that. i said look, i boviously called to see what was going on from atechnical stand point. obviously i am intreested in paying this debt. but if you are going to play hardball then here's what I am going to do: I am going to send you a cease and desist letter and then I am going to make you val;iadte this debt, which will halt collections on this for a few months. then i am going to call hospital and tgive them your name and tell them why they are no longer getting payments for this debt -- because YOU caused this mess. Then you are going to need to validate this debt and if you don'tm then the hospital gets nothing and I will again call them and rtemind them about why they are no longer getting their money from you. etc etc eventually he did agree to go back to the $100 payments. I told him I wanted that in writing and he said he would send me a letter. i asked him to fax it to me and he said they don't do faxes. Normally i wouldn't discuss with them on the phone, but since we have had an agreement for over 3 years, i thought it would be ok. he never did read me my mini-miranda. when i told them he was continuing to rack up violations and that they were more than welcome to pay for my hospital bill, he said, are you a lawyer practicing law without a license? i also warned him that i work for the department of commerce (which i, in fact, DO!). question --- should i continue to make the $100 payments or should I try to validate this debt? it was an $8000 bill and i have paid for 3 years on it -- so over $3,000. PS... this isn't on my credit report yet! i have always been thankful about that ... what do you guys think? thanks! you all rock! tboy
Is this US Credit & Collections? If so, I feel your pain...they are b*stards. I had a $185 medical bill which was the result of divorce and insurance issues. I paid the OC and they said they would instruct the CA to remove the item from my CR. The OC even sent me a copy of the fax they sent to the CA instructing them to do this and the CA REFUSED saying that it was valid and they had to keep it on my CR. WTF? It sounds like you want to meet your obligation. Can you make arrangements to pay the OC directly? Good luck! Lisa
First of all, DON'T TALK TO THEM ON THE PHONE AGAIN. I would send them a modified validation letter, something to the effect that you realize you have been paying this, but you are confused by the alleged amount. Tell them you want records of everything. At the same time, tell them to contact you only in writing. Keep track of everything, hopefully they'll commit enough violations that they WILL end up paying your bill--or a good part of it, anyway. In the meantime, go back to the hospital and see if they're willing to work something out for you to pay them directly. They may not do that, but if they do, ask them to pull it back from USCC and you'll pay them directly. Set up a payment plan and stick to it.
hey thanks for your help yes that is the same CA i am dealing with .... it's strange because they never did report this to the CRA in the last 3 years ... i did mention to them the first time I talked to them 3 years ago that if they were oging to mess up my credit history, then i might as well just kile BK anyway and they back off then too. i contacted the hospital today ... they said the debt was too old for them to take it back ... they also said that admittance keeps their records in an archiving place and that i needed to ask for copies of the consent forms -- i am assuming they would be able to do the same if i forced them to validate ..... can they legally make you pay a down payment before accepting a payment schedule? or was it illeal for them to tell me i had to do that? didn't they also have to legally tell me that this conversation was an attempt to collect a debt (the mini-miranda) -- they never said that today. is it also illegal for them to try to tell me they never recevied payments when they did? and also should i worry that they are going to try to take more money from my account than we verbally agreed? thanks again tboy
Uscc Help! - development ok i wanted to get something on tape so i do have some proof. i talked to the man i talked to yesterday and i recorded the convo (perfectly legal in VA and we're both in VA) ... he stated on the phone again our agreement of 100 a month and said he was sending a document that states that they will be taking from my account. upon further questioning, he did state directly on the phone that this agreement was good until the debt is paid in full. however he said they would not send such a letter -- that they only send a letter a month stating that they are pulling money from the account. i asked him why he wouldn't send a letter and he said we had a verbal agreement there was no need for antying in writing (god they are such liars!) so i said i would write one up for him and they could sign it. at least i do have his agreement on tape. now i will stop talking to them verbally. what should i do next?
i contacted the hospital today ... they said the debt was too old for them to take it back ... they also said that admittance keeps their records in an archiving place 1*and said that I needed to ask for copies of the consent forms -- 2*i am assuming they would be able to do the same if I forced them to validate ..... 2*should I worry that they are going to try to take more money from my account than we verbally agreed? T boy ============ 1*You don't ask the hospital to validate the debt for the CA. It's the CAs responsibility to obtain any validation from the hospital not yours. 2*Force who to validate?????????????????????????. They may not even bother to pull any records from the archives - what's in it for them if it's the CA who gets the money. 3*Who the CA or the hospital?
