Will it stop???

It's a bit late to start trying to collect a debt from 1997. Most state's SOL has long passed, although you probably should check what SOL applies to this particular type of debt.

Did the university just recently sell or assign it to the CA? If you might still wish to attend that university, or need transcripts, etc., will this debt place a hold on that? Is there a reason or possibility that you might settle directly with the university?

The CRAs can only report for 7 years after the date of original delinquency, (or after charge off at most 180 days after delinquency, if I remember right), so it likely has fallen off, or should shortly. Assuming you are not buying a home in the next few months, there is little the CA can do to force you to pay, other than bluster or make illegal threats. For that reason, "old" debts seem to attract debt buyers willing to bluster and make illegal threats out of proportion to what they have paid for the debt.

If you do choose to pay, you will want to be careful you do not get a new damaging TL on your report, whether legally or not, have the CA claim excessive fees, claim that the SOL was reset, take a settlement payment and then sell the settled "debt" to another CA, etc. CYA.

Since the university still apparently has a record of the "bill", you might want to get a copy from them to establish the date, and what it was for, to ensure that the CA doesn't illegally alter something trying to collect from you.

 

Since this was a medical bill, should it have been paid by insurance when originally incurred? Are they trying to collect from you when they didn't get paid because they failed to submit it to insurance correctly or timely? It might be contractually uncollectable under your insurance contract at the time, entirely separate from state SOL.

 

If you were a student at the school when the medical care was received, and such care was covered while you were a student, why wasn't this just covered? Is there even a legitimate debt?

 

Remove your old address from NM from the CRA. You never lived there.

Then dispute it. Always works like a charm.

Good Luck

 

The CA might put it on your report, but it might not be able to legally stay there long. If they do, you would want to check with the CRA that they are correctly reporting the date of original delinquency, and nail them on it if they are not.

I would first work on the issue of the legitimacy of the original bill from the university. If it should have been covered, there was no debt, and the university should not have sold it. Selling it does not make it legitimate if it was not originally. Furthermore, even if there was some ambiguity in a case like this, there is little for the university to gain risking a determination that they sold a debt you never owed, that is so old its collection is not legally enforcable, possibly with damages due you for their error. Passage of SOL renders their actions visibly bluffing, and your actions not bluffing, from a game theory perspective.

The above is not a legal perspective, as I am not an attorney. I view it as a negotiating perspective.

 

If the terms of enrollment at the school were that they would cover the medical services for which you are now being billed, and if the medical services were provided while you were enrolled, before you dropped out, then why is there even a "bill"? Do you have a copy of their catalog, outlining their medical policy? That plus your enrollment is a "contract".
(Schools have been required to honor the terms in their course catalogs, for example, in providing degrees based on the degree requirements at the time students first enrolled, as well as following their printed dispute resolution mechanisms.)

If the catalog, or any other information that you were provided did not specifically say that if you drop out, medical care under their plan became retroactively billable to you, you could take the position that it was covered under their terms of enrollment, and therefore the bill is not legitimate, and the debt not owed. Thus it should not have been "sold", nor should it show up on any CR. The CA will probably not want to step into the middle of a mess like this.

How much is the bill for? When you dropped out, had you attended at least one class? Was there any fee or tuition amount not returned to you on withdrawl, for cancellation? Were "student services" or "health services" fees not refundable? Did you drop out for medical reasons, related to the medical care? Can you make the case that on its face this is not legitimate, and not worth anyone's time.

 

Regarding state for SOL, check them both. The issue might be irrelevant if they have both passed.

 

I would presume that since you pulled out in the middle of the semester, you probably were not eligible for refund of fees, only avoided any incompletes or bad grades.

If you were enrolled when the service was provided, you had paid the fees to be enrolled and be covered, and enrolled students were covered, why would later withdrawing have any bearing on coverage?

 

By all means send a dispute to the CRA and request validation from the CA. But I would still focus on whether the original debt is legitimate or not. If not, it should be pulled back by the university, and any negative tradelines removed from your credit reports.

Withdrawing after no refund was allowable would support your position that you are covered, and there is no debt. If the money was paid, the service under the terms is covered. You "paid" for it. The debt is being collected in error.

I am assuming that your situation was similar to when I went to college:
The university required that all students have health insurance. It could be under their parents' policy, but they also offered Blue Cross, at very affordable group rates, with routine medical services provided for free or very low cost by an on campus student health clinic. The health clinic was paid for either as part of tuition, or as a health fee collected with it. If you were enrolled, you could use the clinic.

In my view, old bills that surface late are always suspect. You can't just assume that the creditor's records are maintained accurately. If they were, why did it only go to collection this year, seven years late? It also puts the alleged debtor at a disadvantage if accepted at face value, in that any records, such as billing statements, bank statements, or processed checks may no longer be obtainable. It denies the "debtor" the opportunity to check the bill for correctness when the goods or services being billed for are still fresh in his mind, allowing correction of billing errors.

For medical bills, the "debtor" may also have had other coverage, perhaps thru private insurance, possibly thru insurance coverage thru their parents policy, or company medical 125 plans, that would have covered a bill, or set the payment due based on insurance contract schedules, if it had been submitted in a timely fashion.

Is the creditor due full payment, when their negligent actions have undermined the prudent and responsible actions taken by the "debtor" to ensure coverage and payment is available? Is the creditor due a higher payment than what they would have had to accept, had the bill been submitted in a timely and proper fashion?

Maybe the billing system was upgraded, and the new one incorrectly handles some entries pulled in from the old database.

This is not an argument that you should not pay your bills. If both parties are reponsible, bills would be submitted correctly, and paid quickly.

In any case, the burden of proof, legally and morally, belongs on the "creditor", and those expecting payment for a "debt" are responsible for maintaining accurate records of the debt, and acting in a timely manner to collect it. Our legal system recognizes this, thru state laws on SOL. Debts become stale; the courts do not want to rehash old issues that should have been settled long ago. If the SOL is passed the creditor may not be able to use the courts to collect.

 

Since this puppy is SOL, so is the CA. I would just dispute it in its entirety and send a complete cease and desist ANY communication with you.

Their only alternative then is to bring suit, and you have the SOL defense.

What will happen though, is likely they will just write it off. But you'll want to keep an eye on your credit reports to make sure they don't put it on with a re-aged date. If they do that, that's a big time violation.

Oh, and since you are in CalEfornia (Arnold-speak), you can obtain a free credit report from all of the big 3 beginning December 1 (new FACTA law), but only once per CRA annually.

 

Since it is not on your CR now, there is no harm in working with the school to resolve it. Make sure both university and CA have your dispute in writing, CRRR. Once they provide documentation on the original bill you can determine if it is legitimate and what you want to do. It is a little early for a C&D, unless you want to restrict the CA to all communications in writing, since they will not be able to resolve anything by phone anyway.