I have 3 1/2 year old medical collections totaling almost 10,000. I validated with the CA and woke them up. They have responded with detailed bills so validation requirements are met. They offered me a settlement for 60 percent without deletion but I cannot afford 60 percent. They are very inflexible and the OC will not even talk to me. ***My real concern is being sued and having a judgment against me. The SOL in Texas is 4 years so the CA would be "SOL" if I waited for 6 months, but that judgment is lingering over my head. Iâ??m planning on applying for a mortgage in a few months. What would happen if I started making payments until the SOL runs out? Am I re-aging the SOL in Texas? Codeman
You have a mess on your hands for sure. Not only have you awoke the sleeping giant, now they will have the leverage of your mortgage inquiries. Until the SOL runs, they will be closely scrutinizing your credit reports and most likely already have instituted a "credit watch" which will flag anytime you apply for credit, change jobs, or move. You say you can't afford their 60% offer now, but I think when they figure out you want a house, that offer will go out the window. I can't see how the mortgage company won't want that large bill paid/settled. If you are applying for a mortgage in a month, don't you have some form of a down payment saved? You may not want to deal with that medical debt, but I think you might end up having to settle it before putting any mortgage related inquiry on your CR's. As for judgement, CA's will often sit on debt for years and wait for the person's situation to change. They rountinely pull up accounts which are soon to go out of stats and go to battle on those that look worthwhile. As for whether they will do it or not depends on your credit score and whether you have any assets. Some will sue just to extend their collection period. By not waiting until the SOL ran, you've made sure they've put this account back in their 'current work' and will be pawing over it every few weeks. Maybe someone else here might have some other insight to help. A bumpage is in order. Good luck!
Yep, things are not looking good. However, I dont mind making payments to these guys if it keeps a judgment off my back. Does anyone know if making payments will re-age the SOL in Texas. Codeman
If it is CA's you are worried about, and medical bills, you are IN LUCK!!! Why Chat has just the letter you need. You send it to the healthcare provider, not the CA. It should force the provider to take the account back from the CA and require deletion of the entry from your credt reports. http://community-2.webtv.net/YChallenge/storage/page18.html
Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! Breeze, Thanks so much for your response. I would agree, the only way I might have a chance of getting the CA out of the picture is to invoke HIPAA. Seeing that the services were provided in 1999 doesnâ??t HIPAA grandfather those in? Also, depending on the forms signed at the hospital, can't the patient sign away those rights or give the provider permission to release info to third party? Thanks again. Codeman
Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! HIPAA covers past present and future claims. You signed a form to let them give information to your insurer and possibly other health care providers. That letter applies to this situation.
Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! Whychat's letter may be great but did you read her comments at the top before the letter starts in?
Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! My Wife wants me to just ignore the debt and wait for the SOL to run out in August. What do you think? Codeman
Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! Again, if the item is still on your credit record when you apply for the mortgage, you'll have to face this debt and deal with it. The SOL may run out, but that won't matter to the mortgage company. Ducking into the sand for 6 months may work, but until that credit entry is gone, you're stuck. Remember you've awoke the sleeping giant. Don't underestimate the collection agency. They might employ morons to make calls, but they will turn the file to their legal department and file suit in a heartbeat if they think you are in a position to pay. Again, some will sue just to extend the period of collection. A judgement is usually good for 10 years and in some instances they can have them renewed for another 10. Check your state laws. We're not talking chump change here. Your letter put them on notice, "I'm applying for credit." They are salivating right now. Don't think otherwise. I hope you work everything out. Best of luck.
Re: Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! bbauer, All I'm trying to do is get the HCP to recall it from the CA and let me make payments on the account. This is to prevent a judment. The HCP will not agree to recall the debt from the CA voluntarily. Do you think a HIPAA threat would make this happen? Codeman
Re: Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! I doubt you will spook them into recalling the account quoting HIPAA law. Granted, HIPAA is a nightmare and everyone is scrambling to get into compliance in the medical and collection communities, but I think you are just stirring up more trouble for yourself. Be honest here, what I am reading between the lines is, you really don't want to make payments to the health provider. You want the house and you want the debt to vanish. Good luck.
Re: Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! You have a very valid point about laying behind the log and waiting out the SOL but what you had better do is to listen and pay close attention to what spyguyjim is telling you because his statements on this matter are a whole lot wiser and a whole lot better than laying behind the log would be. Both positions have merit but Jim's has a whole lot more merit than yours does.
Re: Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! One little phrase in that statement makes spyguyjim dead wrong. (LOL) "I doubt" is the one that hung him (LOL) He should have been a lot more positive. (LOL) Count on the fact that you won't spook them into recalling the account. Sorry Jim. (LOL)
Re: Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! Bill, I didn't really think any health provider would be spooked, but I was not positive. I can only speak from my experience. I'm not an expert on HIPAA law although I've had training and also studied on my own. The deeper I go, the muddier the water seems to be. Strictly speaking from my (collection agency) perspective, I have dealt with both large and small medical practices as clients. Some of the smaller practices are not very sophisticated with credit and collections, and a HIPAA letter might just spook them into pulling the account. We do get client recalls on occasion, where payments were't made. They just want us to stop collection activities. The agency owner doesn't like to do it, but they will do it on occasion in the interest of client relations. They usually need a good reason before doing so. The client might just say it was a gesture of goodwill where they were actually afraid of legal action and didn't want any argument on our part.
Re: Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! What you say here also can be quite true. Everybody in the medical or medical collections field does seem to be scared to death of HIPAA. On top of that, one can never predict exactly what will happen in any collections situation. Different collectors will react in different ways to the same letter and even that can depend on various things debtors are seldom if ever aware of. Almost none of them are aware of what the contract between the collector and his client calls for. They are not aware of many things that you and I are. Just how many debtors do you think there are out there who have copies of contracts between collectors and their clients and have studied them to find possible loopholes in them to take advantage of? I have. How many debtors out there know about O&E insurance, what it is, how it operates and how to use it as a lever? How many debtors out there are in constant contact with just about all of the legislative bodies that put out daily bulletins about new and pending legislation and check through them to see if anything is mentioned about items of interest? None. And on and on and on. Just about none. And it really don't take much time if you use the search message feature in your email program. Using HIPAA might work if one hits the right nerve with the OC but under all normal circumstances such a ploy would not.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! spyguyjim, I am being honest. I usually do not air my dirty laundry in a public forum without an honest motive, unlike others here. If you were familiar with mortgage products you would know that there are loan programs that do not require you to pay off medical collections to close. The mortgage rate that I have been pre-qualified for is 6.5 fixed apr, which is not great but it gets the job done. I am simply trying to do what is right for my family here. When the debt was incurred I was practically broke and had no medical insurance. Now I'm in a position to pay on the debt, but I will not bow down before an unscrupulous CA just because they hijacked my credit report. I would rather deal with the HCP and pay the debt in full and avoid a judgment. If I had 60 percent to settle this debt then I would do so. But I can only make payments at this time. I am looking at all options for the settlement of this debt. Which is the right thing to do for my family. Codeman
Re: Re: Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! Codeman, I only made that remark because I was trying to understand your motives. I wasn't passing judgement, I was trying to understand what your real intentions were. Are you intent on paying back some or all of the money as you say, or were you throwing a line or two of b.s. to get it wiped clean? Okay, you say you are doing the honorable thing and you intend to pay the money back. More power to you. If you haven't noticed, a lot of people here will skirt around the truth and say whatever suits them at the time to get the information they need to take care of their situation. I can usually spot those people miles away. Your posts started to lead me to this conclusion, and here is why: You say you don't intend to skip out on paying, yet you talk about avoiding judgement, the SOL, getting the item removed from you credit report, making partial payments to the OC, and even remaking that the CA would be "SOL" if you waited for six months to apply for your mortgage, all of which to an experienced collector (which I am) denote: deny, duck, dodge. All of which are typical stall and avoidance mechanisms. You even went as far as to remark whether making a payment will extend the SOL in your state, after saying you would make partiial payments "to keep these guys off my back." You say you are intent on paying it back and I miscostrued your remarks. Okay, maybe so. But I'd be surpised to learn I am the only person here that came to the conclusion, basd on what you said in your earlier posts. Once again, its your call to do as you please. Enough said. And yes, I am very aware you can get a mortgage with medical collection accounts on your report. You can pay inflated costs for the loan and you'll end up paying for those collection accounts one way or another.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! I could say whatever I wanted to obtain information, but if I excluded pertinent information, then the information obtained would be also be incomplete and may do more harm than good. If he is able to formulate a strategy for getting rid of the threat to his mortgage, more power to him. Nobody here is qualified to project what his future intentions are. Gib
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! Hmmmmm!!!!! I got a question. What ever happened to "Judge not lest ye be judged"?????
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Worried about Judgment! Help! Codeman, click on my name, send me a blank email. Or turn on your email on the board ("account" up top).
