expired debts

[MomLovesClassics]

I know this will sound like we are dead beats and don't pay our bills. Over 7 years ago, my husband had to go to the hospital, and the bill was over $6,000. We made arrangements to pay the hospital in weekly payments, they excepted our payment arrangements, and we paid faithfully every week. About 90 days later we recieve a bill from a collection agency. It was explained to us that it does not matter if the hospital did agree to take payments or that we paid on time, this is how things are done. I refused to deal with them, because it didn't matter how much I would pay the collection company they would still flaw my husbands credit report. Recently I got a bill from them after many years, and the statue of limitations has expired on the bill. I wrote them a letter stating I dispute the bill, the statue of limitations has expired, don't contact us again. They send us a computer print out of a bill, that does not even state what the bill is for, and it does not even have my husband's signature stating the bill is valid. We do not have funds to hire and attorney otherwise I would. Why do collections agencies insist on attempting to collect expired debts? the language I used in my letter was fairly strong, and I just typed out another letter that is just as strong about not contacting us again. Anyone ever have this sort of experience?

[shannatheshedevil]

That is exactly what you should do. And DO NOT mention anything about paying them in any, shape, form or fashion- if you do, they can reopen the debt. Just remind them the statute is up.

[MomLovesClassics]

No I didn't mention paying them I dime. i did sent the first letter by certifed mail, and the next letter will also be sent the same way. This is a local collection agency and they are like sharks.

[Moxie]

Are you 100% sure there is a time limit to pay hospital bills?

[shannatheshedevil]

There's a limitation on all kinds of debt, it just varies from state to state.

[Mynyel]

There is a statute and if the collection agency doesn't back off you can always contact the credit agencies and get the debt removed from your report.

The way I understand it the collections can't add "another" spot on your credit for the same debt. So for instance you shouldn't have the hospital on your report saying you owe AND the collection agency saying you owe.

The collection agency should also have the correct date of when the debt was started not just the date the acquired the debt. What I mean is that the statute time for the debt doesn't start over each time the debt is sold.

 

So you may have to circumvent the credit agency and go to the "big three". Sure they can try to collect for as long as they like but it shouldn't be on your credit report adter the statute time is up on that particular debt.

[Chrystal]

This happens because debts that have been written off are sold in bulk for pennies on the dollar and then someone hopes that you will pay it. Just one payment starts the clock all over again.

I wouldn't even waste your time writing to them. They aren't really interested in what you have to say, they are just hoping that you will pay something, anything, so that they can begin the clock again.

Sorry you're having to go through this.

:grouphug:

[MomLovesClassics]

One reason I am wasting my time is to get the item removed from my husbands credit report. Blemishes can cause consumer to pay higher than normal deposits, and higher than normal insurance rates. It can affect your life in more ways than one. Once we had a collection agency call us every thirty minutes over a credit card bill we paid in full on a closed account. it took a lot of time and patience to get the collection agency to stop calling, and not have it show up on our credit file. We have a friend who had a collection agency attempt to collect on a debt that was from a 5 year old discharged bankruptcy. In this case the collection agency tried to take her to court to get a judgement against her. I found that shocking. Sometimes you can't just ignore them, you have to confront them.

[StephanieZ]

One reason I am wasting my time is to get the item removed from my husbands credit report. Blemishes can cause consumer to pay higher than normal deposits, and higher than normal insurance rates. It can affect your life in more ways than one. Once we had a collection agency call us every thirty minutes over a credit card bill we paid in full on a closed account. it took a lot of time and patience to get the collection agency to stop calling, and not have it show up on our credit file. We have a friend who had a collection agency attempt to collect on a debt that was from a 5 year old discharged bankruptcy. In this case the collection agency tried to take her to court to get a judgement against her. I found that shocking. Sometimes you can't just ignore them, you have to confront them.

 

You do not need to deal with the collection agency. In fact, from what you say, you are better off no longer dealing with them in any way.

 

You need to deal directly with the three credit bureaus. Get your FREE copies of each credit report and "dispute" the erroneous item(s). Follow the instructions from the bureaus. . . the items will be taken off your credit reports when the collection agency cannot substantiate the debt.

[OrganicAnn]

I think the secretary of state of a state is the government area that you can complain to about a company. It might not take action on just your complaint, but if they get enough complaints, they will take action. And these days, there are probably more and more people to complain about collection companies.

 

You can usually find the address on a state's website.

[DarlaS]

Are you sure it's expired?

 

They get pretty rabid right before a bill almost expires. I remember being home with a 3 day old baby getting nasty phone call from a debt collection agency. This was for a phone bill my husband's sister had run up (in his name while she was living with him :glare:).

 

I seem to have gotten a cell phone number of someone who owed several people money--seven years ago. Finally, when it rings, it's usually for me. :tongue_smilie:

[babysparkler]

And DO NOT mention anything about paying them in any, shape, form or fashion- if you do, they can reopen the debt.

 

And do not pay anything! We had a dentist start sending bills to us several years after dental work was completed (for the amount of the Insurance Company's Negotiated Deduction for which we are not responsible)... long story. Anyway, in looking through our records we DID find that we owed them a co-pay for one of the visits, so with integrity, we went ahead and paid this co-pay as soon as we noticed it. Now, in retrospect, we know that we shouldn't have paid it because according to our state's laws, from our understanding, the statute of limitations starts from the point of the last payment. We haven't heard from them since right before the original date that would have expired the "debt" (before making that payment) so we are hopeful that the Dentist's office or their collection agency will not know the law well enough to know that we restarted the statute of limitations date with that extra payment. :glare: We still won't have to pay it since it was a negotiated discount between the dentist and insurance company, but the hassle of it all...

Edited August 15, 2010 by babysparkler

[Dobela]

I would contact an attorney or someone just to make sure. Recenlty we learned that if you ever respond or pay even a penny you are then responsible again. What happens is that there are unscrupulous collection agencies out there that buy very old and expired debts from hospitals, credit cards, and so on. They even buy debts that were supposedly wiped out by bankruptcy. They then start calling and contacting someone to make them pay (or their estates pay). If the person starts responding or makes the smallest payment, the debt is or can be removed from the expired status and considered to be current again - which means that you can again be responsible for that debt and the time frame for expiration begins again.

 

Friends of ours went thru this over a credit card debt that they had let go over 10 years before. The wife made a payment of $25 without thinking and they were then slammed with the original charges, interest over all those years, collection and attorney fees. It was a nightmare until they got it all worked out.

 

Because you have now made multiple attempts to contact this agency, thye will most like continue to hound you for this debt because you confirmed that you live there and have that phone number. You may have to get a letter from an attorney to make them leaveyou alone.