So I've been forwarded to a collection agency...

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whitereflection

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A while ago, a year more or less, I went to the hospital. My insurance was supposed to cover the bill, but it only provided a deductible. My mom said the insurance is supposed to cover the whole bill, and she'll notify the insurance company, cause she thinks the hospital is trying to charge extra fees. I've been trying to clear this whole mess up all week to no avail, and I'm pretty sure my credit's shot by now. The lady at the collection agency keeps making threatening phone calls. What I want to know is, can I get fined or jailed? And how long does it take to rebuild credit?
 
You can tell them to stop calling. Dell just sent me to one too. I bought a laptop it was defective, and I tried to return in. I disputed teh cahrge and won, and now dell sent me to a collection agency. Its a dell owned collection agency too.
 
They can garnish your wages (meaning they can get a court order that automatically deducts a set amount of money from your paycheck and sends it to them).
We were turned over to collections after we had a baby and my wife had surgery all in the span of a month. We were sending them checks monthly, but they turned us over because we weren't paying the minimum 10% of the balance (which was over $6,000). Since they never informed us of the minimum payment amount, we worked out a payment plan and the collections notice was removed.
 
TRry to work out an afordable payment plan with them. They'd much rather have you pay a little slower than waste time and money to go after you; only having you to default anyway.
 
If you don't get it paid sooner or later the will more than likely write it off as a loss. This could take years though. Once it is reported case closed to the credit report agencies it then stays on your record for, I think, 7 years.
 
Well, you cannot rebuild your credit until you resolve the problem record that you now have on your credit.
 
[quote name='Supernothing']If you don't get it paid sooner or later the will more than likely write it off as a loss. This could take years though. Once it is reported case closed to the credit report agencies it then stays on your record for, I think, 7 years.[/quote]

Seven years is a long time to live without a car, or a house, or a major appliance, or any type of financing on the planet. It would be much easier for the OP to just try and work out a payment schedule.
 
In most states, medical debts cannot be used against you in your credit report, though you'll need to check with your state laws to find out if that applies to you. I'd still recommend trying to pay them, though. If you honestly cannot pay (unemployed, for instance), you can almost certainly call the hospital and tell them that. 99% of all hospitals have a 'unable to pay' system in which your debt can be covered by either government assistance or donations from private charities.

Either way, if the creditors are getting annoying, you can tell them to stop calling you and, by law, they have to.
 
I think it stays on your credit for 7 or 10 years. Playstation mag reported me I never wanted to resubcribe, my sub was up and I never returned the invonices so they reported me. I always liked them and never had a proablem with anything till now. thanks PSM ass's
 
[quote name='Graystone']I think it stays on your credit for 7 or 10 years. Playstation mag reported me I never wanted to resubcribe, my sub was up and I never returned the invonices so they reported me. I always liked them and never had a proablem with anything till now. thanks PSM ass's[/quote]
hell i get these allt he time ig ot one from xbox mag and one from car and driver. i just never paid and they shut up. I think is diff than the OP because this a small amount of money.
 
Negotiate a settlement. Collection agencies buy debts for basically pennies on the dollar. They do not expect to collect 100% of the debts.

The collection agent may be working on a commission basis. She will likely be happy to get what she can from you now rather than squeeze you for the last penny. She wants to get as much as possible from you and then move on to someone else. The last thing she wants is to keep calling you. Throw her a bone and she'll go away.

Make up a story and stick to it. Collection agents are professional liars. Play the game by their rules. They threaten. They initimidate. They insult. Show no fear.

What you said about your deductible sounds odd. Normally you are responsible for the deductible and the insurance pays the balance (possibly up to a limit).
 
Do not give them a penny until the issue between the hospital and the insurance company is resolved beyond any doubt.

In most states collection agencies have no power whatsoever and are legally obligated to never contact you again if you make it clear you do not wish to hear from them. They train their employees to make it sound as though they can do terrible thing but they really cannot. If the hospital can be made to relent on their complaint there should be no negative entry on your credit rating. If there is, a bit of effort can get it remove for little cost beyond phone calls and time.
 
Yes, send the collection agency a written letter and they legally have to stop calling you. That law is on the books in every state last time I checked.
 
[quote name='BigNick']I have a question, they dont have my social secirity number, so what can they do? Send me a court order?[/quote]

They haven't indicated they have you SSN but that means only they haven't admitted such. Obtaining anyone's SSN is trivial. There are federal laws and additional state regulating how SSN can be used. This often just means keeping it undisplayed on invoices but it remains in the database.
 
[quote name='Graystone']I think it stays on your credit for 7 or 10 years. Playstation mag reported me I never wanted to resubcribe, my sub was up and I never returned the invonices so they reported me. I always liked them and never had a proablem with anything till now. thanks PSM ass's[/quote]

fuck, I just ended a subscription with them. Hope they don't pull that shit on me.
 
You want to check out the Federal Fair Debt Collection Act.

http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm

It provides debtors with an explanation of rights and responsibilities.

I did a decent amount of work with this for people about 5 years ago. Depending upon what you want to accomplish it can be of great help.

While I have never heard medical debts aren't used against your credit in certain states, although it would be state specific that just seems like pie in the sky.

If you want to discuss this more IM me.

CTL
 
Reality's Fringe][quote name='Supernothing']If you don't get it paid sooner or later the will more than likely write it off as a loss. This could take years though. Once it is reported case closed to the credit report agencies it then stays on your record for said:
Seven years is a long time to live without a car, or a house, or a major appliance, or any type of financing on the planet. It would be much easier for the OP to just try and work out a payment schedule.
Click to expand...

Um, I hate to tell you this, but creditors LOVE these kinds of people. A ding on your credit doesn't mean you can never get credit again, it just means that you will pay a higher interest rate on whatever you purchase on credit. And higher interest rate=more money in credit companies pockets. So you can still get a house, a car, and major appliances, you will just have to pay more for them.

I'm not advocating that you not pay your credit card bills, I'm just pointing out that it is not the end of the world. And this bill is something that needs to be settled between the insurance company and the collection agency. I've been there, done that. Health insurance companies try this tactic all the time to weasel out of making payments for hospital services they are supposed to cover...they just ignore the bills they are supposed to pay and don't tell their policy holders about it until it gets sent to a credit collection agency. You need to call your health insurance company and start harassing them!
 
I came accross this site:

http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/

not sure how valid it is or what not, but they have some letter templates that are pretty sweet. I used one to send to teh collection agency dell sent me to. It basicly says, send me all the info as to why Iowe this debt, and dont call me, and dont write to me again unless its the info on the debt or to take me to court.
 
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