bills,bills, bills

[Nancy]

Med-

Sometimes I wonder if this kind of thing (a 'collection company', threatening to do things to you after a very long period of time), is some sort of scam.

Before sending any of these suspect companies any money at all, even $10.00, I'd call the State Attorney General and check it all out.

There are all kinds of crooks out there, and some don't mind hopping on the medical bandwagon. 1994 bills seem like they should have been reviewed long ago. Sounds like some low-life got access to the medical archives and thought they would have a bonanza.

Get the name, number, address and person you talked to and report this.

 

[EVELYN]

hi med
was just reading your post....last night on suze orman, i learned that every person who owes $$$ should find out the statute of limitations in their state. turns out that very close to the end of the limitations, collection companies will contact you regarding a bill or so. by doing that they automatically renew the statute of limitations for however many years your state has determined it is to collect on a bill. from what i gathered from her, even talking with them will restart the statute time period....i sure as h*ll wouldn't send them a cent! it would seem to me that 1994 is waaaay past the statute....most states have 4,5,6 or 7 years to collect....sure hope you didn't start the procedure all over again.

evelyn

 

[hensylee]

about 15 yrs ago my daughter was in financial trouble - thought she had cleared it all up and was on top again. A few months ago she got a call from a collection agency who said she owed $ - quite a bit. She asked for information which they didn't have, but told her she owed it, but that the limitation had run out and she was not obligated to pay. Even with that, they said it remained on the books and they could call her whenever they wanted to and harrass. I told her not to pay, but she sent a settlement amount just so they wouldn't call her again. She was so upset about it that she just gave in - so was I and I wouldn't have paid it without documented records...... I figured it was a scam collector who knew they had no rights, but could harrass her all they wanted because the debt was 'still on the books'. So the collector made some $. go figure..

 

[Nancy]

I seem to remember that there are laws which restrict what a collection company can and cannot do to collect funds, re: harassing you.

People who call you without any documentation, and who cannot give you their legal company name (which is the name of their incorporation papers), address, phone number and contacts to their legal departments and their email address, and who do not give you their names, their manager's name, and the owner's name, so you can report them, are up to no good.

Get as much information as you can, use Star # (on your phone) to get their return call number and make a report.

Also tell these people that you need to have them send you information by registered mail, that you will not discuss anything over the phone and that you will be contacting your attorney. A legitimate company should have absolutely no problem doing that.

There's a scam a second, seems like, lately.

They could even be hiding out in some remote country, for all we know, or could be prisoners.