IS there a statue of limitations on medical bill collections?
Posted by admin
Godsent asked:
I was called by an agency saying they were trying to collect money for medical charges from 1998-1999. Do I have I have to pay a bill that is over 7 years old? I have never spoken to them before. The bill exists because of a failure to file insurance which I know can not be done now. These charges are from Mississippi if that makes any difference. I live out of state from the bills. Anybody know anything about such a thing? I hate to say I won’t pay it if I owe it but this just seems crazy!
I am told I owe over $700.
Goodman Heat Pumps
I was called by an agency saying they were trying to collect money for medical charges from 1998-1999. Do I have I have to pay a bill that is over 7 years old? I have never spoken to them before. The bill exists because of a failure to file insurance which I know can not be done now. These charges are from Mississippi if that makes any difference. I live out of state from the bills. Anybody know anything about such a thing? I hate to say I won’t pay it if I owe it but this just seems crazy!
I am told I owe over $700.
Goodman Heat Pumps
March 29th, 2010 at 1:34 am
Yes, but it’s complicated. Seems like it’s best to ignore it and let them sue you before you bother with any action, since any action may extend the time. I don’t think asking them for information would constitute action, but I might be wrong about that. In no way should you provide any information to them.
Don’t answer any of their questions, and request that they send you the information via mail to the address of record. However they found your phone number, they should send it to the address associated with that. I doubt any real collections agency will really be aggressive on such an old bill, even if it were valid. These guys could be scammers and trying to steal you identity, and you have your right to privacy.
The chance of collecting aside from someone just paying all their bills is remote, but it might be worth it for them to pursue even if they only collect a few percent based on good will. It might be like the SPAM approach to bill collecting.
Do not ignore legal notices that you get in the mail, especially if you signed for it. Those hastles must be dealt with or you mind up being liable.
Of course, I’m no lawyer, and you may want to seek real legal advice if you are still worried.
March 30th, 2010 at 7:20 am
they will hound you to the end ,and then in to the grave
March 31st, 2010 at 5:08 am
Get a copy of your credit report. Look for the listing associated with this medical bill. Does the listing have an R next to it? I don’t know if R stands for the “Write Off” but it means the same thing. Basically it means that the original creditor, the medical facility, has listed the debt as uncollectable. That is the first step to the creditor claiming the debt as a tax write-off when they file with the IRS. If the creditor has already told the IRS “Hey, this girl is never gonna pay us the over $700.00 she owes us and we want to list this debt as deductible from the taxes we owe.” the creditor can not then come after you, the debtor, to collect that debt. If they did it would be tax fraud. The creditor has four years from the date at which they listed your debt as a write off to still try to collect that money from you. After four years they can not collect. So look at your credit report and see A) If there is an R next to this debt and B) How long ago this debt was put into the R category if it is indeed in the R category.
According to the Federal Trade Commission website “Important information from the Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency: annualcreditreport.com is the ONLY authorized online source for you to get a free credit report under federal law. You can get a free report from each of the three national credit reporting companies every 12 months. Some other sites claim to offer “free” credit reports, but may charge you for another product if you accept a “free” report.”