need advice Please help medical bill & CA

Ok....when exactly in 2005 did this happen?? The NY state 6 year statutue of limitations may have already passed which would mean that the debt is time barred. Secondly, if the SOL has not passed, you need to DV the agency in writing...

Few other things...if the CA "bought" the account, you cannot pay the hospital...the hospital would no longer be in the loop. If the debt was "assigned", then you could pay the hospital. My suggestion is, on monday, call and talk to the hosptial and find out if the bill was sold or assigned. If the SOL has passed, send the CA a letter telling them to bug off, the debt is time barred. If the SOL has NOT passed, DV the collection agency...drag it out to the SOL.

do as SL says - that $125 payment might be a ploy to reset SOL.

well when i spoke to the CA in 2010 when i first recieved my letter of collection didnt that reset the sol. also what is Dv? I think it was assigned to the CA. First i was told the hospital will have no part in it and i said i dont want to deal with the CA i rather deal with the hospital then the hospital said we can work on a payment plan but they wanted $300 mo. when i requested 125mo the supervisor in recovery said no and had the woman i spoke to at the hospital foward it to the CA again and she said the hospital wont accept a plan you have to pay us $300 maybe 250. and if i dont give her an answer by monday she will file a judgement against me.
my father spoke to a rep in recover at the hospital and she told him to pay the 125 and put her name on the check. so i rather not pay the CA anything I just dont want to be making payments to the hospital and then the CA tries something.
Monday my mom is going to put my first payment in at 9am so when this bitch from the CA calls i can say the hospital accepted my 125 payment blah blah blah

Talking to a CA does NOT reset the clock. Now when exactly in 2005 did this occur??? What month? Do not make that payment yet....the debt could be out of or almost out of the SOL,

Actually ready back on your last post got me thinking? Who is collecting on this? A collection agency or a law firm? A collection agency cannot sue. A collector cannot file a judgment against you...they are not authorized or capable of doing so. This would be an FDCPA violation.

DO NOT make payments.....

i believe its IRS collection agency . and i believe t was dec2005

You mean First IRS?? For starters, I believe their name alone is an FDCPA violation....impersonating a government agency.

Read this thread... http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/collection-agencies/thread59317.html

Your SOL is up in December....you need to drag this out if you can.
Immediately send them a DV, debt validation. Personally I would send them a full cease and desist.

I was mistaken the CA is
IRA international recovery associates inc
195 smithtown blvd nesconset new york 11767
nyc license #1005026
i would love to drag it out until dec but what if they file a judgement against me or try to garnish? the woman was very nasty with me .Wheni was explaining the situation she said " i dont want to go back and fourth" jujst pay your debt. blah blah blah i will hold you file until monday and if i dont hear back from you we are taking you to court. she said she was from the legal department.

As I said above, they are a collection agency...not a law firm. Neither the collector or the CA is capable of suing you. For her to tell you that "she" will sue you is a violation. To say that "they" will sue you is a violation.

What state do you live in?

I live in the bronx NYC. also when does the SOL start? does it start . my hospital bill is from 12/20/2005 this notice from IRA is from april 2006 so does it start from the CA letter day?

Since you never made a payment, the SOL will expire in December or January. The CA has had the account since 2006? They are bluffing you and violating the FDCPA at the same time. I would ignore there calls...they cant do anything.

yes they have had the account since 2006 this letter i have is from april 2006.I never paid a dime to the hospital because from the time of my surgery in dec 2005 to april 2010 i was under the assumption emergency medicaid took care of the bill because i applied for it in the hospital and was assured by the social worker and doctor it would be covered thats the only reason why i agreed to stay in the hospital. it was for a kidney stone that was stuck. my choices were to go home in pain and wait 9 days for an appointment for the surgery or stay in the hospital as an emergency for 4 and get the Emergency medicaid and have the surgery sooner.
apparently EM never approved me .
but i dont want this on my credit report and i wanted to make a deal with the hospital. they wont cut the bill down at all and said they wont accept less than $300/250 mo but another woman at the recovery said to pay 125.
now you all r telling me not to pay anything and now im confused

Whether or not you pay it, it could still go on your credit report. Legally they can report for 7 years but so far they havent. The likelihood that anything is going to happen now is low.

Right now it is your choice...pay it and the SOL is renewed and you are stuck paying it. Wait it out and you could be free and clear.

but if the sol runs out cant they still collect it? Ive had friends who had accounts frozen for things that were 10 yr old

yes they can still collect on it until the day you die. but they cannot sue you for it. once the sol runs you can just cease and desist them and they have no options. your friends might have had judgements against them - in some states judgements are enforceable for as long as 20 years. once a judgement is entered the age of the account does not factor into it.

i was told on another forum that medical bills do not fall under the same SOL - they are under the UCC - Uniform Commercial Code and are for 4 years . is this true? also if i dont pay it and the SOL y year thing is up can a judgement still be put on me?

i dont know about the UCC question. maybe SL can help you with that. however as to your second question - they would have to sue you to obtain a judgement. can they sue if once the SOL runs? short answer is yes. however you would then respond to the summons using the SOL having run out as your defense.

username is trying to say: one the SOL is up, you become untouchable. Thats why their trying to get you to make payment. So your SOL will be reset. between the hospital and the CA, their playing "Good Cop/Bad Cop" with you.;)

Actually, the short answer is yes, but then you would not only have a defense against it by invoking "expiration of SOL" as your affirmative defense, you would then sue them for violating the FDCPA, since it is against the FDCPA for a CA to take any action that is against the law.

ok so my best corse of action tomorrow is to mail a certified letter asking for DV and mail a CD to the CA? and not pay the OC the 125 .also the SOL for NY is 6yr and dec will be 6 yrs so in both cases i would be safe. now my question is can wages be garnished or bank account frozen ? even though the ucc 4 yr us up and in dec the nyc 6 yr will be up

Your best course of action would be to get the heck out of Dodge, and lay low untill the SOL is up.

If the SOL is not up till December, there is a very good chance they will try to sue you. I was sued by a hospital for $400.00, even thow I was making payments off and on. Had it paid down from $1500.00.

If they called you, then you are on their radar, and the debt has not been forgotton.

I just read thru the Wiki info on the UCC and I am pretty sure it does not apply.

You would need to wait until January for the SOL to be up....the SOL would have started 30 days after your hospital visit.

As I have said above, the agency cannot sue you...they legally are not capable. Threatening to do so is a violation. Personally I would would lay low until january. Unless a law firm in NY contacts you, I wouldnt worry.

thank you all. ive been jumping from site to site back and fourth trying to figure out what to do. i read on why chats site http://whychat.5u.com/hipltr.html

Medical bills do not fall under the same SOL - they are under the UCC - Uniform Commercial Code. That's 4 years, every state.

i undrstand the CA cant sue me but they can file a judgement so whats the difference.

Ok...do you want our advise or not? Have you read the UCC? I googled SOL on medical bills and they come under unsecured accounts and are subject to each states SOL. Did you read Why Chats page in its entirety??? Or the part that states
"It will ONLY work if the claim is either INACCURATE, or you remit the valid correct amount due with the letter, and ONLY if you have confirmed a CURRENT relationship between the OC and the CA"I dont see anywhere where it quotes the UCC...it does quote the USC. Nowhere do I see anything about SOLs.

Suing you and getting a judgment is the same thing. The CA can do neither.

im sorry but im at my wits end over this. Just worring about what could happen in a few months. all night ive been trying to figure something out and i appreciate everyones advice its just that going from site to site im reading different things.

sitting back and laying low might make matter worse so im trying to figure out if i should send letters like those on why chats site or not to. if my ny sol is up in jan 2010 thats 6 months and who knows what these douches can come up with and i under stand the CA cant sue me but they can file judgement which into takes me to court or can freeze a bank account

I don't know where soap lady is comming from. The hospotal has three channels, "Them, The Collection Agency, and YES Attornys. THEY CAN SUE YOU. And if they feel they have a strong case, and enough money is involved, they will. Plain and simple. I think that if you send letters and calls, and so-on. That would be like poking them with a stick. You don't poke a giant with a stick. You hide under a rock, and lay low untill the coast is clear.

If they do sue you, then you fight, and send letters, and so-on.

SL i do want everyones advice but im receiving conflicting advice between this board and http://creditboards.com/forums where why chat / breeze and others have said medical falls under the 4 yr UCC.
I just want to know what i should do today when the CA calls wanting to know if i want to take the $250 per mo plan or let them "press legal action" her words. or if i should pay the hospital $125 and restart the sol. I was admitted into the hospital on 12/16/2005 - 12/20/2005. ny 6 yr rule should be up in january /feb 2012
Once again i greatly appreciate everyones help .im just an extreme worrier :)

You havn't been reading! If you give the CA or the Hospital money, it will restart your SOL.

listen im sorry but ive had a bad week. my father had a second heart attack on thurday the day before the CA contacted me. then having to deal with this and then reading all this stuff is getting to me
i understand paying it resets the clock im just confused right now im sry

i just want to know what to say to the CA when she calls me today. avoid the call ? or what

I'm sorry to hear about your father. About the bill, I think your reading to far into it, and you should stop worrying about it. It will come out in the wash.

Let me see if I can help.

1. UCC does not apply to ALL medical bills. Based on the research SoapLady did, she does not believe it applies to yours so, your state's statute of limitation is what applies here (6 years).

2. Since you're approaching the expiration of the SOL, you should NOT do anything that will restart the clock (e.g. making a payment).

3. Since a 3rd party (the collection agency) contacted you, they are REQUIRED to validate this debt. You have the right to request that validation and all collection efforts (including filing a lawsuit) must be stopped during this validation process.

4. IF you are not provided proper validation for this account before the SOL expires, you will not be able to be sued.

5. No one can just file a "judgment" against you. They have to first sue you in a court of law and win. Once they win, that's when they obtain a judgment. You're confusing the two things which are really kind of the same.

6. The CA cannot file a lawsuit. An attorney must do that for them. So, if a collector told you over the phone that he/she or their company will "take you to court," they've violated the FDCPA.

7. I'm with SoapLady on this one. I think you should send the validation of debt request to this CA and then wait. Do not make payment arrangements. Do not even communicate with them until the debt is validated.

OK, let's not forget the info we have here....

This CA does not have to validate. Remember the law--the law says you have 30 days from initial contact in which to dispute, and if you do so at that time, they must stop all activity until they validate. This CA, if I am reading the OP's posts right, sent him a collection letter in 2006. If thats the case, then they are no longer bound by the validation requirement of the law. Not trying to scare the OP but I want you to have the right information. their initial contact was 5 years ago if they are the ones that sent you that letter. You can still dispute it, and request validation, but they are no longer required to provide it before taking any further action.

I found an old CA notice from 2006 from IRA associates for a debt to this hospital . Currently POM recoveries is the CA that I spoke to and I don't ever recall receiving a letter from them. Unless IRA and PoM are the same I don't know.
When I spoke to the CA I told her I had received a letter in 2010 but I might have mixed it up with the letter from the hospitals recovery dept.the only papers I have about this are from the hospital itself . I have 1 CA letter from IRA CA which isn't for the 11700 it's for 1800 so I guess the hospital split my bill or something because on the hospital print out that 1800 is listed . I don't have any collections for this bill on my credit report. On Friday the CA put in an inquiry . I checkEd the report for all 3 CRA last night and saw that they made the in inquiry. The woman never told Me what CA she was from I found out by checking my CR and saw their inquiry on Friday. Also She told me her name and When I typed the CA from the report into google with with her last name i found out her first name and thats shes 50 so it is OIS/POM RECOVERIES I who has it.
Also let me ask u this are they allowed to discuss this with someone else other than me? Because originally the CA lady called my mothers house and told her about the bill and that it's from 2005 she wants it paid and she will do everything she can to make arrangements for me to pay off my debt. But was a bi*ch to me
this is what is on my CR . from the same same day i spoke to her
OIS/POM RECOVERIES I
08/04/11 Banking
OIS/POM RECOVERIES I
85 E HOFFMAN AVE
LINDENHURST, NY 11757
(631) 761-1028


everyone im sry if this has turned into a clucster f*ck like i said before this has been a bad week for me and im shot.

If this is a new CA contacting you, follow my previous advice. Also, no they're not allowed to share that type of information with a third party. That's ANOTHER FDCPA violation.

i wish there was a way i could record a phone call. in ny only 1 party needs to be aware. i have an iphone and i cant figure out how to do it. google voice only does incoming and for some odd reason its not working for me

Recording a call is easy, all you need is to put the call on your speakerphone and record the whole thing in a quiet room with any decent microcassette recorder. I actually record calls on the house phone using a microcassette recorder that has phone jacks built in--you plug the coiled phone cord from the phone base to the recorder's "input" jack, and the "output" jack to the handset. It records crystal clear no matter what is happening in the background. But since you are on a cell phone, pick a quiet place to go to and put the phone on speakerphone when they call. Try this out first with a test phone call to make sure it will pick everything up clearly, you will have to experiment a bit to get the best recording.

I found this thread on these guys.

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4696

Othank you everyone. The CA called my mothers house about this last night and thencalled my cell phone 2 times once I didn't notice and another I was typing a pm to skydiver at the time and didn't answer she left a voice
Mail stating it was extremely importants I call back before 430 . And stressed it 3 times.
I went through my paper work and I don't have any papers from a pom recovery nor do i recall receiving any. When I originally spoke to her I said I think I had one but it turns out that CA notice was from a cell phone account that was later correct by the original OC.
She never told me where she was from but I know because I googles her nam and the name of the ca that made an inquiry on my CR. so when she calls me to I'm telling her I want all future comm in writing and that I need to know who I'm dealing with CA/addy/ etc . Then I will send my DV to her and hopefully take it from there. My only issue is if they say they sent. Notices out years ago and it's not her problem if I didn't receive them then what?

collectors will lie out of their a$$.dta..don't trust anybody when it comes to collectors.btw if the hag sent something years ago why is she just following up,and doing a credit inquiry now.if she says that don't believe it for a second and demand a letter before further discussion.don't back down from that.

Ok umm what do I do now I just spoke to the woman from the CA because I wanted to find out what CA she was calling from and she said my account was fowarded to an attorney . I should hear from them this week or early next week. Then hung up.What do I do? She said she was told that I was going to be making payment arrangements with the OC. I didn't tell her that so I don't know if he spoke to my parents about that or the OC?

first things first--do not panic. The CA has no authority to "forward your account to an attorney" unless they OWN the account. From what I see in your case, you were able to talk to the hospital and make arrangements with them, so there is NO WAY that the CA owns the debt. Look at it this way--she lied to you about how much they could settle for per month. She has acted outside the law when it comes to constantly calling your parents house....the law actually says that they can only call a third party, which is what your parents are in this, until they make contact ONE TIME. And then, the only thing they can do is ask for you and try to find out a way to contact you. They CANNOT legally tell your parents what the call is about. They also cannot legally call any third party once they have a way to contact you, which they now have. She's probably just mad because the OC probably pulled the account back. Either way, this is NOT someone you should be trusting the words of. Look at all the dishonest and illegal things she has done already!

I cannot tell you not to pull your money from the bank, that is your decision to make. I can, however tell you that before they can legally levy a bank account, they must file a complaint in court, have you served the summons, and then win their case. They cannot legally go tomorrow and get a levy for your bank account. This is the kind of thing that takes a little time. But you must live with the choice you make, I can only try to reassure you. CAs have done that in the past to people, but I have never seen one do it that quickly.

I Understand. To be honest I'm Confused about who has this account also. When I originally spoke with the hospital the woman Said the hospital wanted 300 but would take 250 then when I asked for 125 she said she would speak with her supervisor and get back to me Thursday, Friday came and the CA called me and said that the hospital rejected my plan and sent this to the CA . My father called the OC back pretending to be me and spoke to someone else who told Him to send $125 to the hospital and on the checks write in care of her name and my account. Now the CA says they forwarded it to an attorney and I'm all F'ed in the head over legal status , codes, accounts. I paid $60 last night to for ink to print the DV and the printer doesn't work FML :)

Again, collection agencies lie. All they care about is collecting your money so they can get paid.

If the hospital is still communicating with you regarding this bill, then they still own it.

ok so for arguments sake lets say the Ca doesnt try t o sue me" have an attorney sue me" should i not pay back the $$ to the hospital and wait for the sol to expire in a few months or should i pay back the hospital the 125 per and restart the sol. thats what im confused about. im not sure whats the best course of action.

I can't advise you whether you should pay or not. That's your decision to make.

If you feel you can afford the $125 monthly payments, feel you can stick to the plan and you don't think the hospital is going to get antsy and demand higher payments and/or sue you, that's one option.

If you think you can wait it out until the SOL expires, which would render you "sue proof," that's another option.

Weigh your options and make the best decision for you.

On this site everyone is telling me medical doesn't fall under UCC but on credit boards.com everyone is saying medical bills fall under the UCC and is 4yrs for being sued. Imso confused on this.
Let me ask you is the hospital allowed to
Demand more money? I was under the assumption they have to take what ever they get?

I really don't think the UCC applies in your case. The applies to the sale of goods. Medical bills are for services rendered, not goods.

the CA did in fact send my account to a attorney. heres the letter i received what do i do? thats the letter i received

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y233/JoeyNoX/img029-1.jpg

DV it....you want to drag it out.