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medical bills and collection agencies

Date: Thu, 02/09/2006 - 23:49
Submitted by cholder on Thu, 02/09/2006 - 23:49
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I had cancer back in 1999 and I had no idea that my insurance had not paid the hospital in full, not until I got a copy of my credit report. It was only $282 so I paid them immediately. Before giving them my credit card iformation over the phone to pay the bill I ask if they would please send me a letter that states the account was paid in full and they also agreed to remove the negative statements they had sent in. I never got the letter and of course they didn't remove the report either. But....I recieved a phone call from them it was the first time they had ever phoned me. They told me that I had not signed an authorzation paper to let them charge my debt card but they have already charged the card. They want me to sign the paper and send it back to them but I don't think I will. I just don't know what to do. I know the SOL is up on this bill. Should I sign the paper or should I turn them in for charging my account without my authorzation? or do a charge back on them? They have really pushed me to the limit. Any help I would be thankful to get.
Cathy


Hi Cathy, this is just me giving you my opinion here. You did the right and responsible thing in paying them. I commend you for that. Obviously you approached them in order to get this taken care of. Unfortunately there are some agencies that will tell you they'll update with the credit bureaus and then don't. Its clear that this debt was out of SOL and you didn't have to pay it, you could have gotten out of paying it, because it was also close to falling off of your report as well. The very least they could do, would be to update with the agencies-especially when you didn't even have to pay and you did approach them in trying to do the right thing.

I wouldn't report them for charging your account without authorization or charge them back. What I would do, is talk to them about how you had asked that they update with the credit bureaus upon receiving your payment, which they did not do. Now they come to you needing something. I would tell them no problem, that you'll sign the paper. But tell them that when they send the paper for you to sign, they need to also include a statement saying they'll up date to the bureaus.--like they said they would do in the first place.

Cathy, you were doing the right and responsible thing in paying this debt but always check your time frames before making a payment. You were out of the SOL, plus close to it falling off of your credit report.
collection agencies can be a pain, they want us to do what we say we'll do, but alot of them don't feel they have to do the same. This has caused you alot of stress that I'm sure you could have done without.

This is just my opinion on this matter---I'm sure someone else will come along and share their view point as well.

But if all else fails, you can also go to the bureaus and dispute it with them, tell them you paid it off and let them do the investigation that will show you paid and they will update accordling. :shock: Shirley


Submitted by imkimssister on Fri, 02/10/2006 - 01:34

imkimssister

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Cathy,

I don't think that you'd be able to bring the charge of unauthorized debiting against them, because when you gave ???em your account info, probably you allowed ???em to take money from your account.

What you can do dispute the second letter they've sent you. Since they've already taken the money out, they cannot claim it again. So dispute at this point. Show your bank statement that proves they withdrew the money.

If nothing is of any avail, do as Shirley suggested???dispute with bureaus. Attach all the evidences you have regarding this deal, send your letter through CMRRR.


Submitted by stanley on Fri, 02/10/2006 - 09:57

stanley

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