I just got a letter in the mail today from a collection agency about a medical bill that I had no idea I owed.
Apparently, my old address was on file so it took a while to get to me.
The bill is from 2017 but I thought I had paid all my medical bills in July of 2018, but my hospital said they don’t show amounts on the online portal I use if it has been sent to collections.
The problem is, I don’t recall ever being outstanding for very long and although my payments do show I missed a month, it doesn’t make sense why they would send the bill to collections right away and not tell me.
So now I am not sure what to do. It is an old bill and I had no idea it existed but now the letter says it will start accruing interest if I don’t pay it and I am afraid it might affect my credit score.
Has anyone else dealt with this situation, I could really use some advice. Thanks!
No, I have not dealt with anything like this. However, there are so many scammers out there. The hospital should be more involved and know if you really owe this money.
@mskimberly thanks for your concern. I did call the hospital and they say that it got sent to collection but I don’t understand why as I was staying pretty up to date on my payments and very little time passed between when they said they sent it to collections and my last payment.
It is just frustrating because to my knowledge I had paid all my bills and now they are saying I owe money from over a year ago!
MOORE INCOME I’ve one on credit report and it is for medical.
I had insurance at the time was told my insurance would cover
it . Well it didn’t and its 4 years old now. It started out at 320 and
now is up to $471. I’m not sure if it has effected my credit score or
not. But like you have moved and didn’t no about it.
If they say it got send to collections, they should be able to give you more details. Just telling you that means nothing. You need details. There should be a law against companies doing this two years later. That is really terrible.
I used to work for a medical billing company. Generally, hospitals will keep the debt for a year, and any amounts not paid off will be sent to collections- even if you’ve been making regular payments to the hospital. It’s not fair, and it seems illegal, but it’s not. They sell the debt to a collection agency and the hospital is done with it at that point. So you wouldn’t have much luck trying to negotiate with the hospital over it.
Now that it is with collections, we’ve all dealt with them before. They are interested in only two things- collecting a payment, or collecting a definite future date for a payment. Since the debt is now in collections, your credit score will probably take a hit anyway, especially if you acknowledge it and start making payments.
I would send the collection agency a certified letter asking them to verify the source of the debt. Just in case it’s one you already paid, or just one you didn’t know about. And then it will be up to you to decide to negotiate with them to pay it off, or to let the statute of limitations run out if you don’t feel you owe it.
It’s kind of a bummer, if you’ve been working hard to up that credit score and then to have this happen. But it’s a survivable thing- it just may take time.
I had a hospital insist that we owed a back bill. My records did not agree with theirs. I sent them a registered letter asking for detailed proof of the debt ie. date, event, procedures involved etc. I insisted on a written response. When I did not hear from them I went to our county Legal Aid and the attorney sent them a cease and desist letter. They responded saying the matter was closed. You just have to be as persistent as they are. If you owe the debt agree to monthly payments that are comfortable for you and do NOT miss a payment. Even if you send them $5 a week they must accept it. They will eventually agree to a cash out settlement that will be a fraction of the total amount owed. Their costs are overinflated so the settlement makes them whole. Good luck and I hope your medical condition that caused the debt is improved.
The hospital can and will accept $5 a month as a payment, but they DO NOT have to stop collections. That’s a myth. They can and probably will turn any unpaid debt over to a collection agency, who works on commission. They will take every step they legally can to collect the debt. Maybe they will settle and maybe they won’t, but don’t count on your $5 a month meaning anything to them.
I received a bill from a collections agency for a balance that I never received a bill for in the first place. It was small and I paid it off, and called the hospital and let them know. Not that it mattered, but really. I pay my bills and didn’t like having something in collections when I never even had the opportunity to pay it in the first place. @moore.income, it didn’t make it to my credit report, maybe because I paid it immediately?
I just got a letter in the mail today from a collection agency about a medical bill that I had no idea I owed.
Apparently, my old address was on file so it took a while to get to me.
The bill is from 2017 but I thought I had paid all my medical bills in July of 2018, but my hospital said they don’t show amounts on the online portal I use if it has been sent to collections.
The problem is, I don’t recall ever being outstanding for very long and although my payments do show I missed a month, it doesn’t make sense why they would send the bill to collections right away and not tell me.
So now I am not sure what to do. It is an old bill and I had no idea it existed but now the letter says it will start accruing interest if I don’t pay it and I am afraid it might affect my credit score.
Has anyone else dealt with this situation, I could really use some advice. Thanks!
I should add to my last comment, don’t be afraid to increase your settlement offer either but don’t be too quick to do it,
I just got a letter in the mail today from a collection agency about a medical bill that I had no idea I owed.
Apparently, my old address was on file so it took a while to get to me.
The bill is from 2017 but I thought I had paid all my medical bills in July of 2018, but my hospital said they don’t show amounts on the online portal I use if it has been sent to collections.
The problem is, I don’t recall ever being outstanding for very long and although my payments do show I missed a month, it doesn’t make sense why they would send the bill to collections right away and not tell me.
So now I am not sure what to do. It is an old bill and I had no idea it existed but now the letter says it will start accruing interest if I don’t pay it and I am afraid it might affect my credit score.
Has anyone else dealt with this situation, I could really use some advice. Thanks!
The first step is to ask the creditor to send you a copy of the mandate they received from the creditor. That will buy you quite a bit of time while they research it. Eventually if they are legit. they will send you a copy of your invoice from the creditor. Once you get that call the creditor direct and offer them about 20 cents on the dollar in exchange for full settlement. If they send you back to the collector tell them you are disputing the debt and need to take it up with their licensing people. Usually they will respond and may give you a much needed discount in full settlement. There is a kicker here, if they sold the debt to someone like the collection people, then go to them and offer the same deal. They all want to get it paid in some form or another and negotiating is an honest and acceptable practice.
Please excuse any possible typos, my phone and I are currently at odds with each other.
There is alot of good advice here. Having been in this situation I will fill you in on what I learned. If you ignore the the collection agency they have the legal right to ask the courts for a judgement against you to insure they get their money. For most states the statute of limitations is 6 years, some more, some less. That is a long time to play games with a collection agency. Should you receive papers from the court showing a judgement is being sought, be sure you show up for the court date. If you don’t the courts will automatically grant the judgement and now you have no say in the situation. They can and will take money from your bank account with out prior notice. They do not play fair.
Another important issue is if you do not plan on paying ithe bill, do not acknowledge the debt, do not make any payments on the debt. Every time you do so the statute of limitations starts over. It looks as if you have already acknowledged the debt is yours, you just believed it was already paid. Unfortunately, this could restart your statute of limitations back to day one. The importance of the statute of limitations is when you have reached it, the collection agency can no longer take you court. Legally, you still owe the money, but they have no legal recourse for pursuing you.
Last, but not least, you may not want to send a letter requesting they leave you in peace. In doing so, the debt collects can’t discuss anything with you concerning the medical bill. They can’t contact you and will not discuss anything with you until the order is lifted. While this may seem to be a good thing, it is the fastest way I know of to find yourself in court trying to talk the powers that be out of that judgement you don’t want.
Good luck, you will get through it and be much smarter at the other end.
@roy I requested and got the invoice back. I called the hospital and they said that they had already written it off and they can only accept payment for the bill. I will see if I can negotiate it with the collector. (It isn’t that much money, thankfully, but it is kinda annoying to get billed 2 years later.)
Hold tight. Go to the collector and make the same offer. tell them it is all you can afford right now and just want to get it sorted out. Collector will ask for full amount probably, so you tell them to give you their best offer see how they go. The collector is on commission on how much they collect and something from you is better than all those who just don’t care. You have to stone face this for a while so they can think about it. Time is on your side so use it!!! Court is a last resort for them also especially if you are offering a settlement you can settle it right up to the last day before the hearing if necessary
I had almost the exact same situation happen to me. Basically I called the billing company and explained my situation, we were able to work something out and they removed the bill from collections. Admittedly at the time I wasn’t really checking on my credit score but the quicker you get ahead of it the better off you’ll be. Today I have a killer credit score despite that whole situation so don’t worry too much! No idea if that helps but good luck!
