Long Lost Hospital Bills Resurface

[rebrie]

Hi. I'm very concerned about a letter I received today and don't know what to do.

In 2000, I went to the hospital because I had a low paying job and what I thought was a serious problem. This is totally irrelevant to my question but it's when the problem started. Of course, I racked up high hospital bills. I had every intention of paying them and made regular payments for many months. A few months later, I went out to Utah to help my family for a while. Since I was being paid, I continued to send payments. I ran into some money problems and was unable to pay the bills for a few months. The hospital instantly sent them to collections even though I tried to contact them to let them know I had some money issues but would do my best. The hospital never returned my calls or responded to my letters.

I received one statement from the collection agency. I wrote them asking to work out a payment plan. Never heard from them. I kept sending 20 or 30 bucks a month towards the bill. I didn't get another statement after that. In fact, I haven't gotten another statement from them until today though I wrote them three years ago asking for one. I thought this was over due to statute of limitations, or them dropping it, or something so I haven't sent another payment. A friend told me that hospital bills can't be collected after 4 years. I'm thinking he may have been wrong.

Also, the debt was incurred in Orlando, FL and I moved to NC a year and a half ago. The current collection agency was formerly known as Attention, LLC and now goes by West Asset Management, Inc. I can't remember receiving a statement from Attention. Unfortunately, I got rid of my original hospital statement and haven't kept great track of the statement I got from the original collection agency. I'm not an irresponsible person and I believe in paying my bills but with other debts I have, I don't think I can pay this now. What are my options? The debt is for $1130. Would they take me to court to collect this? I would pay it if I could. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[miracle]

First of all... WELCOME!

First step is to send a DV letter, also check and see what the requirements are in your state for CA's as far as licensing and bondings go.. make sure they are complying there.

If they validate the debt properly.. then you can go from there. YOu also need to check out the SOL on medical bills. I believe the time would start from the day you made the last payment.

You may also want to get ahold of the Original Creditor and try to work out a payment arrangment with them, explain your circumstance and see if they are willing to settle on it. Good luck!