Collectino due to Mistaken Identity

[sdpm]

I received medical bills 2-1/2 years ago for a hospital stay, and discovered that the Hospital had attached my billing info onto the records of a newly admitted patient with the same name. I had been a patient in that system in the past, but had not been there in about 6 years.

After a lot of frustrating back and forth with their billing department, I talked to somebody that found the problem, said it should never have happened (obviously) and they corrected it. I began getting bills from different medical groups, and returned them with a note saying we were not the correct party and to contact the hospital for correct information and not to contact us further.

Last spring I tried to refinance my mortgage, and was denied. I discovered a collection agency had placed 5 collections on my Experian report. I disputed the items to Experian, and they removed them. The CA had called at some point in the past, but never sent anything through the mail. When I actually spoke to them, I said they had the wrong party, and that they should be able to locate the correct party by contacting the hospital.

Now, just before I attempt again to refinance my mortgage, I get notified by two credit cards that they are slashing my limits due to negative info from Experian. I checked Experian, and the collections were added back in February.

How do I attack this? Do I go back to the hospital and try and correct it that direction, or go backwards through the CAs? If the CAs ask the medical providers and the medical providers don't go back to the hospital, they will confirm the wrong info to the CA. For that matter, we don't know whether the hospital has really corrected the problem, or whether they are continuing to propagate bad info. We only really know they never sent anything to us after claiming to have fixed it.

I think we received 1 or 2 letters from CAs long ago, and sent them back with a note that they had the wrong party. I don't believe we have ever received a letter from the current 2 CAs that have added the 5 collection items. Does a DV apply in this case? Is it something I should do, or is there a better approach? The only contact and account info I have for these collection accounts is what shows up on Experian.

[Flyingifr]

You have actual damages under both FDCPA and FCRA and you should be filing suit against the Hospital, the CRA and the CA - and your damnages are far more than $1000. With a good lawyer they just bought your home for you.

[sdpm]

I probably haven't protected myself properly to this point, so I sort of assume there are plenty of loopholes for them all to weasel through. If I could be assured I would get at least most of my legal costs recovered, I would go straight to a lawyer. What I don't want to do is to rack up a whole bunch of billable hours at $300 per for letters I could write myself, if I am just going to be out the money.

Speaking of lawyers, does anybody know of any good ones in this field in San Diego specifically, or Southern California in general? Any other good sources for finding a good reputable lawyer for this kind of work?

Thanks.

[ALVA]

Many will work on contingency if they think you have a strong case. You will want to look for attorneys who specialize in this area, normally Consumer Advocates or similar, here's a good starting point http://www.naca.net/

[sdpm]

Thanks for the reference. I'll contact a local lawyer through the NACA and see what they say.