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glatt · 05-14-2007, 08:58 AM

I ran into a very similar problem over the birth of our daughter. We paid every bill sent to us when she was born, and a year or two after she was born, the hospital closed. 6 years after she was born, we got a similar letter from a collection agency. They wanted a couple grand. First we heard of it. I researched the rights of debtors. We have lots of rights.

First of all, they must stop contacting you if you tell them to go away. The only party with a right to contact you is the owner of the alleged debt. You can tell collection agencies who don't own the debt to leave you alone.

Secondly, if I remember correctly, the statute of limitations starts over again if you make any payment on the debt at all. Don't pay them a penny now unless you plan to pay off the debt entirely.

Remember that the statute of limitations applies to their ability to take you to court. Was the work performed in a different location than your residence? If so, you need to check the statute of limitations in both places.

Also remember that you may win a victory in court, but there still may be a single blemish over this in your credit report. Do you care about your credit report? How much do you care? If they report this to the credit agencies, you can submit a letter to explain the blemish, but it takes years for that crap to come off your record.

In my situation, we sent them a registered letter saying "Oh yeah? Prove we owe you a couple grand." We never heard from them again, and they didn't do anything to screw with our credit rating. I think the hospital had closed because of mismanagement, and they had no idea if we actually owed them the money. I think the hospital sold all these "debts" to a collection agency for pennies on the dollar, and the agency just sent the letter out to us and thousands like us to see what they might be able to get back in return. Little more than extortion.

I'm not going to tell you what to do, because there could be a risk to your credit rating, but it seems like they have a very weak case and would never win this one in court. It's been 7 years!

05-14-2007, 08:58 AM	#3
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	I ran into a very similar problem over the birth of our daughter. We paid every bill sent to us when she was born, and a year or two after she was born, the hospital closed. 6 years after she was born, we got a similar letter from a collection agency. They wanted a couple grand. First we heard of it. I researched the rights of debtors. We have lots of rights. First of all, they must stop contacting you if you tell them to go away. The only party with a right to contact you is the owner of the alleged debt. You can tell collection agencies who don't own the debt to leave you alone. Secondly, if I remember correctly, the statute of limitations starts over again if you make any payment on the debt at all. Don't pay them a penny now unless you plan to pay off the debt entirely. Remember that the statute of limitations applies to their ability to take you to court. Was the work performed in a different location than your residence? If so, you need to check the statute of limitations in both places. Also remember that you may win a victory in court, but there still may be a single blemish over this in your credit report. Do you care about your credit report? How much do you care? If they report this to the credit agencies, you can submit a letter to explain the blemish, but it takes years for that crap to come off your record. In my situation, we sent them a registered letter saying "Oh yeah? Prove we owe you a couple grand." We never heard from them again, and they didn't do anything to screw with our credit rating. I think the hospital had closed because of mismanagement, and they had no idea if we actually owed them the money. I think the hospital sold all these "debts" to a collection agency for pennies on the dollar, and the agency just sent the letter out to us and thousands like us to see what they might be able to get back in return. Little more than extortion. I'm not going to tell you what to do, because there could be a risk to your credit rating, but it seems like they have a very weak case and would never win this one in court. It's been 7 years!