yet another debt collection question ( much more interesting )

[Lloyd Crumlish]

[ QUOTE ]
Sign on the condo quick. The debt collection agency probably now owns the debt, and will be contacting you about the 25% payment.

[/ QUOTE ]

shut up stupid.

[JasonK]

I'll guess the chick screwed up when she was waiving 75% of your balance and waived 100% instead. Depending on their accounting system she may have had to write off all of it and "rebill" the 25%, which she forgot or something.

[livinitup0]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like they might have written the 12k off as uncollectable and sold it to a third party collection agency. Make sure you get that all debts fully discharged letter.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, that's what happened. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, too.

[/ QUOTE ]

No its not....if anything they gave it to their first agency to collect..the first agency works for the hospital and gets paid a percentage of what they collect. Medical debts rarely are sold and and would take forever to sell anyways....Actually...... now that I think of it, Im not sure that they even sell those anymore with the new HIPPA laws. all medical debt collectors must be certified under the HIPPA legislation ever since Clinton's regime. Most normal bill collectors arent HIPPA certified...and it would be breaking the law to look at the bill without being certified since it shows medical info.... Im not even certified for this, and I wouldnt want to be.

Also on that topic....Most places wont buy medical paper because its old, subprime crap that liquidates at like a 10th of a percent after 6 months of placement...layman's terms...its poo and they dont make much money off it.


What probably happened is that the hospital may be getting the records from another office...for instance you have an operation...its all the hospital's debt to you...but in actuality there is a anistegieoligists (horribly spelled) bill, an Xray tech's bill, probably 3-4 actual company's (or satellites as they call them) debts. The hospital probably just cant find the records.... which sucks for you since its the only thing that backs your story of the settlement offer.

You need to:
1) FAX a letter to the hospital asking for an itemized bill of all charges they have for you with them and ANY of their satelites. Also send a letter with it outlining the arrangement you had with the person you spoke to

(GET THIS IN WRITING THAT DAY IF THERE IS A NEXT TIME!!!! This is your biggest mistake here)

You really dont know how lucky you were to get them to offer you a settlement of this amount right away....its probably being coded as a charity case and not a settlement....that's the only reason I can see for them writing off 75% and not just suing you. the main thing you want to do with the hospital is keep in contact with them DAILY. Dont let them forget about you....they will and it will go to collections.

2) Check your credit report for any new additions soon...get a Transunion...if its on there it will be right underneath all your location info on the 2nd page at the top.

3) Get ready for a year-long headache and keep all this info handy. The collectors wil be calling approx. 3-4 months after the date of service if not paid. I wouldnt show your frustration with anyone you talk to though...it will hurt your chances of getting the 75% written off.

If you need any more help PM me, I work in this field.

[Georgia Avenue]

OP: Is the debt collection agent black or white? Cuz I know you have a way with the sistas...

[Lloyd Crumlish]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like they might have written the 12k off as uncollectable and sold it to a third party collection agency. Make sure you get that all debts fully discharged letter.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, that's what happened. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, too.

[/ QUOTE ]

No its not....if anything they gave it to their first agency to collect..the first agency works for the hospital and gets paid a percentage of what they collect. Medical debts rarely are sold and and would take forever to sell anyways....Actually...... now that I think of it, Im not sure that they even sell those anymore with the new HIPPA laws. all medical debt collectors must be certified under the HIPPA legislation ever since Clinton's regime. Most normal bill collectors arent HIPPA certified...and it would be breaking the law to look at the bill without being certified since it shows medical info.... Im not even certified for this, and I wouldnt want to be.

Also on that topic....Most places wont buy medical paper because its old, subprime crap that liquidates at like a 10th of a percent after 6 months of placement...layman's terms...its poo and they dont make much money off it.


What probably happened is that the hospital may be getting the records from another office...for instance you have an operation...its all the hospital's debt to you...but in actuality there is a anistegieoligists (horribly spelled) bill, an Xray tech's bill, probably 3-4 actual company's (or satellites as they call them) debts. The hospital probably just cant find the records.... which sucks for you since its the only thing that backs your story of the settlement offer.

You need to:
1) FAX a letter to the hospital asking for an itemized bill of all charges they have for you with them and ANY of their satelites. Also send a letter with it outlining the arrangement you had with the person you spoke to

(GET THIS IN WRITING THAT DAY IF THERE IS A NEXT TIME!!!! This is your biggest mistake here)

You really dont know how lucky you were to get them to offer you a settlement of this amount right away....its probably being coded as a charity case and not a settlement....that's the only reason I can see for them writing off 75% and not just suing you. the main thing you want to do with the hospital is keep in contact with them DAILY. Dont let them forget about you....they will and it will go to collections.

2) Check your credit report for any new additions soon...get a Transunion...if its on there it will be right underneath all your location info on the 2nd page at the top.

3) Get ready for a year-long headache and keep all this info handy. The collectors wil be calling approx. 3-4 months after the date of service if not paid. I wouldnt show your frustration with anyone you talk to though...it will hurt your chances of getting the 75% written off.

If you need any more help PM me, I work in this field.

[/ QUOTE ]

i'm 6 tabling now but i'll def go over this further in a little bit and probably PM you. thanks.

[RacersEdge]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like they might have written the 12k off as uncollectable and sold it to a third party collection agency.

[/ QUOTE ]

this has occured to me, but i doubt it. it hasn't been very long, and i haven't recieved anything from any collection agency. i mean, i know it could have happened. but i think that in most cases they don't sell the debt that quickly, especially since the period in which i had a waiver for the full amount wasn't even up yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hospitals are very beurocratic - they could have written you off as bad debt right away, but the process to set up a collection agency may take a while.

[Shakes]

Perhaps your emergency and your appointments were billed to different accounts? I know I had to pay two different bills when I went to the ER for something once - one for the doctor's time and one to the hospital itself.