Question, especially any Du lawyers... collections agency random calling

[Kerrytravelers]

About 3 years ago, I went to a doctor about headaches. I paid my half- $81 bucks, and my health insurance picked up the rest. Three months later, I got a letter saying I needed to pay. I went into the office and they apologized for sending me that letter since I owed nothing. A year later, I received soething similar, went in and they acted confused as t why I got the letter again. In January, I got another letter. I called twice, asked them to call me ASAP if I owed something. I actually called twice, but I never heard from them.

Then today, I get a call from a collection agency. I was totally shocked. When I told the lady it's been three years and now I owe something, she went off, yelling. I hung up on her.

Tomorrow, I'm going back to the doctor's office and saying either give me an official letter saying I owe nothing on letterhead and let's clear this up now. I'm not going angry, but I will let them know that the next step will be me retaining an attorney if necessary to end this $81 ordeal. Hell, if I owe $81, I'll pay it That's not the problem, but for three years I owed nothing and now suddenly, a collections agency? I've never had sch a call before!

Please help me keep this kicked though the evening. I will be out some, so help me out here, DUers!

Thanks
kt

[Inland]

1. Here's the thing about the collection agency.

If you tell them you dispute the alleged debt, they can't call anymore. Seriously. Just hanging up on them is the worst thing you can do.

Ask them to identify the name and address of the agency and then say you don't owe the money and that they shouldn't call again. THEN hang up.

[Burning Water]

11. Put it writing.

Seriously, I just went through this. Last OCT, I got a letter from a collection agency that I owed Gateway $135 and some odd cents. I had only bought two things from Gateway and had paid them both by credit card. I sent them a copy of my credit card statement. I tried to call Gateway, but a snooty female informed me that they had turned it over to the collection agency and they couldn't talk to me.

the agency said they would get an answer for my dispute from Gateway and contact me. So last day of Dec, I got another letter saying I owed the money. Contacted agency again. Said they hadn't heard. I send MORE WRITTEN Communications. GEt an answer, dispute is invalid, send the money.

Hell, no. I'm busy writing to the President of Gateway, telling him what a shitty company he's got, and to go ahead and sue me. This has worked miracles before for me. But I decide to give Gateway one more chance. This time I get a nice fellow who didn't immediately transfer me back to the collection agency.

I explained why I thought I didn't owe the money. He checked their records and realized a mistake had been made. and that he'd take care of it. The problem went away, I know because I checked a few days later with the collection agency.


So what have we learned?

1)The company may not be out to screw you, but many of their employees don't care if they do. Some do, though. Keep trying till you find one.

2) Put everything in writing, read the back of your duns notice, and follow the dispute procedure.

3) if all else fails, find out who the President is, write him a (nice) letter explaining the problem, send it certified mail, return receipt requested. I didn't have to use this technique, this time, but I've used it 4 or 5 times in the past. AND IT HAS NEVER FAILED TO OBTAIN SATISFACTION FOR ME. Of course, I was right, in those situations.

Good Luck

[pk_du]

2. The "official letter" from the doctors office is a good start

but once its in the hands of a collection agency ( who may have "bought" your debt for pennies on the dollar) - they may take some convincing.

[helderheid]

3. go here for any credit help - this guy (for free) gave me the advice I

needed to get my credit score close to 800 - includes how to stop collection agencies:

www.budhibbs.com

[Nite Owl]

9. Thanks for that link

the company that was harassing me is there!

[helderheid]

10. You're welcome! Mr. Hibbs has been a terrific help to me. He's Republican

but he hates *

Check the "Thanks a lot W" (sarcastic) bumper sticker on his website!

[helderheid]

17. the Cease Communication letter - I've sent it more than once

http://www.budhibbs.com/cease_comm.htm

Cease Communication Letter


Send the letter via certified mail with a return receipt request. Obtain PS Forms #PS3800 & PS3811 from your local Post Office. Keep a copy of the letter for your files. Send out the letter within thirty days of the first contact by the collection agency/ collection attorney. The law applies to both the agency and to attorneys who collect two or more debts per year. They are allowed (under law) to contact you one time, after receipt of the letter, to notify you or their intent. Debt buyers (scavengers) are subject to the law in spite of their assertions that since they bought the debt, they are not the collector. WRONG!!! They ARE a debt collector, subject to the law. Send the letter, it's legal and it works!

Your Name
Your Address
City, State, Zip

(Sent via CERTIFIED RETURN MAIL #123 456 789 with RETURN RECEIPT)

Date:

XYZ Collection Agency/Law Firm
1234 Main Street, #100
Any town, USA 10021

Re: File #0000000 - ABC Bank - #4445566778899000 -For: $5555.55

Dear Debt Collector /Debt Collector Attorney:


This will serve as your legal notice under provisions of federal law, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), to cease all communication with me in regard to the debt referenced above.
If you fail to heed this notice, I will file a formal complaint against you with the Federal Trade Commission who is responsible for enforcement, the States Attorney General office and/or the American Collectors Association or local State Bar Association.
I/We have decided that we do not desire to work with a collection agency under any circumstances. I/We will contact the original creditor to resolve this matter directly, as circumstances warrant.
You are also notified that should any adverse information be placed against my/our credit reports as a result of this notice that appropriate actions will be taken. Give this very important matter the attention it deserves.

Sincerely,

John J. Consumer

NOTE: This is an attempt to make a debt collector obey the law. Any information obtained, will be used for that purpose.

[ThomCat]

4. They only get paid if you pay

so collection agencies often don't care if you have already paid. They want a check out of you. Period. I pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in corporate invoices and get collections agencies on my butt occasionally. Even antibiotics won't get rid of them.

Don't let them harrass you. Demand that they confirm the debt with the doctor's office and provide you with some kind of notice. Always get it in writing.

Report them to the better business bureau and to your state attorney general's office.

Hang in there.

T.

[Dogmudgeon]

5. She yelled at you?

She won't be calling back -- she broke the law. The "creditor" may just drop the issue.

The burden is on them to prove the debt is legally payable. Contact the credit bureaus and dispute it if it shows up on their records. I've personally told over-aggressive creditors that if they couldn't prove I owed the money, they were engaging de facto in the commission of a fraud.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1978 deals with most of this. There are several books of legal self-help that lay it all out for you. And don't let them tell you that you have to be a lawyer to tell them to f*ck off.

Good luck!

--p!

[Nite Owl]

6. I don't have any answers but I will help keep this kicked

as I have been in a similar situation. And well sort of still in it.

I moved and two years later got a letter from a collection agency that I owed $41 to my former cable company. I never got a bill and here it is two years later so I contacted the cable company and told them I got this letter and if I owe them something I would be happy to pay them but send me a bill, I want to know what it is for, I am not just going to send the money without a bill. No reply from them and the calls started. The 800# matched the # on the letter so I knew it was them calling though the call never asked for me by name, never said what it was in reference to or who was calling. I wrote to the Attorney General's office (NYS, Elliot Spitzer)and a week later I get this call from the cable company's office saying that they heard from the NYS AG and it was all settled and I would be getting a check for $30 within a few weeks! That's right they owed me money. Well a few weeks went by, I got the check and a letter and the calls continued. Same number. I wrote to the collection agency and enclosed the letter that was sent to me and they still call. It's infrequent but the point is that they stil call. It's a recorded message and you have to call them so it's not like you can just pick up the phone and tell them to stop. I don't even know if it is me that they are calling it's just the same message and the same number.

[Kerrytravelers]

7. I will be reporting this to my AG office.

I'll go to the doctor's office tomorrow, find out what is going on. I have the name of the agency, so I will, I suppose, get the claim number from the doctor and so what I have to do.

I'll check back later to see if anyone else has responded.

[Nite Owl]

8. Copy all the communications

and send a letter detailing everything. I was amazed at how quickly they resolved it (except for the mysterious calls).
Good luck!

[hexola]

12. Particularly bad if it has affected your credit...(nt)

[Kerrytravelers]

13. It would be the only smear on my credit.

[goodboy]

14. .

[Katherine Brengle]

15. Definitely get it in writing. Sometimes it takes an obscene amount of

time for a bill to arrive at a collection agency, and even longer for them to recognize a payment.

Next time they call, tell them you already paid it and tell them that you will have the proof sent to them. Also, if the person on the phone gives you trouble, ask to speak to his/her supervisor and explain the situation to them. If they still give you a hard time, you should inform your doctor's office that the agent they are using is unsuitable and maybe they will do something about it.

(I've dealt with quite a few of these people in the past--most of them are reasonable, but occasionally the stress of the job makes them a little nutty lol.)

[Kerrytravelers]

16. Thanks! I feel ready to take care of this tomorrow.

I'll let you know how it goes!

kt

[Kerrytravelers]

18. Thank you to everyone who gave me advice and kept this kicked.

I went to the doctor's office. There, I got yet another story plus and interesting print-out that showed them sending me over 15 letter and all these phone calls. However, just because it's printed from a computer doesn't make it true. But, how can you prove that someone didn't send you something? I start questioning the letter that I had in my hand. The billing-person looked at it and said "Oh, this is marked wrong." I never let her take it from me so there was no way to change the way it was marked. See what I mean? Something just isn't making sense.

We are considering writing a letter to the doctor and sending it certified so she must sign for it. That is soemthing we are working on and are considering. We want to be very careful and non-confrontational in our letter because perhaps she has no idea what is going on with her business. She should, but you know how some people just don't take ownership of their life the way they should

We are going to pay the stupid $80, because it is only $80.

However, we are then going forward and reporting the whole situation to the AG and to the Better Business Bureau. From there, I'm not sure what we will do. If it does go to the credit agencies, I will take the steps to placeing a personal statement along side this mark against me. Considering the fact that we always pay our bills, school loans and our one credit card on time, NOT paying the doctor just doesn't seem logical in comparisn to the rest of our financial history. So, I really don't feel that worried. Annoyed? Hell YES! But no longer on pins and needles.

Once again, thanks to everyone.