@Busaner wrote:I was recently sent a debt collection letter by a law firm represeting an oral surgeon. Back in June of 09 I went to the ER and had emergency oral surgery because of an accident I had. The surgeon is the original collector. I thought all billing was done through the hospital, which I've paid or settled already. I did however go to his office a few times later for post operation follow ups. I'm about 50/50 on whether this debt is valid.
I'm really unsure if I should should be proactive and try to dispute this or not due to the statue of limitations expiring in just over 2 years from now. I don't want to draw attention to myself by responding and worst case scenario get sued. At the same time, I've worked very hard to clean up my credit for the past year and a half and this will just set me back completely if this claim is posted to my credit report.
Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks.
If the OC and the CA are not on your reports I advise you to go to the docs office and verify its validity yourself and if its valid that you pay it on the spot with a request that it not be reported to your CRs. When it comes to medical precedures in a hospital you can get many bills the hospital does not bill for the services outside what they provide directly.
@Busaner wrote:They are not on there yet. I don't have the money to pay what they are asking. about $11k for the medical services and an additional $7k of intrest, so I'm very hesitent to contact the OC directly. Say that I request the debt to be validated, could the statue of limitations be reset if they indeed the prove the debt is accurate?
A DV does not reset the SOL, typically in order for the SOL to reset it would take a written promise to pay and in some states not even that resets the SOL.
@Busaner wrote:If indeed this debt is valid and I do settle it, I certainly do not want this to reflect any more than the 7 yr mark of when I initially defaulted. So what you told me is good news, I'll research what my state statutes are on this.
The letter sent by the law office (dated 04/25/14) stated that if I don't respond within 30 days, it would be assumed that the debt is valid. It's my assumption that at this point they would then tag my CRs. If I were to go directly to the OC and ask for verification of this debt (and possibly dispute or try to settle it), would action in any way prevent the law office from tagging my CRs? No, you would goto the OC and if its valid make payment arrangements in exchange for it not reporting and they recall it from the CA.
@Busaner wrote:Thank you very much! You've been of great help. Any pointers on how I should approach the OC? (Contact by phone or walk in? what I should say? Any info I should refrain from sharing?) I would like to settle this, however I don't have anywhere near the amount they are requesting and I'm afaid they are going to tell me to essentially get lost and just deal directly with their attorney's office.
I think you may be confused on what the SOL is. SOLs are different in every state, they set the maximum time one has to file legal action against the debtor. The FCRA sets the amount of time a negative debt may remain on report, its typically 7.5 yrs from the DOFD. Since this is medical it will most likely be 7 yrs from the month it was incurred. What state are you in??
@Busaner wrote:
@gdale6 wrote:
I think you may be confused on what the SOL is. SOLs are different in every state, they set the maximum time one has to file legal action against the debtor. The FCRA sets the amount of time a negative debt may remain on report, its typically 7.5 yrs from the DOFD. Since this is medical it will most likely be 7 yrs from the month it was incurred. What state are you in??Utah.
Yes, I was confused on what the SOL is. Utah's SOL on a "written contract" is 6 years and an "open contract" is 4 years according to multiple quick google sources.
Ok, this is a written contract most likely, I didnt see any special SOL for medical debts. If you are able I would go to the docs office and talk with their financial office to verify its authenticity and if its valid there maybe financial help that you can apply for that missed at the time.