Woke Up Some Old Medicals In An Attempt To Repair Credit

[Gardenhands]

Hello, i come to the board again in regards to medical bill advice. I quick background, I have no score due to a thin file. Im working on acquiring a couple secured cards and this summer will be gettin a loan from my credit union.

So while calling around to the three local hospitals that I've visited trying to figure out what I owe and who I owe it to I called some collection agencies that were handling the accounts. I want to prioritize my most recent medical bills becuse my old bills are from 2008 and older. I was planning to let them drop off my report. Coincedently one of the collection agencies that I called had interest in some of my old medical bills... I guess they now know that I am interested in my credit and so they sent me a letter threatening a Judgment and they went as far as listing my employer as a future wage withholding.

Im not sure what to do now. I wanted to let my oldest bills drop off. Now that I woke up the old accounts will the still drop off? Should I send a verification letter or something since they are so old Im not even sure they are accurate? The threatening letter doesn't include the dates of the bills just account numbers and a total of about five hundred dollars. I suppose I can afford it but I would rather focus on my newer medical accounts. They say it's the final notice and I must pay by March 31st.

any advice is appreciated.

[joeyoey]

I'm still new here (& learning more every day) so hopefully someone else can verify this, but if these are from 2008 & older, they're at least 6 years old.  I believe in *most" states the SOL is 3, sometimes 5 years for medical bills.  They can attach it to your credit report for 7 years from the first payment you missed but I don't think they can legally do anything on medical bills this old.

Again, hopefully someone else can verify this (or, confirm that I'm wrong), but I'm in a similar situation with an ER bill from 2007 that I'm trying to have removed.  

Joey

[babychick02]

The SOL on your old medical bills has expired. The CA cannot collect on these debts by attaching your wages-that is a "legal" manuevre that can only be authorized by a court of law, and as I said the SOL has expired. You are, however, responsible to pay on those debts (if they have been validated) and can offer to pay the CA with the WRITTEN agreement(get before paying) that these be deleted from your credit report when account balance is satisfied. You might also try to contact the original creditors(hospitals) and see what arrangements you can make with them directly-again with the WRITTEN agreement that these accounts be deleted from your credit report when account balances are satisfied. Best of luck.

[gdale6]

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@Gardenhands wrote:

Hello, i come to the board again in regards to medical bill advice. I quick background, I have no score due to a thin file. Im working on acquiring a couple secured cards and this summer will be gettin a loan from my credit union.

So while calling around to the three local hospitals that I've visited trying to figure out what I owe and who I owe it to I called some collection agencies that were handling the accounts. I want to prioritize my most recent medical bills becuse my old bills are from 2008 and older. I was planning to let them drop off my report. Coincedently one of the collection agencies that I called had interest in some of my old medical bills... I guess they now know that I am interested in my credit and so they sent me a letter threatening a Judgment and they went as far as listing my employer as a future wage withholding. STAY OFF THE PHONE WITH CAs & JDBs all communications to be done by mail, this is rule #1. You need to know if your states SOL has expired on these they are considered written contracts. If it has they cannot win a lawsuit if you raise the SOL as your affirmative defense.

Im not sure what to do now. I wanted to let my oldest bills drop off. Now that I woke up the old accounts will the still drop off? Yes the time is set by law 7.5 yrs max from DOFD. 

Should I send a verification letter or something since they are so old Im not even sure they are accurate? For medical accounts that are reporting on your CRs google the HIPAA Process, for ones off your report it is up to you if you want to offer a percentage to settle or not. If you dont want to hear from a CA that is past SOL just send them a  FOAD letter.

The threatening letter doesn't include the dates of the bills just account numbers and a total of about five hundred dollars. I suppose I can afford it but I would rather focus on my newer medical accounts. They say it's the final notice and I must pay by March 31st. If these are outside your states SOL do as I indicated above in other question(s)

any advice is appreciated.

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