medical collections suing me, advice appreciated

[trc1962]

Hi. Have gotten much of my credit cleaned up except 2 medical collections, one small $259 and one larger with numerous accounts attached to on CA. I have worked hard trying to pay the OC but they want the CA to get the fees and won't accept payment. Today I was served with paperwork for the large CA called Chapman Financial out of Spokane Wa. Do I have any recourse except to pay their inflated bill? Here are the charges as listed:  principal = $705.19, interest of $317.16 collection costs of $686 plus interest to date of judgement and statuatory interest on the judgement totaling $1608.59. They also want a filing fee of $73 and stantard statuatory attorney fee of $250. They are also asking for many "other fees, costs, interest, disbursements and any other expenses the court will allow. This is a company I have tried hard to work with, but they play hard ball. Should I be advised by an attorney? I want hoping to PFD but they want nothing of that. Any advice is appreciated!

[gdale6]

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@trc1962 wrote:

Hi. Have gotten much of my credit cleaned up except 2 medical collections, one small $259 and one larger with numerous accounts attached to on CA. I have worked hard trying to pay the OC but they want the CA to get the fees and won't accept payment. Today I was served with paperwork for the large CA called Chapman Financial out of Spokane Wa. Do I have any recourse except to pay their inflated bill? Here are the charges as listed:  principal = $705.19, interest of $317.16 collection costs of $686 plus interest to date of judgement and statuatory interest on the judgement totaling $1608.59. They also want a filing fee of $73 and stantard statuatory attorney fee of $250. They are also asking for many "other fees, costs, interest, disbursements and any other expenses the court will allow. This is a company I have tried hard to work with, but they play hard ball. Should I be advised by an attorney? I want hoping to PFD but they want nothing of that. Any advice is appreciated!

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If you are being sued for this I would advise you contact an attorney, personally I would just pay it before it goes to judgment as that will be another ding on your CR for 7 years.. I wish you good luck

[trc1962]

I was advised by a consumer counseling agency that no matter what I did I had a judgement against me and I told her I received a summons and it would not be a judgement until it actually went to court - am I correct? Is it really legal for the CA to make the debt 4 times the principal? If I seek legal help can they get rid of some of the ridiculous fees? I want to ding my credit the least I can as this is the last clean up I have to tackle. I figure that when I asked for a verification of the debt it reactivate the CA.

[RobertEG]

At least consult an attorney.

[MarineVietVet]

I agree that you need to talk to a lawyer. If you don't get this right you might end up owing much more than the original amounts.

[Anonymous]

You need to make sure you respond to the summons before the required date - deny all plaitiffs allegations, and ask for continuance while you build your case. See if you can find a low cost attorney through NACA if you don't want to tackle this yourself.

How old is this debt? Medical debt generally does not have any contract interest rate attached to it like a credit card does, so they are limited to statutory interest established by your state. Washington state limits interest to 12% annual.

The "statutory interest on the Judgement" amount sounds highly questionable since its more than twice the principle. Get thee to an attorney....

Also send then a CMRRR letter with a settlement offer of the original amount plus 12% annual interest and 'reasonable' collections fees - not their ridiculous amounts that double or triple the original debt. If they refuse to settle that will be strong ammunition in your favor when you do go to court.