Old Medical Collection

[Anonymous]

Apparently in 2010 when my daughter was seen at the hospital (while she was insured) there was a bill that the insurance partially paid. I am not sure what the bill was for nor was I aware that there was an outstanding balance until today. Now I do know that anytime I was at the facility I signed an Assignment of Benefits for the hospital to be able to go after the insurance company for any outstanding debt, however, I also signed a financial paper with her private docot at that medical facility.

This debt is from 2010 and the statue in NY is 6 year and that has clearly passed. My question is do I have to pay this debt and should I DV them first. If I DV them will this restart the SOL? How can I get this issue handled before it hit my credit report? 

[gdale6]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Apparently in 2010 when my daughter was seen at the hospital (while she was insured) there was a bill that the insurance partially paid. I am not sure what the bill was for nor was I aware that there was an outstanding balance until today. Now I do know that anytime I was at the facility I signed an Assignment of Benefits for the hospital to be able to go after the insurance company for any outstanding debt, however, I also signed a financial paper with her private docot at that medical facility.

This debt is from 2010 and the statue in NY is 6 year and that has clearly passed. My question is do I have to pay this debt and should I DV them first. If I DV them will this restart the SOL? How can I get this issue handled before it hit my credit report? 

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As far as credit reporting its typically scheduled 7 years from DoFD so it will be excluded sometime this year. If the CA has just been assigned to collect than a DV would be timely if its not within the first 30 days they have no obligation to validate. I might give em a call and make deal for payment in lieu of it reporting.

[RobertEG]

If the debt is now outside of SOL, then you cannot be sued.  That alone, however, does not discharge the debt.

The separate issue of credit report exclusion of the collection is based only on the reported DOFD.

The date of first delinquency on a medical debt is usually a month after the provided service, with exclusion beging required, regardless of whether paid or unpaid, no later than 7 years plus 180 days from the DOFD.

The CRAs routinely exclude at aprox 7 years, so it will likely become excluded this year.

It is up to you whether to pay.  The only advantage is if you need the debt formally discharged for some reason.

Once you can no longer be sued and it has become excluded from your credit report, it is "zonbie" debt that you can choose to ignore.

I would likely not bother with a DV.  It wont hurt, but likely will accomplish nothing.

First, assuming they sent dunning notice, it would not be timely, and can simply be ignored.

Second, even if timely, it would only invoke a cease collection bar, and would not impose any period for or requirement to send validation.

If you do send a DV, it will not reset either the SOL or the credit report exclusion period.  A DV is a dispute of the legitimacy of the debt, and not an admission of any debt obligation. 

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this is worth mentioning, but my daughter's insuracne did pay a portion of the bill and the remaining balance is for $600. The $600 they are now trying to say that I owe although my daughter is fully covered without any deductible. I say this to ask, does the DOFD begin after the payment was made by the insurance carrier or 30 days from when the bill was submitted. My ultimate goal is to keep this off my credit and not to have to pay it since techinically I don't owe anything. It is their obligation to either lititgate ot arbitrate with the insurance carrier which has not been done as far as I understand. Should I ask for a copy of the bill and the EOB from the carrier?

[Aduke1122]

It's past SOL which means they can't sue you and they can't report after 7 years plus 180 days past the DOFD so legally they can't do anything that could hurt you at this point , but you do still owe the bill officially , I would ask for a Debt validation letter and if you agree with it go on from there and call them or write with a settlement agreement , it's pretty likely they will accept anything you throw at them at this point

[RobertEG]

DOFD is based only upon when the debt was first considered delinquent, and remained delinquent up to the point of the collection.  FCRA 605(c).

It is not affected by any other factor.

If you obtain proof that the debt has been paid in full by medical insurance, then you can obtain removal under the new CRA policy set forth under their National Consumer Assistance Plan. Partial paymet via insurance is not enough.  The policy requires showing that it was paid in full by insurance.

That is an admin removal that requires no additional involvement by the debt collector or reliance on credit report exclusion.