I recently received a letter from a collections agency for a medical bill from over a year ago. I was not aware of anything being owed, and as far as I was concerned, services were rendered at the time of the appointment.
I sent them a validation letter, requesting proof as found from sample letters here on this site.
They replied fast, telling me that they have now reported my account to the credit bureaus, and I can contact them to pay if I want to have it removed.
They also included an original invoice from the Debtor, showing that I owed the money, but they have not provided me with proof that I agreed to pay any fee to these people. How can they just send a bill a year later? I was told I would not owe anything, and now they are trying to collect on something. There is no contract between me and the debtor because I never signed anything.
Now that I am disputing it, they reported it to the bureaus. I am pissed. I sent them a second validation letter today from the templates found here. I explained that they did not validate the debt, and did not provide the information I requested. I am awaiting a response.
What are my rights here? As far as the law says, the document they provided is proof enough. How do I fight this?
PS - I am married to a law student who will be a lawyer in less than a year.
Please help!!?
Thanks!
If this thing has been negatively reported in your credit report and you don't owe it, then you have the right to get ti disputed with the CRAs. The CRAs will also give you a chance to get your debt validated. They're also bound to share the results of their investigation with you. As with the CA, you may communicate your wishes through a certified mail.
I have been sending them as certified mail and fax. As far as I know, time-stamped fax works just as well as proof in the court of law. I am pretty sure I don't owe this debt, so I have no idea why they have the right to put it on my report without the proper validation I requested.
The above post is from me. I forgot to log in. I called today and found out what these charges were. Basically, the Dr. sent the debt to a collection agency, who then in turn sold it to another collection agency. They are telling me that the charges are "left over" from when I had a service last year, and the amount I owe is the cost for some other Dr. to read my results. As far as I am concerned, I never was informed about this fee, and I never signed anything. Do I still need to pay this, is there any way to fight this?