What are the statutes regarding the level of communcation from a debt collector before filing a claim?

Question

I know this is generally a provision within each states own code. However, don't collection companies have to contact you a certain amount of times either by phone or mail before they can legally file a claim against you and take it to court? On top of that, don't they have to offer a payment plan to you when communicating to you? Reason I ask is because we have an outstanding medical bill through a hospital. The hospital sent us invoices and we could not pay them. When they contacted us before it went to collections we tried to set up a payment plan with them and they told us we make too much money, and they needed to be paid in full. We could not make that happen, so we just told them to send it to collections. It's been almost a year since then and we were never contacted by this collection agency one time about the debt. However, just the other day we received a claim from this collection company saying we need to be in court on August 21st because they're suing us for the money. To make it even more complicated, they have 4 delinquencies within their claim that we had never even seen from the hospital before? We don't doubt we own the majority of the money, but how can the collection company just take us to court without even contacting us one time in regards to collecting in a traditional fashion???

Answer 1

No, they can't.  They are required by Federal law to provide you with the amount and the opportunity to dispute the amount.  If you do not dispute within the 30 days after they notify you of the debt then, and only then, can they take legal action against you.  Please take the time to Google Fair Debt Practices Act and brush up on the laws.  What you need to do RIGHT NOW is to send them a letter Certified Return Recipt Requested stating that you dispute the debt in question and would like proof in writing that this debt was accrued by you.  In the letter remind them that during the 30 day investigation period that they are required by law to conduct, no communication of the debt can be made to any third parties (also the law).  This includes courts. :)

Then you pack up your things, take your green card reciept from mailing the letter, a copy of the letter itself, and head to court.  You're untouchable at this point because you have followed the letter of the law to a T.  Inform the judge that you would like this matter investigated because you "do not recall" this debt.  If you admit the debt is yours, you are derailing your own case.  Don't lie either, just "don't recall".  Odds are it will be thrown out of court due to a lack of investigation at your request.  Then you get an attorney and sue the collection agency for privacy violation by revealing the supposed debt to a third party lacking a full 30 day investigation.

Fun Fun.

And no, this is NOT State law.  You are mistaken there.  Credit law is Federal and thus investigative regulations and privacy laws are the same in every state.

Answer 2

When you didn't pay the hospital at the time of service, you were in default.  The hospital did not have to accept a payment plan.

There is no law that requires collectors to give you notices or payment plan options.  They can take you directly to court.  It sounds to me like this is a legal office, not just a collection agency.  I suspect this is a very large sum of money and the account was not sold off to a collection agency but assigned to a collection attorney.

You should contact the collector and try to work something out before going to court.

Answer 3

The best option for debt trouble is negotiating your debts with your credit companies to keep the payments from swallowing all of your income. Typically, you have to get a counseling agency to call on your behalf. If you try to work with them yourself, many of them will not cooperate with you because you are not enrolled in credit counseling. Try http://www.womenindebt.info. Good luck!