Collection bill question

[memuzz]

My case was discharged in July 2012. I pay all of my bills on time since filing. I have moved twice since filing in 2006. I received a bill from a collection agency for a hospital bill. The bill was for an emergency room visit back in 2010. We have moved twice since 2010. The bill was sent to the place we just left a few weeks ago. The address was always updated whenever we moved. The hospital should have sent the bill to our last address we left 2 years ago! I never received any bills from the hospital for the ER visit.

I was shocked to see a bill for over $500 by a bill collection agency! I've never seen medical bills on my credit report but I don't want to see this on my report now. What steps should I take to find out why it was sent to a collection agency? This isn't a small hospital. It's a national major hospital. I am receiving all types of strange collection bill activity since my discharge. I have 2 collection agencies trying to collect on discharged claims which my attorney is handling for me. Now, strangely, a bill from 2010 which now is in collections? Should I make arrangements to pay the bill with the hospital? I am willing to pay the bill. Now that it is in collections isn't too late?

My attorney noted that my bankruptcy will be removed from my credit file in October or November since we filed in November 2006. She said that all of these collection agencies are probably bottom feeder collection agencies trying to collect on very old accounts. The one account was opened in 2006 so even if it weren't included in the bankruptcy it would be removed from our report this year anyways. I will do what I learned to do through my days when the case was open. Pay my bills on time. Keep an eye on my credit report. Eventually someday we'll have excellent credit. Hopefully! The credit laws need changed in this country. Collection agencies are getting away with murder and nothing is being done it seems to be stopping them anymore. Thanks for any help. ( The last sentence is my frustration dealing with these collection agencies!)

[Pandora]

Were these particular bills included in your filing by the Original Creditor? If so... then they're SOL for collecting. If they were sold to a JDB who is trying to collect, then the JDB is SOL as well.

Now.. if you incurred these debts after you filed and while in your Ch. 13...then you're responsible for them.

Go back and look at your org. paperwork with creditors (PACER would have them or your Ch. 13 Trustee site) and it will show if they were included and if a claim was filed. Dont offer to pay anything.... if you included them, you dont owe them.

[justbroke]

If I have this straight... you filed a Chapter 13 in 2006. Your case was discharged and closed in 2012. However, in 2010, you incurred a medical bill which went unpaid. That debt is valid and is not discharged. The key here, as IBroke wrote, is whether it is passed the Statute of Limitations (SOL). However the SOL is just a defense to lawsuit and would not prevent the creditor from trying to collect.

These junk debt buyers (JDBs as they are called), get away with it because good people do nothing about it. I pounce any and every time a JDB calls me about a discharged debt. By pounce, I mean a very scathing DEMAND letter with specific instructions which includes their admitting that they made a mistake or that I will re-open my case to have them tell the Judge why they are attempting to collect (and pay sanctions). I have re-opened my case twice and have prevailed each time.

When the JDB contacts you simply give your case # and date of fling. Then send the Notice of Bankruptcy and the Discharge Order to them by fax, email AND by certified mail. The letter should be a DEMAND letter that they stop or be subject to sanctions when they appear before the bankruptcy court. Any correspondence received after the DEMAND should be met with service of a Motion to Re-Open and for Sanctions. That is the only way to stop them and to send them a message.

Sorry, but this topic is getting me upset that we still keep talking about JDBs that violate the discharge injunction. (I'm not so upset about the post-filing debt... it's the debt which was actually discharged that has me concerned!)