medical bills out of nowhere!!!

[leenmlss]

What is the name of your state? Montana


Can someone please tell me the statue of limitations in Montana. I just pulled a new credit bureau and all of the sudden there are six accounts with a collection agency. These are from 6-7 years ago. I have not gotten any bills or any notices and now seven years later they are on my credit. I tried to dispute through the credit bureau and the company stated they validated and so the debts remained. Do I have any options? Do they have the right to do this?

[AttorneyOney]

I suggest you find an attorney who's familiar with litigating cases under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Re-aging of debts is a very common violation of the law, but it takes an experienced attorney to make the furnisher pay.

[leenmlss]

What is the law on how long they can legally collect on an medical account? I am hopeing to be able to call the collection agency directly and dispute the accounts with them. I wasnt sure if I had any justification but assumed that after seven years a company could not come out of nowhere to try and collect. My goal is to provide justification as to why they should remove the accounts from my credit bureau.

[Ladynred]

Ok, worst case scenario is Montana's SOL on written contracts is 8 years, for open accounts (like credit cards) its 5. It is also arguable that medical bills fall under the UCC SOL of 4 years for 'goods and services'. A medical bill isn't specifically a written 'contract' as there are no repayment terms, no finance charges, no interest that would make up a typical written contract.

Now, you need to make this collection agency VALIDATE the debt, that means sending them a validation letter, this is NOT the same as a dispute with the credit bureaus. If you can find ANY records as to when these debts were actually accrued, you need to.

Derogatory info can only stay on your reports for 7-1/2 years start with the date of first delinquency ( which the original creditor is REQUIRED to report) that immediately preceeded placement for colleciton and/or charge-off. If these medical bills are 6-7 years old, then they cannot stay on your reports beyond that 7-1/2 year mark REGARDLESS of when the collection agency placed them on your reports. As already stated, illegal re-aging is all too common and a violation of the FCRA.

I'd start with a debt validation letter to the CA. You can find info and sample letters over at [url]www.creditinfocenter.com[/url].

[Ladynred]

Actually.. a collection agency can try to collect until pigs fly, but that doesn't mean that they will get anything. Once the SOL expires, they could still sue, but you have a defense in that expiration to get the lawsuit thrown out of court.

They cannot, however, REPORT forever, the FCRA prohibits it. If they illegally re-age a debt, then you must take action with disputes and possibly a lawsuit.