collection agency lawsuit

What is the name of your state? IL

I was wondering what precedure i would need to follow if i wanted to file a lawsuit against a collection agency and the doctor who sent the bill into them. A couple of years back i was having severe medical problems. I applied for and got Medicaid. The following year i started getting letters from a collection agency but i called and told them that bill fell under medicaid. They stated ok. Months passed and again i was contacted. Looking it up again i contacted them again and told them it was not something i was to pay. Then the following year i had several medical bills which went to this same collection agency and i called and set up a payment plan with them. I finally thought i was done (payment book) but about 3 weeks later instead of a notice stating paid in full i got another payment book. Unbenoiced to me they had incorporated the old debt (medicaid) into this one. I called asking why i was getting this debt and then was told about it. I contacted medicaid who stated they would look into it. My problem with the collection agency came as i tired to explain that medicaid was looking into the matter, whereby i was yelled at and verbally abuse by this person. Then when i said for her to stop yelling at me she hung up.
IT was later proved that the bill was paid in full and there was no reason for the harassment. This was also on my credit report. What if anything can i do or should i do?

If it's off your credit report and it's cleared up , forget it and move on .

If it's still on your credit reports , dispute it with proofs , and demand the record be removed .

Perhaps the medical facilities delayed billing Medicaid , or perhaps you did not provide medical ins . to them at the time , and they billed you .

Perhaps when you contacted Medicaid , they straighten it out for you and paid the bills .

You'd have to prove the collection agency violated the FDCPA , then you'd have to know how and where to sue . Your talking up to 3 grand if you can prove it , and any lawyers fees would eat it up ( unless you could be awarded those fees also ) .

totally bogus

The bill was paid by medicaid in february of 2004. i had contacted the doctors office and gave them the information regarding the medicaid number which they somehow didn't have. They sent this bill to collections September of 2004. At the time i assumed state government and all that they just hadn't paid it yet. I was stupid that i never asked for validation because i was not familiar with this states regs. I only found out about validation when i had this problem. because a collection agency was involved was the only reason Medicaid looked into the matter.

brcr44 said:

The bill was paid by medicaid in february of 2004. i had contacted the doctors office and gave them the information regarding the medicaid number which they somehow didn't have. They sent this bill to collections September of 2004. At the time i assumed state government and all that they just hadn't paid it yet. I was stupid that i never asked for validation because i was not familiar with this states regs. I only found out about validation when i had this problem. because a collection agency was involved was the only reason Medicaid looked into the matter.

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Then don't blame the collection agency .

I blame both

both businesses are at fault. the collection agency is at fault because i told them it fell under medicaid they never contacted the doctor's billing to inquire. I blame the doctors billing personel because they should have done their job right. Perhaps you've never dealt with collection agencies they can be quite unnerving even when your in the right.

brcr44 said:

both businesses are at fault. the collection agency is at fault because i told them it fell under medicaid they never contacted the doctor's billing to inquire. I blame the doctors billing personel because they should have done their job right. Perhaps you've never dealt with collection agencies they can be quite unnerving even when your in the right.

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I've dealt with them .

Thing is when they contact you , it's up to you to respond with proof that you do not owe the debt , or are disputing it and why .

I myself had to make a complaint with the Office of Attorney General consumer Affairs , to get reports taken off the CRAs , because nether the collection agency would nor the alleged creditor .

BTDT .

I've also been billed for medical when I did not submit the ins. info . then had contact them to submit the bill to the ins. with the info.

I did

On more than one occasion i did tell them. They stated ok. At the time i didn't know you literally had to ask for validation. I gave them medicaid numbers and dates. How much more do i need to provide. It's not like medicaid send people a statement. What i was upset over was not the money it was the fact that this collection person sneeked this bill into the rest of them by disguising it as my husbands bill. It wasn't until i received the new payment book that i found out what this person had done.