judgement

[hustler]

In January 2000 i did a credit report on myself and found an outstanding bill with a hospital in 1996. i looked back on my records and located the cancelled check and proved that i had paid it in full in the same year. They had applied it to someone elses account. I told them to take it off my credit report and then on March 29, 2000 i received a letter from this Collection Agency that informed me that i owed them another 527.00 for the same hospital back in 1985. They told me that they had a judgment filed on me in the 64th District Court and that they were going to garnish my wages. I called the court and they told me the judgement had expired ....... it had been recored on October 6, 1989. I asked if it had been updated and they told me no it hadn't. I know that i paid this bill... I made payments to the hospital.. but they have purged all their records and do not have it on file and i have since destroyed all my records. Am i still liable for this bill? I am from Michigan and need to know.. I did talk to a lawyer on the phone and he told me to send them (Collection Agency) a certified letter and demand them to remove it from my credit report because it was null and void .... It doesn't really show up on my report but my ex-husbands. Please advise.........
Thank you
Kris

[This message has been edited by hustler (edited April 07, 2000).]

 

[Attorney_Replogle]

You are doing the right thing so far. Taking the first bill that you proved had been paid, you did pretty much all you needed to do. All credit reporting agencies have to delete items that are not true or can't be verified with the creditor if they are challenged by the debtor. The governing law is the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (see freeadvice.com/law/5094us.htm) and the sister acts of the states. For the second bill, since neither you nor the hospital (the original creditor) no longer have any records, then the next best thing is to prove that the assignee of the creditor (the collection agency) has no legal right to come after you for the bill. You have done this by verifying over the telephone with the court that said judgment has not been renewed after the 10 year period of time. Thus, the judgment creditor (the company/person who obtained that judgment) lost all rights to ever come after you for that debt/bill. I would only advise you to buy (usually about .50 cents/page) a copy of that judgment from the court PLUS any other documents placed in your case file subsequent to that judgment. The purpose of this is to verify to the collection agency and the credit reporting agencies that the judgment was never renewed. The governing law concerning debt collections on the federal side is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (see freeadvice.com/law/5095us.htm), plus your state's sister version.

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Mark B. Replogle