Need advice on dealing with an unjustly harrassing debt collector

In My Humble Opinion
1

Ok, some background - I am unemployed for about a year now (apart from a few temp gigs), and because of a snafu lost my health insurance. Last fall, I had a physical at Callen-Lorde (a low-cost health clinic in NYC) and had the routine blood tests done.

The facility doing the tests - BioReference Labs - sent me a deluge of bills, for all the tests. None of the bills were astronomical - usually about $42 apiece. But since I’ve mainly been living on Unemployment for the past few months, it was hard to pay them all at once. I have slowly, but steadily sent in payments over a period of months until all of the bills were paid out.

Apparently I did not pay fast enough to satisfy BioReference Labs, since they sent my account to a debt collection agency. The irony is that before I received any thing from this agency, I made my last payments to BioReference. There was no debt to be collected.

Well, I was almost amused (almost!) and dutifully called BioReference, and then the debt collectors - AMCA. They seemed very understanding and assured me that the debt collection letter was merely a form letter, and that my last payment (to BioReference) was received after the collection letter was sent out. That’s fine, I thought, as long as my account is settled. It is, I was assured.

Then about a month later, I got a second collection letter. I called AMCA back, slightly irate. What gives? I paid this debt off, and you said the matter was closed! The very condescending man on the other end said that this was merely a form letter. It was computer generated. The collection agency just hadn’t received official confirmation that the account was closed. I could simply disregard it. That didn’t make me feel better, but I accepted it.

Well guess what? Today I got another one! My account is SERIOUSLY DELINQUENT (even though it’s not!) IMMEDIATE PAYMENT REQUIRED (Even though I’m paid up.) But what burns my ass the most is this line: There may be some explanation for your silence, but until we hear from you, we can only report to our client that you have ignored our notices. (Even though I have called them FOUR TIMES - twice I reported on the automated line that the bill was paid, twice I talked directly to an operator.) Unfortunately, I got home late from work and didn’t get this letter until an hour ago. I have to wait until Monday before I can speak to anyone! In a way, I suppose that’s for the best because I am so mad now that if I were to get anyone on the phone, I wouldn’t be able to do anything but scream profanity at them.

The AMCA are trying to force me to pay them for a bill that I have already settled with BioReference Labs. And they are claiming that I have done nothing to contact them! This is outrageous! I get the impression they are just going to send me threatening letters until I simply cough up. How the hell do I handle this? Any advice I would appreciate.

2

Contact the lab, give them the information contained in the letter. Have them write a letter stating the bill is paid using the reference number from the bill collector, the original bill, etc. Have them cc you and send a copy to both you and the collection agency. Demand that they do this if you need to. Make copies of the letter. Anytime you get a letter from the collection agency, simply respond with a copy of the letter from the lab stating the bill is paid. Heck, cc the whole package to the lab for the hell of it. Demand that they stop sending you letters as you’ve clearly shown you’ve satisfied the debt. Fight fire with fire.

3

Don’t make any more phone calls. The USPS is your friend. Write up a letter, saying that you dispute the debt because you’ve already paid it off in full. Give all the information you’ve got…but only send copies, not originals. Copy the FTC on this. Send this to the collection agency headquarters, registered return receipt requested.

4

Requests for legal/financial advice got in IMHO, so let me move this thither for you.

twickster, MPSIMS moderator

5

and don’t forget to mention that if they do NOT cease to harras you, you WILL file a complaint and take them to small claims court. after all your credit rating is worth more to you than the costs of collecting a non-exsisting debt is to them

6

Via my lovely wife, who worked in collections for circa twenty years:
You don’t necessarily need to wait on BioReference to verify the bill is paid. They may be very slow to provide that … What you do need to do is send a dispute letter by certified mail to AMCA. Include a statement that you are disputing the debt, the details of when and how you paid it off with BioReference (including copies of canceled checks, front and back), and a request to remove any derogatory items from your credit report. That starts a 30-day moratorium on collection efforts, during which they are supposed to confirm or deny your payment history with their client. If they can’t prove there’s still a debt owed, then they have to stop contacting you and remove the delinquency from your credit reports.

(The way she put it, once BioReference referred your bill to the collection agency, it’s like they’ve hired an attorney–they expect all communications on the debt to be with the agency. AMCA is now employed by BR to get them their money, and sorting out issues with the bill is supposed to be between the two of them.)

Once you have the signed copy confirming the certified letter, go ahead and give them a call after a couple of weeks to check on the status of the dispute. But if you haven’t received written proof of a debt still owed within 30 days of their receipt of that dispute letter, you shouldn’t ever hear from them again.