Hello, this is my first time visiting this site and already it has been a huge help. I am very new to all this and I want to make sure I totally understand, so here's my situation:
In Oct 2005 I incurred a hospital bill while living in California. I was not finacially stable at the time and I applied to be considered as a charity case. Last I had heard regarding this was back in 2005, and I had been accepted for charity. I stopped worrying about it and haven't heard anything since. Now five years later, I get a collections agency calling me out of the blue saying that I still owe. I haven't heard anything about this in 5 years and I had thought this was taken care of. I currently live in Texas and the collections agency that bought the debt is located in Texas. Am I held to the SoL in California, where I went to the hospital, or in Texas ,where I currently reside... either way, from what I understand both States' SoL are 4 years. Doesn't that mean that the debt has expired? If this is on my credit history, it should be coming off in a few years right (it stays on my record for approx 7.5 years)? It seems very unethical that 5 years have elapsed and I've recieved no letters, no bills, no statements regarding it going to collections, and all of a sudden a collections agency is accusing me of owing them money. Does anyone out there have some helpful advice for me?
such debt is bought very cheaply by such collection agencies. Many people are unaware of SOL and they just pay. Have you seen this on your credit report?
Go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp and get hard copies of all your reports. it is important to get hard copies of all your reports so you have an accurate picture. You have the right to get at least one free copy of all three reports each year.
If this is on your credit report then you might want to consider settling the debt for a percentage of the whole in exchange for a delete.