Our son was involved in an accident 3yrs ago which required an ambulance ride. we were never contacted or informed of any bill and easy to locate as we live at that same address for over 10 yrs. we have good auto and medical insurance which would have covered it, we have good credit, until now. we went to do something and were denied credit which is how we discovered this issue. we have many phone call to all involved parties, initial company, collection agency, insurance companies and nothing resolved. when we ask collection people why we were never sent and bill and explain that we have/had insurance to cover this stuff their claim is that they couldn't locate us and our son would not give information, not true who cares, were insured. the insurance companies states that it has reached a 2yr statue of limitation. when I asked the ambulance company why they didn't obtain the information from my son their response was that the drivers are too busy and dont have time..
2006-09-30 05:43:41 · 5 answers · asked by FIDEL F 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
Need to know what state you live in, and a few more details?
Did anyone sign any release forms? How old was your son, and what are the circumstances around this?
Start by sending a dispute letter to the credit bureau, and a validation demand letter to the collection agency. The validation letter is a demand for them to send copies of bills, contracts, receipts and everything they used to calculate what they claim you owe.
Now send (yes, another letter) to the ambulance company. Inform them of the following:
You were never sent a bill.
You were never sent a demand letter.
Their collection agency never sent you a validation letter prior to inserting it into your credit history. This is a violation of the Fair Debt Collections Act.
Due to their lack of notifications, and failure to follow the Fair Debt Collections Act, the negative information that was posted has had an adverse effect on you, causing you to lose approval of a loan and/or costing you higher interest rates and other expenses. They can be held responsible for any damages this results in.
The ambulance company and the collection agency can be sued for $1000 each for violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act for posting unvalidated information to your credit history.
Now make this offer to the ambulance company.
1. They must immediately remove all negative information from your credit reports, and call off the collection agency.
2. They must submit to you a bill for the services, including proper validation. If your son was a minor, any contract or agreement he signed is void. Can they prove you have a legal obligation to pay this debt?
3. If you owe it, they MUST submit this to the insurance company. I do not know how your policy works, and don't know how old this debt is. Some insurance companies may not accept bills this late after the service was performed. But note that YOU can not bill the insurance company, it has to be done by the provider. I only wish you had a letter form them saying they "were too busy" to obtain information from your son. By the way..this is why I'm asking about an agreement. If they son didn't sign it, who did?
If they fail to do any of the above, I would suggest you file a lawsuit. You can do it yourself without an attorney, as this is a simple small claims suit. I don't think the bill is over $150....who would they like a $1000 lawsuit plus damages resulting from your credit denial.
By the way....I was in a similar situation. We had a house fire several years ago. It was minor but had a lot of smoke. The 911 dispatchers sent an ambulance (even though we told them we didn't need it).
When they showed up, we were understandably shaken up from the fire. There were lots of fireman around in uniforms. This EMT came up and asked us to sign a release.
Now visualize the situation. It's 2am...dark...lots of smoke...and we just spent 30 minutes fighting a small home fire. Someone in a uniform comes up and asks you to sign something.
We didn't know what it was, and couldn't read it since it was dark and the lights were out. But we figured it was just a release for the fire department.
Turns out it was a bill because the EMT's showed up and we refused their services. Got a bill for $150.
They sent me to collections after I refused to pay.
They got a lawsuit from me for exactly what I'm recommending you do.
They are now off my back.
2006-09-30 09:33:30 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 3⤋
If your son took an ambulance ride and you didn't get a bill, you were obligated to follow up on it and make sure you got a bill and that it was taken care of ... either by the insurance company, yourself or whomever.
I don't mean to be snarky, but did you think ambulances are free?
Not being billed at the time of service does not absolve you of your responsibility for the bill.
Pay the bill and then have it removed from your credit report.
2006-09-30 13:03:05 · answer #2 · answered by BoomChikkaBoom 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
WRITE to the credit reporting agency. FIGHT it hard.
I had almost the exact same thing occur back in 1997 and I wrote and they took the comment out.
My credit score today is 804.
Best wishes,
pup
2006-09-30 13:44:25 · answer #3 · answered by . 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get your credit report and dispute it. You can also add a note to your credit report explaining the derogatory item. You are entitled to one free credit report a year from each bureau
2006-09-30 12:54:59 · answer #4 · answered by AMANDA B 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Call a lawyer, the local police then call the big 4 credit report agency's transunion, equifax, experian and of course innoves (not spelled correctly, someone other than me please post the correct spelling thanks :) also disput the information they put you on report for. take them to court if need be.
2006-09-30 12:57:27 · answer #5 · answered by demonicunicorn 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋