How do I locate a bill collector?

Question

Ok, so long story short, I have a bill collector that I need to pay. I was recently sent to this bill collector by an attorney's agency that would not accept my debate of "it was covered by my insurance, call them" (as you can see it's a medical bill for some anesthesia) and sent my file to a collections agency. Trouble is, they've never sent me anything, and when they called at the beginning of this month, I told the guy to email me with the info so I could call when I had the money to pay, and they never emailed me. Where can I find this information online for free? Please help. Thanks for all the answers.

Update, I checked on Equifax, it says I have no outstanding collections on my record (which means the bill collector was lying, big surprise.)

The bill is my responsibility. Trust me, I worked for health net of CA and all I did was fix billing issues, long story short, I had wisdom teeth pulled and they did an xray, panvision one, sent it to the insurance. My ex boyfriends mother worked for a dental office and she decides to tell me a year after the procedure that they don't accept safegaurd, I said tough, you told me I would pay this and be done with you, so she figured out a way to scam my insurance by charging them for something her office never did. Sucks, but I'd rather deal with 90 bucks than the nightmare it would be to figure out whos wrong. (ex's mom is, but whatever.)

Still need more answers, and thank you to everyone who responded.

Answer 1

Before you get anxious to pay this, are you sure your insurance company does not cover this? You will be amazed at how often the doctor and insurer just can't get together on the paperwork.

If you know it's your bill....you can pull your credit report at http://www.annualcreditreport.com and the creditor will most likely be listed there.

Answer 2

collectors do not work via email. they need to speak to you via phone to inform you that the call is an attempt to collect a debt and so on and so forth... they tell you who they are and the reason for the call. however, you should have gotten a letter stating that the account was sent to a collectors and if you dispute the charges, then they tell you what to do.
if an attorney's office contacted you, it might be because they are the ones handling the case. you might want to contact them again. ( or you could go back to the office and ask them for the name of the agency. I've been able to do this for my clients when they couldn't remember who was calling them)
you mentioned checking one of the 3 credit agencies. you might want to check the other 2. they don't necessarily all have the same info. ( speaking form experience)

Answer 3

Your instincts are good. Don't pay a thing until you get something in writing. Check the statute of limitations (Calif is 4 years), If 4 years has passed since the last activity date (last payment or date of service), then they have no legal recourse to collect. Collectors calling after 4 years are called "zombie collectors" in the industry. They are annoying and frequently threaten things they can't do. Know your rights and protect yourself before dealing with them. BTW - to know if it's on your credit report - check all 3 bureaus.

Answer 4

two ideas here. put the name in quotes and google it...lots of times theres a website or posting google can search. next is a service called switchboard.com. sometimes if you have even the city they can find it.

Answer 5

unless they mail you its hard since the late 80's when people showed up in the offices and shootiing abunch of people most colectors use po boxes for employee safety

Answer 6

goggle called equafax they helped me good luck and God bless

Answer 7

You can get it off your TRW