I keep getting calls from National Recovery Agency

[sozzz]

Long story short.

They called me 6 months ago saying the hospitals I went to have put me in the NRA debt collector.

At first they said I owe them $75, $85, $74 from this n this hospital. I thought this was a scam so I called my hospitals and asked and they all said they don't have any record of me owning them money. The NRA said of course the hospitals don't have the money sozzz owed because the hospitals sent the debt to us. Only we can see it here, they cannot..

I took the bills to one of my hospital and talked to one of the finance office and ask if the letters from NRA are legit, she said yes. Ok so I payed NRA..

fast forward 6 months now...
I just received a phone call today asking if this is sozzz, is your address *****, is your last 4 digits of ssn ****..

SOZZZ: What do you want, why does having knowing my last 4 digits matter. I said I am sozzz and I live ****

NRA: Well we want to make sure we have the right person.

SOZZZ: What can I do for you?

NRA: well sir, it says on our database that you owe $73 from **** hospital. on 4/17/2012

SOZZZ: What the hell, I thought I payed that bill already when you guys called me about the same date and hospital...

NRA: well the original amount was $84 and your insurance only payed some of it. So now your amount is $73.

SOZZZ:*pauses for 2 minutes, thinking wtf is going on with these f*ckers always calling me for $75, $76, $78, $74 every 3-4 months*
What is the name of the hospital and who was the doctor I went to see?

NRA:it says here **** hospital. it doesn't say the doctor's name...

SOZZZ: Let me call you back. i'm going to call that hospital and ask.


NRA: ok sir. here is my name and number. ext...



I looked up my old hospital and hit up the billing/debt office and they never pick up. I called the NRA back and said why the f*k do you guys keep sending me $75, 76, 74, every 3-4 months... do you guys just randomly make these sh*ts up..?

NRA: no, your hospital sent you letter/bill to pay but you never pay for 5-6 months so now they give the bill to us...so how would you like to pay it. you can pay through here with credit card or we can do a stall payment.

SOZZZ:you know what, i'll let my sister handle this. I don't know why I keep getting these $75,76,74, every 3-4 months. I don't care about $73 but I want to know why this happens every 3-4 months..

NRA: SIR! I DON'T KNOW EITHER. MAYBE BECAUSE YOU PAY LATE OR DON'T PAY SIR. The $73 is legit sir. why do you want to have your sister speak to us?

SOZZZ: she has more experience with this kind of stuff than me. I will have her call you guys tomorrow.

NRA: ok sir. since you give us permission to speak to her, what is her name?

SOZZZ: her name is ****.

NRA: ok thank you sir. here is my number and name and ext...

SOZZZ: k bye.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

sorry it's so long guys. but i'm getting tired of this sh*t. I know I pay everything up front after every visit to the doctor. I also know if doctor sends any bills home I woulda taken care of them right away.

I looked these NRA ppl up and most of the people say they will try and scam you by making you pay the same bills more than once and stuff.

I'm going to be buying a voice recorder and will record everything, everytime they call me and talk. I have a feeling this will never end even I pay this bill.

I told my girlfriend and she said wtf. change your number after you take care of this..not sure if that will help.

ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED GUYS.

 

[backseatjuan]

This is what you need http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_there_a_do_not_call_letter_to_send_to_debt_collectors

But they will sell your debt to other companies and they will call in eventually and you'll have to send them another letter. Official letter though.

When I first got to USA in 1997 I had some case of ingrown hair on my ass, I couldn't sit. Went to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and had it operated. That ass cost me $10,000. And the bastards kept calling me even after I paid it all off. Only in like 2005ish they stopped. This didn't affect my credit history in anyway though.

Now in comparison, in Russia, Sochi, I was bitten by dogs, my own fault, went to a hospital to get shots, all free. Didn't pay anything, don't own anybody anything. They have to treat you here, because if you die they could face criminal charges.

 

[sozzz]

Thanks man.

I called my hospital today after reading up information on debt collectors and what you can do and such.

I called my hospital billing office and told them the situation. they said I already paid the bill and they do not know why the person that did the billing did not take the bill off of their database...they said they will email/talk to their supervisor and have the NRA a call on Monday.

I said the NRA needed proof as in written proof I have paid. what kind of business are you guys running and can I expect these kind of things not happen in the future?

They said we apologize and we will have our supervisor talk to them sir. you don't need written proof to send to them as long as we have a supervisor talk to them.

W/e i'm really getting tired of this crap. Just do your work professionally please. K bye.

So on Monday, i'll give the hospital a call.

 

[taiyuu_otoko]

Long time ago I used to work for a debt collector. I was the guy that called up. Those guys get paid on commission.

But the collection agencies buy debt at cheap, cheap prices. The company I worked for bought cc debt for pennies on the dollar. So they still made a profit if they only collect a couple hundred bucks from a thousand dollar debt.

They may very well be calling to just see if they can get anything, knowing that the debt may or may not be "real." So long as it's in their system, they may figure it's worth a shot.

The ONLY thing you need to worry about is that it won't get put on your credit report. So long as you have some kind of refernece, any reference, that the debt has been paid, you can use that to remove any "dings" from your credit history.

If it's a REAL DEBT (I know it isn't in your case, but FYI) and the debt collectors keep hounding you, you can settle for a lot less than they're asking.

They make ZERO income if they collect nothing and report it to the credit agencies.

Often times they'll take ten cents on the dollar just to cover their costs, especially if it's a big debt.

 

[Bible_Belt]

I agree that your credit report is what matters. Remember, there are three different companies that write credit reports, and you need to check all three.

Often times they'll take ten cents on the dollar just to cover their costs, especially if it's a big debt.

Does that figure still work for debt to the government? Or do they expect a higher percentage, because it is government debt? I have student loans that have been in default 15 years that I would love to settle for 10 cents on the dollar. The last I checked, the debt had been sold to some scum bags in Chicago.

 

[sozzz]

Long time ago I used to work for a debt collector. I was the guy that called up. Those guys get paid on commission.

But the collection agencies buy debt at cheap, cheap prices. The company I worked for bought cc debt for pennies on the dollar. So they still made a profit if they only collect a couple hundred bucks from a thousand dollar debt.

They may very well be calling to just see if they can get anything, knowing that the debt may or may not be "real." So long as it's in their system, they may figure it's worth a shot.

The ONLY thing you need to worry about is that it won't get put on your credit report. So long as you have some kind of refernece, any reference, that the debt has been paid, you can use that to remove any "dings" from your credit history.

If it's a REAL DEBT (I know it isn't in your case, but FYI) and the debt collectors keep hounding you, you can settle for a lot less than they're asking.

They make ZERO income if they collect nothing and report it to the credit agencies.

Often times they'll take ten cents on the dollar just to cover their costs, especially if it's a big debt.

Awesome! This is the kind of information I really need, having someone who used to work as a debt collector. Thanks for the info man.

when you said reference, do you mean a letter from the place that I owe money from?

I told the NRA that the hospital said I already paid them, you can call my hospital if you want. They reply by saying they don't give a sh*t and they are not/don't have to call anyone. They need written proof that I did pay it off by the hospital...so we'll see what will happen Monday after I call my hospital.

As for negotiating debt bills. I was so damn stupid/late that I negotiated with them for a bill of $1200... I asked them if they could talk to my hospital and lower the bill.. they said how much am I willing to pay, I said $800.. they said give them 2 weeks and they will call me back. 1 week later they called back and said ok, the hospital is willing to accept $800... I told my family and they said i'm f*cking stupid.

It's over and done with so what can I do except not them trick me again, which is why I fought like a pitbull on the current debt. it's not much but i'm not making the same mistake twice.

By the way, I have applied for a credit card to help build my credit and my bank said I did not qualify/rejected due to bad credit score/been in debt collector database...I have paid all my bills. some times they would call and said I have 30 days to pay or the bills will go in the debt agency database... I paid them but they still put me in bad credit database.. what the hell...?

Is there anything I can do to fix this?

 

[Atom Smasher]

Get a secured credit card. You give the bank a few hundred dollars and they issue you a credit card for that amount. They will report your timely payments to the credit bureaus and your credit will build up surprisingly fast. Some banks make a point of telling you that when they report your activity they don't mention that it's a secured card. Use one of those.

 

[taiyuu_otoko]

Does that figure still work for debt to the government? Or do they expect a higher percentage, because it is government debt? I have student loans that have been in default 15 years that I would love to settle for 10 cents on the dollar. The last I checked, the debt had been sold to some scum bags in Chicago.

It all depends on how much the Chicago guys paid for the debt. They only care about making a profit, not where the debt originated.

It's just like buying a car. You want to pay as little as possible, and they want to get as much as possible. If you convince them that ten cents a buck is all they're gonna get, they may take it. But that's only if they paid less than that.

The place I worked for bought huge amounts of credit card debt in auctions for 1-2 cents a buck.

 

[backseatjuan]

sozzz...... Drive to that hospital and get the written paper with their official stamp that you paid your debt.


You can also take loans and empty your credit cards, gather a million bucks and retire to some 3rd world country.

 

[sozzz]

I gave the hospital a call today to ask them if they had inform the NRA about the situation and they said they have emailed them about it and have taken my bill off of their database. if I get another call in the next two months I think i'm going to get a lawyer, or should I not?

Before I even think about getting a lawyer, what do you guys think I should do first? Like get all the paperwork from the hospitals or what?

Or is it going to far?

 

[taiyuu_otoko]

I gave the hospital a call today to ask them if they had inform the NRA about the situation and they said they have emailed them about it and have taken my bill off of their database. if I get another call in the next two months I think i'm going to get a lawyer, or should I not?

Before I even think about getting a lawyer, what do you guys think I should do first? Like get all the paperwork from the hospitals or what?

Or is it going to far?

Don't get a lawyer unless you wanna go further in debt. Use some basic assertive techniques:

Bill Collector: You owe us money!!

You: I've already paid and have written proof. Where you like me to send a copy?

Bill Collector: !!@@$$##&&^^!!!!!!

You: Yes, I understand, and I've already paid that and I have written proof. Where would you like me to send a copy?

Repeat as often as necessary. After you repeat THE EXACT SAME THING a few times, they'll realize it's hopeless and give up.

 

[sozzz]

so are you saying I should literally drive to my hospital and ask for a written letter as proof and keep all the copies of all the bills I owe and send them a copy everytime they try to scam me?

is having my hospitals email the NRA not enough proof? will the nra still bother me or try and say they never got the emailed from my hospitals?

 

[Fatal Jay]

lol this is a funny thread.

 

[.50Cal]

Have you even asked them to validate this date by mailing it to you??

To determine whether a debt is valid consumers have the right to have debt collector verify the consumers debt through debt validation under FDCPA § 809. A consumer has thirty days from the first date the debt collectors makes contact to request debt validation. After that the debt collector has thirty days to provide proof that it owns the debt or has been assigned to collect the debt from the original creditor.

If no proof is provided then the debt collector cannot continue to collect from the consumer. Consumers should note that verbal confirmation is not enough and the request should be for written proof. Additionally, consumers can stop collectors from calling by sending a written letter requesting them not to call the consumer under FDCPA § 805(c).

Moreover, a debt collector may be civilly liable for failing to comply with the FDCPA by partaking in abusive practices. Particularly under § 813(a)(1) of the FDCPA, the legislature has explicitly provided for statutory damages.

http://www.westopdebtcollectors.com/blog/fight-phantom-debt-with-debt-validation.html

I wouldn't have paid them sht until I had the debt validated in writing. They have 30 days to do this.



Debt Validation:

Under § 809(a) of the FDCPA a debt collector must send to the consumer, within five days of the initial communication, a written notice that contains:
The amount of the debt;
The creditor’s name;
A statement that the debt will be considered valid unless the consumer disputes the debt within thirty days;
A statement that notifies the consumer that if they dispute the debt in whole or in part within thirty day, the debt collector will obtain proof of the debt or judgment and mail the proof to the consumer; and
A statement that the debt collector will provide, on the written request of the consumer within a thirty day period, the name and address of the original creditor.

http://www.westopdebtcollectors.com/blog/debt-validation.html


Also, All Communications from Debt Collectors Can Be Used as Evidence Against Them:

http://www.westopdebtcollectors.com...ors-can-be-used-as-evidence-against-them.html

 

[sozzz]

Have you even asked them to validate this date by mailing it to you??



http://www.westopdebtcollectors.com/blog/fight-phantom-debt-with-debt-validation.html

I wouldn't have paid them sht until I had the debt validated in writing. They have 30 days to do this.



Debt Validation:



http://www.westopdebtcollectors.com/blog/debt-validation.html


Also, All Communications from Debt Collectors Can Be Used as Evidence Against Them:

http://www.westopdebtcollectors.com...ors-can-be-used-as-evidence-against-them.html

awesome! thanks a lot man.

I did ask them to send me the bill which I owed from certain hospital. They replied by saying...

SOZZZ:can you send me the bill that I owe so I can see it plz?

NRA:No. the hospital that you owed from had sent you letters informing you owe $73 for 5-6 months now, you either pay up or this will go into debt collection.

SOZZZ:I just want to see the bill mailed so I can pay it. can you tell the hospital to mail me the bill again or could you mail me what I owe?

NRA:No. the hospital had sent you for several months now.

SOZZZ: *wtf, I never received sh*t about $73..*. I don't remember receiving no $73 bill from my hospital. Maybe I did and my mom or someone accidently threw it away, so can you send it again so I can see plz?

NRA:NO! we will not send you anything. we already did that back then. we even sent out a warning letter. so we are not going to send you the letter again..

SOZZZ:does it kill you guys to resend it one more? you want me to pay but you won't send the bill, how do I know if the bill is legit or not?

NRA:it is legit, you can either pay up or it will go into debt collection.

SOZZZ:i will pay up as soon as I get the letter saying how much I owe and where.

NRA: we will not send you the letter again!

SOZZZ:alright. let me call my hospital and talk to them about this.

NRA: you can try but the hospital won't have the $73 on their computer because they already put it in our debt collection database..

SOZZZ: well i'm going to call them and get back to you.

NRA:k.


called up my hospital and they said someone forgot to took my bill down when I paid it, so the computer or someone thought I didn't pay so it went to debt collection...


I have never had this kind of stuff happen to me. eversince I had surgery and had no insurance.. all bunches of random bills from the hospital coming at me. now im SCARE as hell to even go visit a doctor. not to mention I wanna sue the hell out of NRA/HOSPITAL for not doing their job right.