DH has this $10,000 collection account on his CRs (only EQ and TU) from a hospital bill he couldn't pay back in June 2002 (no insurance, emergency).

In TX, the SOL would be 4 years, right?

I should wait until that's up before I do ANYTHING with it, right?

I hate it being there, but if they're able to validate it I'd hate to have to pay it.

Account Number: XXXX XXXX
Acct Type: Collection Account Collection Account
Acct Status: Open Open
Monthly Payment: N/A N/A
Date Open: Dec, 2003 Dec, 2003
Balance: $10,685 $10,685
Terms: N/A N/A
High Balance: N/A N/A
Limit: N/A N/A
Past Due: N/A N/A
Remarks: MEDICAL Unpaid Placed for collection
Payment Status: Unpaid Collection account

I would wait. Some people don't, but I disagree with that. I guess I'm more conservative than some.

I would wait too.. Unless I had the money available. You only have 11 months to go... I would rather let these dog sleep a little longer. You do not want them to sue you! Judgment is worst than medical collection. You should qualify for home loans with these still there.

No need in waking...

Not sure about in TX, but be forewarned that in some areas a medical facility owned/operated by a government entity are exempt from the SOL....


If this doesn't apply to you, wait out SOL

How would I find out about this?

I am in a similar situation:


Collection #2
Collection Agency ATTN L.L.C.
Original Creditor MED1NORTH CENTRAL MEDICAL CENTER M
Account Number 477
Whose Account Individual Account
Date Assigned March, 2002
Date Reported August, 2004
Amount $18,853
Balance $18,853
Date Paid Out Not on record
Date Closed Not on record

Yes, it's very important to find out if this hospital debt is owned by a government entity. If this hospital is community owned or county owned, etc., then they're may not be an sol. There was a case in Mississippi where a woman was using sol as an defense and to her surprise she found out that since the hospital was a municipality there was no sol! How to find out if this is true for you? Well, first you need to find out if the hospital is a private entity or not. If the name has the words Community, Memorial, University,or the name of the state, then that's a clue that it may be run by the city,county, state and is a government entity.

Oh...it's definitely a county hospital. He went there because he knew he didn't have to have insurance to be seen. So does that mean there's no SOL? And this thing is stuck on there for 7 years but they could come after us whenever??

You have to research the state's statutes in which the hospital is located to find out. I haven't found this info to be very easy to find in my case. I had to enlist the help of WhyChat.

IF there is no SOL, then yes they can come after you at any time for it.... WhyChat may be able to offer more insight on the issue.

AND, if they decide to wait 6 years to sue, then the judgement will be on the CR for another 7 years so you're looking at potentially longer.

Did DH apply for any type of financial assistance for this?

I doubt it. It was right before I met him. He was unemployed at the time, so I bet he could have qualified for something. I guess it's too late now, huh?

Most likely too late, but if there is no SOL you may need to negotiate it somehow to pay it off.

I'm surprised that for 10K he hasn't been sued yet. When I worked at a major hosp here in my area, accounts over 10K were routinely referred to our attorney and liens were immediately placed

Then I'll definitely be leaving this one alone until we have to deal with it...

Is there any way you could try to negotiate a PFD or make some small, token monthly payment (although that would probably reset the SOL)? If there is an indefinite SOL, this would be the way to go. You'd hate to leave it alone and try to fly under the radar only to have this come back to haunt you at an inopportune time.

With a baby almost here and getting ready to buy a house... it's not really something we want to do right now.
I'm okay with disputing the other baddies, because the most expensive one is $2000 and most all are SOL.

If you're not going to PFD, be sure to opt-out before mortgage shopping so that the medical collection doesn't creep onto your CR.

Good luck!

It's already showing on the CR. We've already opted out. But we've already gotten approved for the loan so they know it's there.
Thanks though!

Assuming you have only a pre approval this is the likely senario

When conditions come back to your loan agent from the underwriter, they are going to require you to pay off any unpaid collections and any CC balances that are too high.

-Subprime

I can't imagine ANY lender allowing you to go forward with a 10K unpaid collection, especially with a potential lack of SOL.

You may want to try to negotiate a settlement or payment plan on it, 10K is enough to have a lien placed on the new home......

I guess we shall see this week... I'll let yall know what happens. Happy thoughts please!

Can making payments on something that big reset SOL?