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just curious... i keep getting calls from ecm collections now saying i owe a $195 bill from over five years ago. i told the lady i always pay my bills before leaving the hospital, i am lucky to have insurance, and i was positive i have already paid. even the last time i was in the hospital, my account was 100% paid before i left. she insisted, said i had to prove it, got ugly with me, and said she was going to ruin my credit. i don't have check receipts from five years ago, my husband shredded them. any recommendations on how i can proceed? have any of y'all had them calling lately? thanks!
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If she is threatening to ruin your credit and getting ugly with you -- she may be breaking the fair credit rules. Contact ECM and request a copy of the bill they say you owe. THen go to your bank -- you can request old copies of bank statements and possibly check copies -- it will cost you a fee though. Also, contact your insurance company and request all payments from the time frame she is harassing you about to insure the insurance didn't pay the bill and they are trying to collect the difference which is sometimes illegal.

Check with an attorney -- Tina Parker is a good one I've used -- and consult with her on sending a cease and desist letter until they can prove you didn't pay the bill. Just because a collection has a bill doesn't mean it is current or still open. Just my experience with ECM at least. SEveral years ago they charged me the co-pay that I was to pay 1 time per year -- for every contact I had with them from an xray, to day surgery, to being admitted to the hospital and a second surgery. Once I fought back -- they wound up refunding all but 1 of my copays of over $200 each.
I agree with Eastside.

And banks keep copies of checks for seven years - or at least it used to be seven years - so getting those copies shouldn't be a problem. Just try to remember the specific date (if possible) of your hospital stay because you don't want to pay the bank for research and copies of all your checks from five years ago. If you can't remember, the date should be listed on the copy of the bill you request from ECM.
I had this happen and actually had the proof that I didn't owe the money. It was over a very small amount too, something like $15 and it was a couple of years old.

I have had a few people tell me that after viewing a credit report, they discovered that ECM had reported them to a credit agency over a small bill that they never knew existed.

Somebody should drop a lawsuit on ECM.
My husband got billed for one of our children's birth years later. He was listed as the patient.

Think that they send out bills and a certain number of people will just pay it because it's a bill. I have an aunt who does that..insists on paying before the insurance even pays.

My parents have insurance plus medicare plus a suppplement. Once ECM turned them over to collections for a few dollars and when my mother called the collection agency the woman said< "NEver mind. They have been paid enough." Another time my mother was making payments and they kept sending her bills with the same amount due. They never did deduct her payments. So she stopped paying. They dunned her on a subsequent contact and the amount had been properly adjusted and she was glad to write them a check. But when you're calling and begging for a statement which reflects your payments and they don't want to do it, I don't know what you're supposed to do!
My wife just got a bill last week from a collection agency from some where in Tn.that represents Shoals Hospital which is owned by ECM , saying that she owed them $25 from May 16,2005 .We do not remember a bill from then - she called the agency & was told that the balance was $50 after her insurance had paid . They also told her that she paid $25 of the 50 and that she made no effort to pay the remainder of the bill . My main question is : Why would they wait over 5 1/2 years before they send a notice out ? Is it because ECM just sold out & the new people are trying to collect all they can from old accounts ?
On my mom's insurance remit, when the insurance pays it tells the provider -- "this amount has been adjusted and you CANNOT bill the patient for any remaining amount of what you billed originally". In other words, if the hospital charges $200 and insurance pays $100 and the patient's copay is $25 -- $125 is all the hospital is going to get paid. That is why I said, get the insurance remit from those stays because there is a good chance that they cannot collect for anything else even though they are trying too.

Also, I think meeee is correct that the new people are trying to collect as much of the debt as possible. I agree people should pay their debt but harassing someone and being ugly and threatening is out of line regardless.

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