What are my legal rights in regards to being sent to a collection agency?
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What are my legal rights in regards to being sent to a collection agency?
I was hospitalized twice last year for asthma attacks and was left with $16,000 in medical bills (and that’s with insurance). I currently still owe $2199 on the remaining balance and it has not even been a full year. I make pre-arranged monthly payments of $297 and also pay whatever I can afford extra at the time. Now I have been notified that I have been sent to collections despite all this. What are my legal rights? I have a good credit score and don’t want to ruin that over something that I have been making my best effort to pay off.
Asked on March 5, 2012 under Bankruptcy Law, Arizona
Answers:
eric redman / Redman Ludwig, P.C.
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
unfortunately you legally owe all of the money at omne time. any payment deal is voluntary by them and they can give to collection whenever they want to. is this your only debt? if you have a lot of debt and they are going to ruin your credit score you might as well file bankruptcy and get a fresh start.
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