What do I do if a collection agency is looking to collect money that I paid in the form of restitution to the court?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
What do I do if a collection agency is looking to collect money that I paid in the form of restitution to the court?
A year ago, I got in a car accident that resulted in property damages. I went to court and have been paying my monthly restitution on time. About a month ago I received a phone call from a collection agency looking to collect money that they claimed was not payed to their client (the person who’s property I damaged insurance company). Apparently these people were payed by their insurance company in full and have been receiving monthly checks of my restitution from the court. I faxed them proof of payment and they closed the case. Now I have a different collection agency calling me.
Asked on October 26, 2010 under Bankruptcy Law, Montana
Answers:
M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
Ok so what you have here is double dipping by the property owners, so to speak. On a very real legal level you have insurance fraud and unjust enrichment. You need to do two things: notify the court of what is going on and notify the insurance company that covered these people. The court should indeed take the initiative to do something. If they do not, then call up your defense attorney and ask him or her to help you. If they helped to negotiate the deal they should be willing to make a call on your behalf. If you do not know the name of the insurance company it will be in the court file. Do you have a probation officer assigned to you? They can help too. Good luck. As for the collection agencies, you have to have the insurance company call them off or deal with them on a case by case basis. And watch your credit score periodically as well. Good luck.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.