Questioner: LynnCategory: Collections LawSubject: Medical
BillsQuestion: I have insurance, but even with 90% of everything
covered, ended up owing $1,000.The hospital is a non-profit, but would
not work with me unless I could pay the entire balance off in 6 months
or less. (I could not).So, the bills were turned over to collections.
(an Agency in Greeley, CO, who, ironically, has the majority of its
clients as non-profit, medical organizations!).1) Is it true that I,
personally, had to agree or sign off on their turning this over to
collections, more specifically, to this agency in particular?2) Is it
true the hospital is now likely collecting twice; once in its profit
and loss statement, once selling this to Professional Finance?3) I am
really struggling to keep up with the $50 a month they demand; if I am
making every effort, being sure to pay something each month, keeping in
contact with them,can they still take me to court and garnish my
wages?I did not get sick intentionally. The economy sucks, there have
been lay offs at my company, I struggle to keep utilities on, food on
the table, a roof over my head. How do these people live with
themselves? Must you sell your soul to Satan, to work in collections?
Especially for medical bills?Answer: click here to enlarge1) Is it true
that I, personally, had to agree or sign off on their turning this over
to collections, more specifically, to this agency in
particular?Probably not.2) Is it true the hospital is now likely
collecting twice; once in its profit and loss statement, once selling
this to Professional Finance?I have no knowledge of that subject. Maybe
they did and maybe they didn’t. Depends on their internal bookkeeping
procedures.3) I am really struggling to keep up with the $50 a month
they demand; if I am making every effort, being sure to pay something
each month, keeping in contact with them,can they still take me to
court and garnish my wages?Yes, they can and you should believe that
they will do that sooner or later and start preparing for it now. Above
all, you should never pay another dime to the hospital nor the debt
collector and most especially not to the debt collector. Start learning
all about FDCPA, FCRA and how to catch debt collectors breaking the law
and how to take them to court for their violations. If you do that you
can easily end up making them forget about ever collecting a dime and
make them pay you instead. My students do it all the time.I did not get
sick intentionally. The economy sucks, there have been lay offs at my
company, I struggle to keep utilities on, food on the table, a roof
over my head. How do these people live with themselves? Must you sell
your soul to Satan, to work in collections? Especially for medical
bills?Sounds logical to me. How do these people live with themselves?
Easy! The same way all thugs, corrupt politicians, and other scam
artists live with themselves. They convince themselves that what they
do is right or at least OK and they can make good money fast and easy.
They somehow kid themselves into believing that they won’t get caught.

Thursday night conference call with Richard Cornforth Tomorrow,
Thursday night, December 18th we will be holding a conference call with
Richard Cornforth. The call will start at 7:00 P.M. central time and
will last until 9:00 P.M. This is a free call with no charge or
obligation except that which your telephone company might charge you
for long distance. Nobody will attempt to sell you anything nor attempt
to get you to do or not do anything. It is strictly for informational
purposes.The call will be an actual meeting of Richard Cornforth’s
J~accuse group with Richard Cornforth presiding. Callers attending the
meeting via the conference call instead of actually attending the
meeting will be asked to follow the format of the meeting and not
attempt to hold conversations with other callers. All questions will be
directed to Richard Cornforth and he will be the only one answering
questions. Please use *6 to mute yourself until the time comes to allow
people to ask questions. When you ask questions please identify
yourself by first name only and tell us what state and city you are
from.Richard usually starts each bimonthly meeting off with a lesson
about something or other often about IRS or debt collection. Please
listen quietly until the moderator opens the floor to questions then
you can feel free to jump in and ask questions.The meeting will start
promptly at 7:00 P.M. and will be set up a couple of minutes prior to
the start of the meeting by the moderator.Richard Cornforth is a
nationally known public speaker and travels extensively giving seminars
in many cities each year.The call in number and pin is:. 1-712-432-1601
Pin is 508548#

Debt collectors are going broke by the droves. Junk debt buyers are
especially prone to going broke because they have a heavy investment in
debt but debtors are less and less able to pay. That situation will
worsen dramatically as America goes into the throes of a deep economic
depression that is well underway. As junk debt buyers go belly up
throngs of debts will end up being forever uncollectable because there
will be no records left to collect on. Many lawfirms who also depended
on the collections industry will also go broke for lack of business and
income. Lawyers and paralegals alike will have to find other legal
fields to go into or go out of business as well.Another beneficiary of
the depression is likely to be our court systems as their workload goes
down. Hopefully that will equate to lower taxation needs too.
Pensioners will be getting an increase of about 10% starting in
January. That coupled with rapidly declining prices at the retail level
should put them in good shape which goes to prove the old axiom that
every dark cloud has a silver lining.Debt collector closes down By
Jonathan D. EpsteinNEWS BUSINESS REPORTER A Buffalo bill collector has
abruptly shut down and laid off all 73 employees, after the company
president said cash flow woes left it unable to continue
operating.Elite Recovery Services, located on Great Arrow, closed on
Thursday, sending its workers home suddenly without severance pay or
any other benefits.Company president and CEO Richard C. Corica said
Elite shut down because of ?economic reasons,? although he did not
elaborate. He said the company, which buys credit card debt and tries
to collect on it, did not file for bankruptcy and is not struggling to
pay debts, but its expenses are higher than its revenues.He said
management is negotiating with an unidentified third-party to try to
save the company, but would not go into more details about the
discussions or the third party. He cited the confidentiality and
sensitivity of the talks. ?I?m hoping some other solution can take
place. I hope something can be recovered,? he said in an interview.
?We?re negotiating, trying to save it, to make sure there?s the capital
to make sure this thing can work.? He said he hopes to know by early
next week whether the effort is successful. If not, he said, he might
even be able to pay the severance the workers may be owed. ?We?ve
always been very fair to our employees and paid them for the hours that
they?ve worked,? he said. ?Outside of that, there?s nothing I can say
until I know the final result.?Elite is the second locally based debt
collection firm to shut down abruptly in recent weeks, after First
American Recovery Services in Amherst filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy last
month. It cited a slowdown in payments from consumers and the decision
by its lender to shut off a credit line. jepstein@buffnews.com

In this movie Creditwrench is the featured guest of the year.

Questioner: robert Subject: Capitol One Credit Card debt from 2002
Question: QUESTION: I have just received a letter from my bank here in
NY that my checking account funds are being withheld, and a copy of the
Restraining Notice and Judgment for a Capitol One CC debt from 2002
when I lived in Florida. The account is a direct deposit $459.00
pension account only.I immediately called the banks legal department
and then the collection company and spoke to the attorney there who is
handling my case. I explained to him that I paid on that CC only the
charges that were mine and not the charges that were scammed by someone
other than myself or anyone I know, and the charges were dismissed
against me. However, he claims that I now owe for those charges, plus
all the late fees since 2002. The amount of the charges were less than
$1000 and the total debt is now over $6000. I shredded all my paperwork
from Florida when I left there and do not have any proof of the CC
statements. Big Mistake!I relocated back to New York State in 2002. I
am 65; retired in 2000; divorced in 1991 and pay QDRO from my pension
to my ex that leaves me with a $459/month pension; have no real
property; a 1996 Blazer with 135,000 miles in fair to poor condition;
rent apartment with a 72 yo female companion where we share the
expenses.Any advice you can give me would be appreciated. Thank
you.ANSWER: That’s a tough one to say the least but it also can be
turned into a great benefit to you. They have illegally garnished your
pension funds. They can’t do that. It is against the law for them to do
that and you can make them return all the money and pay dearly for
having done it. You have to file in federal court but you can do that
for free by filing in forma pauperous. Of course, when you win you will
have to pay the filing fee of $350 but you can make them pay that for
you on top of having to give back all the money they took. You might
also be able to include the bank as a co-defendant although I wouldn’t
guaranteed that. After all, they were an accomplice to the act. They
obeyed the court order and knew or should have known that they could
not legally allow that to happen.The lawyer and the plaintiff would
have to pay you some heavy damages and attorney fees as well. You can
also make them vacate the judgment and garnishment proceedings that
allowed it to happen to ensure that it don’t happen again. And you can
learn how to do it without hiring a lawyer to do it for you. That way
you get the attorney fees as well. You should end up with at least a
couple of thousand or more on top of getting all your money
back.

A creditwrench student from Tulsa, Oklahoma tells how he won against a
prominent Tulsa lawfirm in Tulsa County Court. There were two
contributing factors to his win. He had been served with a summons and
complaint but was called out of town for an extended period of time and
could not reply to the plaintiff’s discovery demands. When he returned
he found that the plaintiff had filed for judgment based on his failure
to respond to their discovery demands. He filed a response requesting
more time to answer explaining why he had failed to respond, mailed his
response to the plaintiff and at the same time sent his own demand for
admissions. When he went to court the plaintiff dismissed the case.
This was probably due to the fact that the plaintiff could not meet the
defendant’s demand for admissions of fact.Listen to the words of the
Tulsa, Oklahoma man as he describes what happened on the Friday night
conference call for December 5th, 2008

If you aren’t closely following the Creditwrench message board this is
just a small sample of what you are missing.

Questioner: KatiaSubject: Law Firm Licensing RequirementsQuestion: I
have a case with a debt collection law firm. The law firm first acted
as a collection agency by sending out a dunning letter and then
proceeded to file suit after validating. I keep reading according to my
state’s laws and Federal Law that this firm is acting as a collection
agency within the law firm and according to my state’s law, the firm
must be licensed as a collection agency. My lawyer, however, says I
should settle for the full claim (including all fees). If this firm is
supposed to be licensed as a collection agency, shouldn’t they be
unable to collect on this account since they are not licensed?Answer:
That is a really dumb lawyer you have there. Be that as it may, you
need to check with your state consumer protection division but in most
states lawyers are specifically excluded from such license
requirements. Of course, there is a catch to that because if the law
firm is not licensed to practice law in your state then I tend to think
they would have to be licensed in your state. More importantly, have
they complied with all aspects of FDCPA? Here is a starter list of 15
things that debt collectors cannot
do.