NCO Financial systems sent bills demanding money for a bill they were not owed. They persisted in collecting money for a debt that had been paid and the amount they collected was far greater than the original amount owed.
Background on the original debt: In September my elderly mother was hospitalized and subsequently admitted to a nursing home for rehabilitation.insurance covered her hospital expenses with the exception of their $200 deductible. I did not pay the $200.00 deductible immediately as my mother had applied for Medicaid coverage and was awaiting approval.in the meantime, the hospital sent the bill for $200 to collection (enter NCO Financial). At some point I sent the hospital a check for $200.00.
Several months had passed when in January my parents reported that they had started receiving bills and telephone calls from NCO Financial requesting $200.00 for the hospital bill. I told them to disregard the bill as it had already been paid. (Obviously this was bad advice) My father told NCO financial that the bill had been paid and that they should contact me if they had any questions. They never contacted me. I was unaware until recently that over the course of the next 5 months my parents continued to receive bills and telephone calls from NCO.
Recently, when reviewing some old credit card statements I came across a charge by NCO Financial for more than $300.00 on my parents May statement. How this charge came to be no one knows. Neither of my parents recalls authorizing the charge. They do recall receiving calls and letters about "some medical bills" they were told had not been paid. My parents, who are aged 79 and 82 years old, indicate that they do not recall authorizing this charge but tell me they "may have paid the bill if they told us it had not been paid." Whether my parents authorized the charge to NCO Financial or not, I may never know. What I do know is that:
For more than a year NCO Financial persisted in attempting to collect a debt they were not owed.
NCO collected an amount that was greater than $100.00 more than the original bill. I have no idea how they arrived at this amount; however, if it was intended to be interest, that amount equates to usury.
As soon as I discovered this charge I contacted both NCO and the credit card company. I requested that NCO Financial return the money they collected plus the interest charged by the credit card company on that amount. I am awaiting their response. If I do not receive a satisfactory response I will file a complaint with the state attorney general in NY and PA.in the meantime, I hope that NCO Financial does the right thing and returns the money that they collected illegally from a couple of disabled senior citizens, one of which is a former US Marine, Veteran of two (2) wars, and retired officer of the NYPD.
0 comments