Summons served by debt collector
I'll try to be thorough..
I received a summons from a debt collector stating I owed a $2,200 from a 4 year old hospital bill that I didn't know I owed.. back in April 2005 I was sent a bill for what the insurance didn't cover and it was paid.. I have a money order stub with an odd amount ($165.50) and I'd written paid in full on it.. after this, no other communication for the hospital was ever sent.. I'd even been back to the hospital for other non related issues, and was seen and sent a bill that was also paid.. my point it, if there was a balance or outstanding bill, wouldn't they have brought that up then?
So, after I was hand delivered the summons on May 20, 2009, I sent them a letter stating that I didn't owe this bill and would like to see proof of this debt and also to not contact me again.. that was 14 days ago..
Today in the mail I get another letter from them saying "that upon failure to serve an answer to the complaint, a judgment will be entered against you by default"
Did they break the 'fair trade debt' by contacting me again?
Do I respond to them?
If they file a judgment, will there still be a court case? Because I was reading your other threads and I'm thinking that if they judge against me, by default, they may just start garnishes wages..
I'm really at a loss as to where to go from here.. I live in New York..