Legal Question in Consumer Law in Illinois

Payment medical bills.

My son owes thousand of dollars for medical bills. He fell

off a cliff and had to have surgery, therapy, etc. He is paying on all the bills, over a hundred thousdand dollars. They tell him he isn;t paying enough and he has been sent to colletion. His income is around 20-25 thousand a year. Insurance payed a huge hunk of these bills. There are about five collection agencys threatening to take him to court if he doesn't give them a hundred dollars each. Is there a law that says we must pay a certain amount? Under the curcumstance I think 50 dollars to each one (more when possible) is fair. What are our rights? My son wants to pay up, but he needs to be able to live also. He doesn't want to have to file bankruptcy and doesn't feel like he can get any charatable help. Please let me know what the law says. I work in a billing office and I hear the customer service gals tell people they must pay x amount of dollars all day long. Need hope,

LW

Thank you for your help whether it is able to help us or not.


Asked on 12/09/05, 7:15 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Kevin Plachta The Law Office of Kevin F. Plachta

Re: Payment medical bills.

The only law which pertains to the amount that a creditor can receive relates to after a judgment is entered and a wage deduction is placed on the POE. At that point the amount is 15 percent of the wages (if he even makes enough based on the minimum wages and other factors) and that 15 percent is for all creditors. So if 15 creditors obtained judgment against your son and they started to garnish his checks then by law each creditor can only get 1 percent of the wages.

I know your son does not want to file bankruptcy but if he owes over one hundred thousand dollars he is never going to pay off that debt. Remember that if a judgment is entered against him then IL allows 9 percent interest per year on the judgment amount. In addition the creditor can lien his bank accounts which would make matters worse. I strongly urge your son to meet with a bankruptcy attorney to discuss his options.

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Answered on 12/13/05, 8:49 pm


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