Medical Malpractice

Is a restrictive endorsement against a Collection Agency a legally binding agreement?

I'm a 25-year old recent college graduate who had to make a hospital visit last year without medical insurance. I lived in North Carolina at the time and made payments on my bill for every statement received. After 3 months, the hospital was unwilling to work out a monthly payment plan and I simply couldn't afford to pay the bill in full. I moved to Georgia last month and found that the hospital turned over the remaining $900 of my balance to a CA. With the advice of a friend, I sent a check to the CA for $300 and on the back of the check scripted "For all oustanding balances." The CA processed the check and it has cleared my bank, complete with the acceptance stamp for the endorsement on the back. Can the CA come after me for the remaining balance? Or did they legally accept my check as full payment for the entire balance? I have yet to receive any other correspondence from them since, however it has only been a few days. Any input/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Public Comments

1. Unfortunatly unless they agreed to that amount you are still most likely liable for the remaining amount. What you did instead was agree that the debt was yours so disputing the debt is going to be harder. You also reset the statute of limitations for them to be able to collect the debt. Before you send any more money you need to contact them and have them agree that they will remove the negative information once it is paid. Once you have it in writting you can pay off the remaining amount. When they remove it it will be like it never existed.
2. Any restriction YOU write on the check has NO LEGAL significance whatsoever. Even if it did, "For all outstanding Balances" would be interpreted to mean something like: "apply to whatever I owe". 'Paid in Full' doesn't work either.
3. You should have sent a pre-hippa to the cred bureau and a DV to CA to verify the debt! Never pay first....this kind of hurt you!
4. There is this belief that if you put such things as "paid in full" or some other type of language on a check, and it's cashed, it constitutes a contract "volation". This has yet to stand up in court, sorry. Unless it can be proven that the credit some sort of agreement or understanding, this will not work.