The West Virginia Attorney General’s Office has secured an agreement with Hampshire Memorial Hospital and a collection agency regarding unlawful collection practices.Hampshire Memorial Hospital and Mosaic Finance Solutions will have to pay 75 hundred dollars to end unlawful debt collection practices The Attorney General’s Office’s Consumer Protection Division began investigating Hampshire and Mosaic after learning that Hampshire required consumers to sign a consent form subjecting them to certain collection practices if their accounts became delinquent. The hospital allegedly required patients to sign the form as a condition of receiving medical care. The investigation discovered 11,541 West Virginia consumers signed the form, which required them to agree to several conditions, including: - waiving their homestead exemption; - allowing their account to be subject to an interest charge of 7 percent on the unpaid balance; - being liable for Hampshire Memorial’s attorney fees of 25 percent of the balance due plus collection expenses - receiving autodialed and prerecorded debt collections messages on their cell phones According to the investigation, Hampshire Memorial employed Mosaic, a North Carolina company that was not licensed to collect debt in West Virginia at the time, to pressure consumers with delinquent accounts to sign credit agreements that converted the Hampshire account into a debt that accrued interest at the rate of 7 percent per month. Records disclosed by Mosaic indicated that 277 West Virginia consumers had signed the credit agreements. In addition to promising to end the alleged unlawful practices, Hampshire and Mosaic each agreed to pay $7,500 to the State of West Virginia that may be used by the Attorney General for a variety of consumer protection purposes or be held for appropriation by the legislature. In an assurance of discontinuance, a business owner assures the State in writing that neither he nor his company will engage in conduct that has been deemed as questionable in the future. Businesses enter into the assurances voluntarily, and they are not an admission that the business violated any laws. If you believe that you have been a victim of an unfair or deceptive practice in the sale or financing of consumer goods or services, you may file a complaint by calling the Attorney General’s office at 304-558-8986 or, toll free, at 1-800-368-8808.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 11:42:55 +0000