Can the creditor or collection agency remove a collection account from my credit report? How to convince?

Question

I graduated and began a new job. I went to India for 6 months. While i was away, I recieved a hospital bill. When I returned, I discovered it had been sent to collections. I called the hospital and paid the bill. I moved across the country (east to west coast). I called the collection agency verify that it had been marked as paid. I now have one collection account on my credit report marked as paid. I have been turned down for certain benefits because of this recent collection account being on my credit report. I tried filing a dispute online w/ equifax (the CRA reporting the collection account). Because of my recent changes in address, the online/phone methods fail to verify me, so i cannot order my credit report. Now I am supposed to mail in several pieces of POA to validate my new address. Before i do this, is it possible for the creditor or the collection agency to remove the account from my record? If so, i'd like to try it b/c at least i can talk to someone.

I am only 22 years old w/ little but good credit history. I have one credit card (revolving credit since 2005) that i use frequently and pay off. I have almost no debt. Would the creditor/collection agency consider any combination of the following:

- It was a medical bill for $108- i thought my insurance (from university or my company) would have covered it.

- the hospital visit was Employment related and reimbursable by my company. Had I been given the bill right away, I would've paid it.

- I was overseas and never recieved the bill (old address)

- I mailed payment and it was lost in International mail

- I'm just a kid!! I made a mistake. please give me a break!

What's my best option? If I have to call Equifax, what's the best number to call (preferrably to speak w/ a human)?

I know i've posted a similar question and this one is very long. Thanks for reading and helping out a young guy trying to get his life in order!

Answer 1

With medical accounts, you have rights under HIPAA.

If you had paid the collection agency, your HIPAA rights would have been waived.

Since you had paid the medical provider, the medical provider should recall the account from the collection agency and should inform the collection agency to delete everything in their files concerning the account and to remove it from your reports.

The medical provider cannot remove the collection agency's trade line themselves, but they can make the collection agency remove it.

Contact the medical provider and discuss the issue with them.

Answer 2

OC1999 has some good advice for starters.

Echo is extremely knowledgeable on how credit reporting and the HIPAA tie together. I haven't done enough research on it, but I do trust Echo's opinion.

That said...if true...can I assume that the collection agency no longer has records of your debt?

Let's back up one second though, and explain the process of getting a negative item removed from your report. It's all described in the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

There are only two ways you can get a negative item removed from your report.

1) The creditor must remove it
2) The creditor fails to respond to a dispute investigation.

I think your plan is to start with #2. You need to get your credit report(s). File a dispute. The Credit Reporting Agency (CA) will contact the collection agency ask if the debt is accurate. Your hope is that they either don't mess with looking into it, or may not be able to locate the records (see Echo's answer).

If they do "verify" the debt, you are going to have a hard time. Normally, my advice is to never pay a debt unless the creditor agrees IN WRITING to delete the entry. Since you paid the debt, you lost any leverage you have. Your only hope now is to suck up to them, hope that you find a nice and friendly collection agent (good luck!) who will look over your list of reasons and feel sorry for you.

Now, if this doesn't work, you will have to live with it for a while. Start building your credit rating back up. See if you can get another credit card. Maybe someone can co-sign on a small loan for you.

Visit a site called http://www.lifeafterbankruptcy.com for some other ideas on improving your credit.

Good luck.

Answer 3

They can remove information, just as they can add a debt. If you have not paid you might have had some leverage, but since it is paid they may not do anything for you.

The best thing to do is call the collection agency up and be very nice. You will probably have to talk to a manager and not just one of the low level people. Explain your situation and see if they will be willing to remove the information. If they do it they may charge you a fee for this, it should be minimal and just enough to cover any costs they would have.

I don't think the dispute will work because it was a vaild debt(regardless of the reason). So if they verify it with the collection agency the agency will say yes it is valid and it you paid it. If all else fails, you can add a consumer comment of 100 words or less to the credit report explaining the circumstances. It will not effect any automatic scoring, but it will show up when people manually review your report.

Answer 4

States collecting SOL have nothing to do with the reporting period. If the collector owns the debt and it is still within the reporting period, they have a legal right to report it. If they are reporting, they MUST report accurately. They cannot report, for example, past due, past due balance, open account, factoring company, 1 month terms, etc., etc., etc. If they are reporting and the original creditor is reporting also, the original creditor MUST report with a zero balance. You have a right to dispute any and all inaccurate info that is being reported by either the collector or the original creditor. One poster mentioned that the collecting SOL might be reset. The collecting SOL in Ca. "cannot" be reset once the account has been charged off - even if a payment or an agreement to pay is made. Once it's charged off - that's it. Code of Civil Procedure § 337(2). RNC, Inc. v. Tsegeletos (1991) 231 Cal.App.3d 967, 972 edit++++++ SCH posted that they can report the account forever - NO Once it has passed the legal reporting period it would be illegal for them to continue to report or for another collector to place it on your reports. If they do, you have a legal right to sue them for FDCPA, FCRA and California's own FDCPA violations. If you create a solid papertrail of their violations, you would more than likely win. Ca. has their own, very strong, version of the FDCPA, you should read it.

Answer 5

A collection agency can remove or change reported information on your CR. This is much easier to do if you negotiate this before settling. Since you have already paid the account, they will only do it if they are decent folks to deal with. You might get lucky with that. At least they should delete you from their files so that any CRA cannot verify the information.

You can always write the bureaus and dispute iformation on your report. I have attached a form letter for this purpose. All you need is a copy of your current utility bill for address verification. Always include your SS # @ DOB.

Paid off accounts are more likely to be deleted from your report as there is no economic reason for collectors to keep that information on file. Remember, it is the credit bureaus responsability to verify (within thirty days) that all information on your report is accurate.

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Answer 6

From what I know,hospital bills cannot be factored in your credit report score and they are not even supposed to be on there. But, whenever you are dealing with credit companies,debt collection agencies,etc. get names,get receipts,get every bit of information that you can get and throw nothing away. When it comes to removing anything off of your credit report, even if it is an error, it takes extensive follow up,phone calls and letters to get them removed.It's not easy.