Removing a deragotry account form my credit report for a medical bill?

Question

In 2004 , I was admitted to the ER in another state and then stayed in the hospital for 2 days. I had health insurance , but I was surprised with 2 collection accounts in 2005 (from the
hospital and an Xray doctor).
The major surprise is NOW. After about 3.5 yrs , I see a major derogatory new account on my credit report for a bill sent by a physician in this ER and of course reported by a collection agency, The amount reported is about $460!!
I spoke with the collection agency and I told them I didn't know about it but they were extremely not cooperative.

How can I remove this collection form credit report ?
I understand that I may have to pay it(Although I didn't authorize it ! ) but I want to make sure that it is totally removed form my credit report as a derogatory account after that.
Please advise...

Answer 1

The first things you should do is contact the insurance company and request that they send you , in writing, the details of the claim - find out if one was actually made and for how much, how much the insurance company paid on the claims, etc.

Then send, in writing, a letter to the original medical providers and request a "full and complete" copy of your medical records.
With regular credit debts, original creditors do not have to provide full information to the debtor concerning the debts - that "is not" the case with medical accounts. They MUST provide the full info when it is requested.

It may be possible that the medical providers simply did not file claims, that the amount owed is the deductible from the insurance, etc. That is why it is important to get the info, in writing, from the insurance company.

If the medical providers filed the proper forms for payment and were paid all but the deductible, then you are responsible to pay that amount.

With medical accounts, (per HIPAA laws) you have a legal right to bypass the collector and pay the medical provider directly - that is "ONLY" if you pay the full amount due.

When you pay the medical provider, the medical provider must recall the account from the collector and demand that the collector remove "everything" in their own files and on your credit report pertaining to that account.

Keep in mind that if you deal with the collector, you will be waiving your HIPAA rights. If it turns out where the collector is not dealing with you fairly, you would no longer have the HIPAA laws to fall back on.

You might click on my profile and click on the last link I have listed. Go to the Medical Forum and do some reading about HIPAA and how to use it. There is also sample letter templates to send to both the original medical provider and to dispute with the CRA's. All of the info on that site is free to read and use.

Answer 2

1) You or your attorney can write challenge letters.

It helps to have a printout of the actual credit report. Your letter can be very basic; you challenge the specific item and mail it to the credit bureau.

If it appears on all three credit reports, send the same letter to Experian, Trans Union and Equifax.

The bureaus will make the debt collector reaffirm the debt. It will probably stay on the reports but could easily fall off at least one credit history.

If you use a lowcost attorney like Prepaid Legal (I think they charge about $20 per month), they will write the letters.

2) You can negotiate partial payment with the debt collectors.

3) How much damage did a $460 debt cause to your FICO score? If you can't pay it off and you can't negotiate your way out of it, you might have to live with it.

4) Since you had health insurance, what did they say about paying the doctor's bill? If they knew about it, they probably would have paid it.

Good luck,
- CarlD

Answer 3

Were you under 18 at the time of the medical emergency? If so, you may be able to dispute the item with the credit bureau indicating that you were a minor at the time and not responsible for the bill. you will have to provide proof of your age and the date of the incident. If you were 18 at the time,, you are stuck. Being in high school doesn't exempt you from being legally liable for the bill. You will just have to wait out the balance of the 7 year reporting period. You may not want to stir anything up on this if it is currently only on one credit bureau. The collection agency might decide to report it to the other two.

Answer 4

Well first determine that it is legitimate. I always call the office of the Doctor since they tend to write these off a little quicker than they should. If it is indeed legitimate then you will have to pay. One thing I would suggest is that you negotiate with the collection agency. They aren't expecting to get anything so if you offer half and they accept it and agree to purge it from your record all the better. Make sure you get it in writing from the collection agency and the information updates to your credit report at least quarterly.

Answer 5

You can go to one of the major credit companies and dispute it. You need to see what happened. You might need to talk to an attorney about it. If you have an attorney friend, they should be able to answer the question for you.

This could be where paying it might make more sense, but, I'd get options

Answer 6

You can remove it with do it yourself credit repair.
The key is to have correctly worded letters that will not meet the trash can right away.

Answer 7

Yes, you will need to pay it. It will not come off your credit report for 7 yrs., however, you can get it to show as paid.

Answer 8

hahahaha oh, you are serious aren't you? Hmmmm. Look at some previous postings about these things. I'm tired of saying the same old thing time after time after time........sad.