Medical collection- best way to proceed?

[Anonymous]

I posted the following yesterday:

Collection Agency agrees to delete ALL information regarding this account from the credit reporting agencies WITHIN TEN CALENDAR (10) DAYS following receipt of payment as specified above and will not discuss the terms of this settlement with anyone, excluding your client on this account. If contacted by any third party, including credit-reporting agencies, Collection Agency will not acknowledge that any settlement offer was made, accepted or executed and will, in fact, deny knowledge of any such account.

Sylivatob was kind enough to respond and posted this:

Hi firsttime, welcome to the forum. There's a wealth of information here and very knowledgeable people here to help you with your credit issues.

First of all, DO NOT contact the collection agency just yet! Call the hospital and begin negotiations with them to Pay For Delete. Find out if in fact, the hospital does indeed still own the account. Often they sell them to a collection agency, and they are out of the picture.

Type PFD in the search box, and read, read, read. You must educate yourself in the handling of such issues, before you proceed.

Just paying in full, will NOT necessarily cause the collection to disappear from your report. It will just be reported as a paid collection.....almost as bad as just the collection itself. You want it REMOVED.

I'm sure others will chime in and offer their opinions/advice.

For some reason the boards (or my ISP) are not letting me reply to this message, however.  I contacted the hospital today and they confirmed that the account had been sold to a CA, Gragill Associates.  I contacted Gragill and asked about their PFD policy.  The woman was at first very rude saying they do not do PFD's but I was polite and she eventually came around.  She put me on hold and spoke to her supervisor, and when she came back said that while it is normally against their policy, if I submitted payment in full via Bank Check or Money Order, they would agree to having the account removed from my credit report.  She said that it would first have to be marked paid in full, but then then would be deleted entirely.  Does this sound right?  She refused to put anything in writing saying they will not do so as a company policy, but that notes were put in the computer on the account.  I've typed a revised PFD-type letter to go with payment and referenced today's telephone conversation.  I also addressed the letter specifically to this woman.  Does anyone have any thoughts?  Am I being scammed here, or should I go ahead and send payment in today?  I just want this resolved as quickly as possible.

Thank you so much for your help

[SmartCookie]

Do not pay unless they send you a written PFD agreement response that details what you need done.  First of all, they are recording you and you just said you would pay them... they can sue or reset your SOL.  A written PFD details that you dispute the debt.

If you go by their 'word', you will have the debt paid off (they are obligated to report it as paid, it's not a favor) and you will still be stuck with the derog TL.

Don't speak with them again on the phone, EVER.  Send the PFD and tell them they have 5 business days from receipt to take your offer.  Send it CMRRR.  Do not send any money until you have that response in hand.

[SmartCookie]

I read your other post.  I would dispute that NCO INQ and consider sending them a non-authorized INQ letter.

Did you verify with the Charity what happened and why they did not take care of the bill?  If not, you should really start there.  Maybe they can at least reimburse you if it was an error.  And if it was an error, once things are in motion on that end I would DV the CA instead of going right to PFD.

Nothing wrong with just doing that written PFD and calling it a day to put it behind you though.

[Anonymous]

First, thank you SmartCookie for taking the time to respond.

I've tried the hospital (it's their own in-house Charitable program) and they are taking the route that it is my problem to deal with.  Should I just send the PFD type letter, with payment, and hope that they follow through on their end, and either way have it be behind me?  If I did not pay the amount, would it come off automatically in 7 years, or could they reset the clock by selling it to another CA?  In other words, am I wasting my time by paying these people? 

Also, why would NCO Group have been inquiring into my account?  Can they just do that?

[Anonymous]

Here is the letter that I was going to send with the Money Order, via CMRRR:

Dear Ms. Jones:

This letter is in response to our telephone conversation today, December 5, 2007, wherein you agreed to the deletion of this account from any and all credit reporting agencies in exchange for payment in full of the account balance.

In the spirit of compromise, I am willing to pay this account in full if you agree to immediate deletion of this account from any and all credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion).  The purpose of this settlement is to have this item removed from my credit files and is not to be construed as an acknowledgment of liability for this debt in any form.

As per our telephone conversation today, December 5, 2007, please find enclosed a money order payment in the amount of $546.59 in exchange for full deletion of all references regarding this account from my credit files and full satisfaction of the debt.  As certified funds will be used for payment, there shall be no waiting period regarding the deletion of this account from the credit reporting agencies. 

I would like to thank you for your assistance with this matter.  Any correspondence regarding this account may be addressed to me at:

My address

Thank you again for your cooperation.

[Anonymous]

Do a web search for "HIPAA letter", and you will find resources to help deal with this issue.

[Edited to remove a link to a prohibited website.]

[SmartCookie]

Ok glad you contacted the Hospital's program.  You can always take it up with them in writing (always more effective) at a later date if you wanted.

I don't know why NCO pulled your reports unless they were at one time collecting this debt for the hospital.  It does not seem they had legal permissible purpose (PP) which is why you want that INQ off.  Search the boards for the non-authorized inq letter and more info on CA's and PP.  It does not matter if the INQ was hard or soft.

A PFD letter means nothing unless responded to.  Don't hope they will follow thru on anything they promised... they do not care and they will not remove... I don't care if they noted your account in blood... they won't.  Their job is to collect money any way they can, not give customer service.

If you don't pay the debt, it will fall off of your reports by 7.5 years after the DOFD or DOLA.  This is when the account first went 'bad'.  The issue though is your state's collecting SOL, and until then you can be sued if you do not pay and the debt is yours.  Because of your phone call, you might have 'accepted' the debt and also reset the DOFD/DOLA. 

So your options are to DV the CA and see if they can validate the debt, or to send a PFD letter and NOT pay until they respond in writing clearly stating that all derog info will be removed upon payment of the agreed amount.

Also, if the hospital is reporting anything you can call them and nicely ask them to remove due to the situation.  If they say no, write a GW letter to them.

If you pay them with just the 1st part of a PFD (your letter), they are going to cash your payment and not look back.  Must get the 2nd part... their written response.  Without it, they will deny ever telling you they would remove and you are left holding the bag.

[Anonymous]

Question- If I were to put "your cashing of this check indicates your acceptance of these terms" or some language along those lines, do you know if that would require them to follow through on what they said they would do?

[Anonymous]

restrictive endorsement doesn't hold up...

[SmartCookie]

Restrictive endoresment can be illegal ... it's sorta ordering them to commit 'fraud'.

Sorry, if you want it done right you have to do it in the regular ole PFD fashion.