$10,000 medical collections...

[Anonymous]

Hey i have a buddy with almoat 10 collections in medical....adding to almos $10,000 ... thats all he has in his credit report.... trying to help him.out...
I dont rememver but i think ive seen some links posted in this forum about companies that will help remove those medical bills or something in that sort...can u guys enlight me please.. thanks in advance

[RobertEG]

Are the debts legit?

[Anonymous]

Yeah...

[Anonymous]

Can he work out something with the hospital???
Sum all the debt in one chunk and make payments.. and removing collections from report... :/

[RobertEG]

+1

Second question.

Who now owns the debts?  Does the original creditor still own them and the collections are only assigned, or did the OC sell the debts?

The significance is whether you can negotiate debt reduction or settlement with the OC, or whether they are now out of the picture.

[Anonymous]

That i dont know....how does hefind out if the original creditor still owns it or not?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
That i dont know....how does hefind out if the original creditor still owns it or not?

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Call them and ask their payment department.

[Anonymous]

Also, what was the situation with these bills? Are they all related to a single incident or a short time period when he was out of work, no insurance or in some kind of financial distress? If thats the case he may be eligible for Charity Care and could have them written down signifigantly.

[Anonymous]

I'm in the same boat with a  few medical bills, but much less, about $1500 in total which i'm ready to start paying off.

What's the best course of action, which would have the least impact on my credit score.

1.  Call OC, if i can still pay them, then pay it and have them remove collection.

2.  or Call Collection agency first and pay them?

Should i try to negotiate a lower amount??  Or Pay in Full?

[RobertEG]

If the OC has reported, and have updated the debt balance on their account to $0, that is their statement that they no longer own the debt.

If they stll report  a balance  that means that they either still own the debt or have not properly updated their reporiting. 

When the debt collector(s) send dunning notice, htye were required to have identified the currrent owner of the debt.

Did their dunning notice reference themselves, of the OC?

If in doubt, give the OC a call, as credit reporting is often not a conclusive basis for establishing current ownership.