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One collection is too many. And yes, I've been in this situation before, only worse. If they won't go the PFD route, then maybe you can pay/settle and then try the GW method. It worked for me.
My wife is going through this right now. Send a DV letter. In our situation the insurance didnt pay their part of the bill. If we didnt do a DV we never would have known this. We're goingto tell them to bill the insurance company first then see what comes back.