Collections do not belong to me

[Anonymous]

I have 3 collections showing on a single bureau from 2013. I called the CA. They could not pull up a record of the accounts but said if I disputed them "they have ways" (or something to that effect) to confirm the accounts as accurate and would continue reporting them. These accounts were removed from the other CRA's within the past year without action on my part.

My belief is that these collections were the same as those for my wife. We paid them in full and they were removed from her reports then from 2 of mine but remain with one reporting agency. They were medical and occurred in a community property state, allegedly. We did not confirm but just paid them as we were preparing for a mortgage. 

I have several questions about this I hope someone well versed might be able to answer.

1. Is this legal?

2. Is is possible/wise to use HIPAA to aid in this process?

3. If so, how?

4. Or is there another tact I should take?

5. Any other recommendations?

These are my last remaining collections and they are pulling down this score by 40-50 points in comparison to the other CRA's. It is also likely the biggest barrier to the card I covet the most, the Amex BCP. My DW will eventually hit the ceiling on her maximum rewards and I'd like to be able to pick up the slack there. That's beside the fact it annoys me and I believe it shouldn't be there.

Thoughts? Advice?

Thanks in advance.

[RobertEG]

The process to challenge the reporting of a collection, other than bringing civil action, is to file a dispute of its accuracy, with some supporting basis.

If you provide a basis for contesting the collection that is more than simply conjecture, such as proof of payment to the former creditor, then you can file a dispute of accuracy of the asserted debt.  That requires the debt collector to conduct a reasonable investigation and report back to the CRA by either verifying the accuracy as reported, correcting the reporting, or if neither can be done, deleting the reporting.

If they verify and you still disagree, you can then bring civil action contesting the reasonableness of their investigation, and get a full review of all evidence on both your and their part by the court.

Do you have reasonable basis to support your contention that the debt was, in fact, previously paid?

While sending a DV request can be done in lieu or in addition to a dispute, the debt collector has no period for or requirement to provide validation, so you could simply be in limbo.  A timely DV would impose a cease collection bar, and an untimely DV could simply be ignored.  In either regard, it does not compel a response, whereas a dispute does.

As for using the HIPAA process, that is a procedure that is not discussed on this forum. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much, RobertEG. You were just the person I hoped would respond.

Proof of payment can be made. They are actually reporting it as paid.

To be clear, my contention is that the account is not mine and never was. On the phone, they posited this as likely being the reason they could not find any record pertaining to the account as it likely was my wife they claimed owed the money. This was in a community property state but we were not residents of that state. I believe this does not belong on my report at all. Not sure how federal law applies.

[RobertEG]

Whether or not you were ever liable for the debt is something that only you can determine.  It is not something that someone else here in the forum can determine.

However, what we can advise upon is whether, if you were liable, it can be reported as a collection to your credit report.

The key to determining whether, if you were responsible, it could be reported as a collection would hinge upon whether the debt was paid before or after it was referred to the debt collector.

More specifically, if a debt is paid before any collection referral, then there was no debt at that time, and thus no reportable collection.

You would thus have basis for disputing any reported collection as having lacked any active collection authority at any time.

However, if the debt was referred to the debt collector for collection assistance PRIOR to when the debt was paid, regrdless of who the debt was paid to, then the debt collector did have legitimate collection authority at some point, and could legitimately have reported a collection.

Any dispute would thus require them to update to a paid, closed status with $0 balance, and would not requrie deletion of the entire collection.

What is the reported Open date of the collection (which is the date they received collection authority)?

If after the date that the debt was paid, then proof of payment of the debt would be basis for dispute of removal of the entire collection.

Thus, you could get the collection removed without any issue of whether you ever had responsibility for the debt.  A simpler path......

[Anonymous]

It was paid while preparing for the mortgage. They had claimed it was my wife's account and that since they allege it occurred in a community property state that they could place a medical collection on my report. There are 3 very similar collections that now show paid and no balance but the payment happened after they were reported. My contention is that even if the debts were real they were not mine and should not show on my report. They claim they can. I guess we are about to see because I disputed them today on the basis that they do not belong to me. 

[Anonymous]

I just checked the dispute online and 2/3 show the outcome as "deleted" with the 3rd pending. 

[Anonymous]

All three now have a status/outcome reported of "deleted"!  

Experian Fico 8 went from 653 to 695. Feeling good!!!!