Medical Collection Guidance needed

[Anonymous]

OK, Im new here and need some to hear some advice on this. I have a Medical Collection on EQ & TU for $475. Looking back, I was not very smart about it. I had a procedure in 2009. It was suppose to be coded as a wellness procedure(100% covered), but instead it was coded as diagnostic. I called the provider to dispute this and it was very ugly. The nickle version is, I would have gladly paid then if I knew that today I would be considering a move/ mortgage in the next year or so. I plead ignorance & stupidity here. I gotta get my kid out of this neighborhood. So now I have this collection from 2009 placed on my  EQ & TU in December 2011 by Berks Credit & Collections. I did get a few letters from them and ignored them. Best I can tell it looks like about a 30 point hit to both reports !!  I just recently puled these 2 reports this week. I will happily pay the $475. What is my best course of action? Anyone have any experience with Berks? Thanks

[AndySoCal]

I would talk to the original creditor. Offer to pay in full if they will pull the account back from the collection agency. See what the response is.

[Anonymous]

Do I do this in writing or a phone call? I do not want to talk to the original person I talked with 2 1/2 years ago. Is the approach ever successful? I figured maybe Burks may remove it for an immediate profit. What usually happens here? Do they really care about the credit report enough to miss the opportunity for profit? Thanks

[rootpooty]

if the oc was the hospital i doubt they will pull it back from collections. call the billing dept of the oc and find out. what are the chances of the same person answering the phone?  if you have to deal with the ca offer them a pfd. if they refuse then you could pay it then request gw. i have had alot of success with gw with medical collections. ca's seem more leniant towards medical collections

[Anonymous]

OK, the OC is not a full blown hospital, but what I would call a clinic I guess. It was a colonoscopy. They put you under for about 15 minutes, scope your colon then its over, with lot of pictures ect. You wake up an leave. It expensive as hell and should have been covered 100% by insurance. Nobody would listen to me , Insurance co told me to talk to the provider, and the provider said pay up. That was it, about 4 times around. 

So, let me get this straight, I should approach the provider on a 3 year old bill and offer to pay in full and then what? Make it conditional or if they accept payment, I can then dispute it  as it is no longer valid?

[Anonymous]

Make sure you do it all in writing so you have proof of what they agree to do regarding delete. If its small enough you can pay it off or a reasonable percentage I would see it the CA wont agree to a PFD. The OC got its pennies on the dollar back when the CA bought the debt. So anything the CA can get will be profit to them. In response to your question, I don't think any of these places care about the impact on peoples credit scores. Best of luck.

[CasperJack14]

I'm not sure what this CA's policy is, but I had 4 medical collections on my report all with the same CA and from the same hospital. They totaled around $400.00 together. I called and asked them if I could pay this and have them delete the information from my credit report. They were very open to that, I paid, and just a few days ago they were removed. I would try a PFD with the CA if you have the money to pay.

This was a local CA, though. I suggest if this is a larger CA that you get this in writing so you have some legal standing if it doesn't delete.

[Anonymous]

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@CasperJack14 wrote:
I'm not sure what this CA's policy is, but I had 4 medical collections on my report all with the same CA and from the same hospital. They totaled around $400.00 together. I called and asked them if I could pay this and have them delete the information from my credit report. They were very open to that, I paid, and just a few days ago they were removed. I would try a PFD with the CA if you have the money to pay.

This was a local CA, though. I suggest if this is a larger CA that you get this in writing so you have some legal standing if it doesn't delete.

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This is with Berks Credit & Collections. Im in NC and I believe they are in Penn, so they must be a good sized organization I would think. I have seen them mentioned on other post here on this board, but I havent read anywhere how they are to deal with in regard to a PFD ect. The amount is 475 and I certainly will pay it if the collection could be removed from all CRAs. Casperjack, did you do this in writing and what kind of language did you use? How long did it take? Thanks