Medical Collections

[CreditChallanged85]

Ok, so I'm sure you're all familiar with the story so I'll spare the details. I have some collections that are about 3 years old for some unpaid medical bills. I'm trying to get my scores up and these are the most recent negative info on my reports. It is a total of 8 different accounts of which 6 are for the same CA and the last 2 are with a different CA. I have been reading up on the Hippa process here and need some clarification. I know they are all valid debts and I have the money to pay them off but want to make sure I do it right so they will be removed from my reports. Would my first step be to pay the hosiptal directly then send a letter to have them deleted?

Thanks in advance!

[JM-AM]

We really do not speak much about the HIPPA process except to inform others to read about it and follow it for removal of medical bills. 

The general way to have it removed would be from paying the OC (Doctor, Hospital) directly and having them have it removed from your credit reports. The first thing you need to do is make sure that the debt wasn't sold to the CA. Generally speaking if the hospital and or doctor accepts payment for the debt then the debt was not sold. 

If you pay the CA directly then you would have to deal with the CA to have it removed from your credit reports and the process is not as easy (not that either process is easy, but it tends to be more difficult) even if they are only trying to collect on behalf of the OC. If the debt was bought by the CA then you would have to deal with the CA and try offering a PFD.

Every situation is a little different and YMMV from others.