NCO Phone Call for Medical Collection

[njmb]

I pulled my credit report recently and a medical collection showed up with NCO Financial.  I called on wednesday 7/17/13 to attempt a PFD over the phone.  I was bounced around to several different reps, as I kept asking for a Supervisor.  I told them that the balance they were asking for was not correct as the insurance company was only covering $532 of the fulled billed amount of $1532 as per the insurance's explanation of benefits. The last person I spoke to said that he was going to submit a dispute to the CRAs (I believe that is what he meant when he referenced submitting a dispute, this is all new to me so any help is much appreciated!).  Anyway, a few days after my call, my FICO Scores shot up 50-60 points and the account did not appear on my report that I ran on 7/20/13.  As of 7/17/13, this account showed on all 3 CRA as a collection account.

My questions are:  Should this account still reflect on my FICO Reports?  I assmued it would still be there and be listed as disputed, no?  It disappeared from the report, does this mean I am in the clear with NCO Financial?  What are the next pitfalls to look out for?  What should I be receiving in the mail and under what timeframes as per my phone call dispute?  Also, what should be my next steps?  Lastly, does the fact that this account currently does not show on my reports mean that it was deleted?  One additional piece of information, I contacted the OC and was told that they have been paid for the account by the CA and they are unable to take the account back from the CA.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated, Thank you!

[DaBears]

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@njmb wrote:

I pulled my credit report recently and a medical collection showed up with NCO Financial.  I called on wednesday 7/17/13 to attempt a PFD over the phone.  I was bounced around to several different reps, as I kept asking for a Supervisor.  I told them that the balance they were asking for was not correct as the insurance company was only covering $532 of the fulled billed amount of $1532 as per the insurance's explanation of benefits. The last person I spoke to said that he was going to submit a dispute to the CRAs (I believe that is what he meant when he referenced submitting a dispute, this is all new to me so any help is much appreciated!).  Anyway, a few days after my call, my FICO Scores shot up 50-60 points and the account did not appear on my report that I ran on 7/20/13.  As of 7/17/13, this account showed on all 3 CRA as a collection account.

My questions are:  Should this account still reflect on my FICO Reports?  I assmued it would still be there and be listed as disputed, no?  It disappeared from the report, does this mean I am in the clear with NCO Financial?  What are the next pitfalls to look out for?  What should I be receiving in the mail and under what timeframes as per my phone call dispute?  Also, what should be my next steps?  Lastly, does the fact that this account currently does not show on my reports mean that it was deleted?  One additional piece of information, I contacted the OC and was told that they have been paid for the account by the CA and they are unable to take the account back from the CA.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated, Thank you!

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Hi njmb and welcome to the forums. When a dispute is filed sometimes they will remove their TL until the dispute is resolved or they noticed they don't have collection authority and completely deleted their TL. Keep in mind if it's still within the CRTP (Credit Reporting Time Period) It good be listed with another CA. Unpaid debt never goes away and can be collected on until paid. They just can't list the collection once the CRTP is expired.

[njmb]

If the account were deleted, do I receive a letter notifying me of the deletion?  I am a little hesitant to follow up with NCO and request this until at least 30 days has passed.  What are my next steps?  Just sit tight and wait until I follow up with NCO?

[DaBears]

You should get a deletion letter from them or the CRA's. Give it time to unfold they do have 30 days.

[njmb]

Thank you DaBears.......if it is verified and reappears on my reports, what next?  Send a GW letter to NCO or a PFD letter?

[DaBears]

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@njmb wrote:

Thank you DaBears.......if it is verified and reappears on my reports, what next?  Send a GW letter to NCO or a PFD letter?

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If it is verified you would want to send a PFD letter. If they refuse which I don't think they will cause I hear and seen great success stories about NCO. PFD would be paying the debt in full. Worse case scenario would be PIF then send GW letters.

[njmb]

Thank you again.  So first its PFD, wait for response and then PIF if the accept the PFD, correct?  But then if they don't accept PFD, I would try GW.  I only try GW after I have paid the debt in full, correct?

[DaBears]

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@njmb wrote:

Thank you again.  So first its PFD, wait for response and then PIF if the accept the PFD, correct?  But then if they don't accept PFD, I would try GW.  I only try GW after I have paid the debt in full, correct?

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Send a PFD (Pay For Delete). If they accept then you'll be good to go. If they don't accept the PFD then your next step would be a PIF. Once PIF then you would send the GW letter. 

[Shogun]

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@njmb wrote:

Thank you again.  So first its PFD, wait for response and then PIF if the accept the PFD, correct?  But then if they don't accept PFD, I would try GW.  I only try GW after I have paid the debt in full, correct?

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Yes, that is correct.  I would be proactive though.  I would contact the OC and see if there is still a debt and try to deal with them instead of waiting for it to show up with another CA.

[njmb]

Thank you Both DaBears and Shogun.....I did contact OC and tried to PIF with them yesterday.  They wanted no part of it and said that they "have already been paid".......which I am assuming means that NCO (CA) purchased it from them?  I am assuming that my best hope is with the CA, see if it's deleted based upon the dispute (current status now), then proceed with instructions with the CA to PFD, then PIF and then GW if necessary.  It seems as if I am spinning my wheels with the OC.

I still find it strange that when I disputed the account with the CA last week that it no longer appears on my report (I read your response DaBears and understand it), I am guess I am just wondering if there is any chance that this gets deleted based upon my phone call last week?  I was citing California Health and Safety Code laws to them which mandate that insurance company must pay for emegency services of its memebers (this was an ER Visit for emergency services).  I explained to him that the amount that the CA should not be collecting anything from me as the charges were to be paid by insurance as per California law.  I also explained that balanced billing (basically putting the patient in the middle of a dispute between a heath care provider and insurance company for ER services) is prohibited under CA law, asked him if he was aware of these CA law requirements.  He was scrambling, and was asking me to speak slower as he was trying to get everything down I was saying.  I spoke with two other reps before the supervisor and all of them seemed to be in a bit of a panic when I was citing the CA law issues.  It could be that I was making them go off of their script for dealing with an account, but I thought maybe it's possible they would delete based off of this one phone call or am I nuts?