New Medical Collection Question

GiveJoy · ‎04-01-2017

A few weeks ago I received a collections notice from a debt collector notifying me of five (5) accounts from a hospital that they are now collecting. They are seeking $1500.00 which is the amount of the five accounts from the hospital they are from. The letter they sent states,

"Account(s) shown on this notice will not be reported to a credit bureau if paid in full within 60 days of being listed in our office for collections."

So my questions is, should I just go ahead and pay this to keep it off my credit reports? I do have they money to pay. If so, do I just call and pay them? Or should I get anything else in writing? Any adivice is greatly appreciated.

Also.....

I have been doing a great job at rebuilding and paying off a multitude of collections from mine and my husbands reports and finally have FICO scores in the mid- 600's (from the high-400's and low-500's and I'd like not to ruin that with a brand new collection reporting.

Anonymous · ‎04-01-2017

@GiveJoy wrote:
A few weeks ago I received a collections notice from a debt collector notifying me of five (5) accounts from a hospital that they are now collecting. They are seeking $1500.00 which is the amount of the five accounts from the hospital they are from. The letter they sent states,

"Account(s) shown on this notice will not be reported to a credit bureau if paid in full within 60 days of being listed in our office for collections."

So my questions is, should I just go ahead and pay this to keep it off my credit reports? I do have they money to pay. If so, do I just call and pay them? Or should I get anything else in writing? Any adivice is greatly appreciated.

Also.....

I have been doing a great job at rebuilding and paying off a multitude of collections from mine and my husbands reports and finally have FICO scores in the mid- 600's (from the high-400's and low-500's and I'd like not to ruin that with a brand new collection reporting.

DV the accounts first.

While you are waiting on that, go to the hospital and try to negotiate a fair payment under the ACA. They legally have to help you pay a reasonable amount for your uninsured medical expenses.

https://www.healthcarebluebook.com/

After the debt is settled with the hospital, for a fair amount, you can write explicit instructions barring from sharing the information with third parties.

You can pay the collection agencies what they are asking for, but that is a hefty cost that may not be valid.

GiveJoy · ‎04-01-2017

Thanks for the reply lowkeyorca. I can definitely DV the collection and was thinking of doing that, but I didn't know if I should since I can just pay it off. I would love to pay the OC but they will not talk to me, I tried. I called them when I received the collections notice b/c I had never received a bill for these charges and I had no clue that I owed money. We have health insurance and having never received bills for these visits, I just assumed that they had been paid by our health insurance. I guess they weren't for some reason. The visits for the collections are from 2014 and 2015. Since we were insured when these expenses were incurred, are we still able to negotiate with the hospital for the lower cost?

Anonymous · ‎04-02-2017

If you know the bills are yours and have the money, then pay it. They are offering to not report it you pay. DV is for bills that you are not sure belong to you. If you stall, you may miss the "no report" window. Then you will have to ask for a PFD or GW. They don't have to do either.

Anonymous · ‎04-02-2017

@GiveJoy wrote:
Thanks for the reply lowkeyorca. I can definitely DV the collection and was thinking of doing that, but I didn't know if I should since I can just pay it off. I would love to pay the OC but they will not talk to me, I tried. I called them when I received the collections notice b/c I had never received a bill for these charges and I had no clue that I owed money. We have health insurance and having never received bills for these visits, I just assumed that they had been paid by our health insurance. I guess they weren't for some reason. The visits for the collections are from 2014 and 2015. Since we were insured when these expenses were incurred, are we still able to negotiate with the hospital for the lower cost?

Okay, you need to first go to your insurance carrier. I had something similar happen to me, and it took me years to discover that insurance had paid it. I also got a notice for a collection that I knew had been paid by insurance and had to file a complaint with cfpb to get them to stop trying to collect. In the second case, there had been a clerical error and the balance was never reported to have been received.

One of several things may have happened - they billed you the balance after your insurance negotiated a lower cost and paid that amount (this is illegal), the payment your insurance received was never recorded, they never billed your insurance, or you owed some portion of the bill after insurance legitimately, and through some error in mailing, you didn't receive the bill.

Unless the visit was not covered by insurance at all, you would be unable to negotiate a lower cost. The insurance company would have already done that on your behalf.

First step is to get explanation of benefits for the month you visited the hospital, and 3-6 months afteward for good measure. If the visit isn't there, then you have evidence that they did not bill your insurer. This means that their not being paid is at their own fault. They must bill your insurer, and when your insurance refuses to pay it because they did not file the claim in a timely manner, you can then file a complaint against the hospital and be absolved of the debt.

If the EOB shows the visit, compare what was paid to any amount you would owe, if it matches, google "WhyChat HIPAA" and read through the process to a point of relevance to this conversation.

I would never pay a third party without Debt Validation. That's your safety net in case they don't have the authority to collect the debt.

gdale6 · ‎04-02-2017

For unpaid medical debt that is reporting on your CR and it cannot be paid by insurance:

1. Call the OC and see if you qualify for Charity Care
2. If not then ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
3. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
4. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help

RobertEG · ‎04-02-2017

Of all the possible next steps, the one I personally would not rely upon for preventing credit reporting is debt validation.

First. unless it is still less than 30 days from dunning notice, a DV request would not be timely, and would impose no restricitons.

It is stated that the debt collector sent their collection notice "a few weeks ago." Was that more than 30 days ago?

Second, even if timely, a DV does not impose any period for or requirement to send validation.

They can choose to never send validation, and you would remain in limbo.

If your timely DV invokes a cease collection bar, it also precludes any negotiations on anything less than simply payment in full.

The debt collector could choose to validate at any time, and then report to the CRA without any further notice to the consumer.

I would, if avoiding credit reporting is the goal, pay within the 60 day period.

That period, which has been reduced to writing, is a valid and enforceable contract offer.

Anonymous · ‎04-02-2017

Just keep in mind if you pay it, you lose your leverage if it should have been paid by insurance or was billed illegally. You have some portion of 60 days left, I would at least look at your EOB's from the time in question first.

GiveJoy · ‎04-04-2017

You bring up some good points, that makes me question if I should still send the dv. I have it written and ready to be printed and mailed, but I really don't know if sending a dv is now the best idea.

The letter is dated March 8, 2017. I received it around the 10th. So going with 30 days from the 8th, I have Friday to mail it out on time.

Can I send the dv but still pay the bill in full before the 60 days are up? I don't want to do anything that would jeopardize keeping this collection off of my credit report.

medicgrrl · ‎04-04-2017

@GiveJoy wrote:
You bring up some good points, that makes me question if I should still send the dv. I have it written and ready to be printed and mailed, but I really don't know if sending a dv is now the best idea.

The letter is dated March 8, 2017. I received it around the 10th. So going with 30 days from the 8th, I have Friday to mail it out on time.

Can I send the dv but still pay the bill in full before the 60 days are up? I don't want to do anything that would jeopardize keeping this collection off of my credit report.

It's your decision to make. Personally, if I knew the debts were mine and were not an error by the medical provider, I would pay them before they show up on my credit report. I would also pay them so I didn't have to worry about a $1500 bill hanging over my head and wondering when they would attempt collection again, especially if I've worked hard on repairing and rebuilding my credit. The last thing I would want in my rebuild is AA from my prime lenders after working so hard to get that credit

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