When I was an undergrad way back in 2011, I ran into some serious medical issues. I was able to pay off all of the bills over the next few months, or so I thought. I graduated in May of 2011 and went off to grad school a few hundred miles away. It turns out there was one doctor who had an unpaid balance of 212 dollars after insurance retracted a claim approval. The doctor sent the bill to my old address on a few occasions. Needless to say, after a few attempts at my old address, they sent the bill to Penn Credit.
I found out about the collection last November and attempted to pay Penn Credit. I attempted to negotiate for a PFD, but they weren't having it. I figured I'd call back in a few months and try for another PFD. If that didn't work, I would just pay it off and ask for a GW deletion. When I called Penn Credit back in January of 2015, I was informed that they no longer owned my debt; it had been reclaimed by the medical facility where I was treated back in 2011.
I contacted the medical facility and paid the bill. I then contacted Penn Credit and asked for GW deletion, explaining the situation. I was met with opposition and was told that no such thing could be done. About two weeks ago Penn Credit reported the debt to TransUnion as being open for collection. I contacted TransUnion and was told that the report came from Penn Credit. I immediately contacted Penn Credit and asked why they had reported a debt that had been paid off as being open for collection. I was cut off as I waited quite a while for a supervisor.
I called back and a supervisor did come on the line. I explained the situation to him. He responded that Penn Credit could not have reported the debt, as they hadn't owned it since December 2014. I kindly responded that I could fax over a copy of my report that clearly displays Penn Credit reporting the debt to TransUnion as being open for collection. After realizing it was going nowhere with Penn Credit, I filed a dispute with TransUnion.
Today I received a letter in the mail stating that the account in collection had been removed from my credit record. My record here on myFICO reflects this change and my TU credit score increased by 22 points!
Thought I'd share my success story!
Good luck all
