Please Help!

[IFtkkdx428]

I have an older brother who I have hounded time and time again about a medical bill that he avoided paying (as he didn't have insurance at the time). I told him that it would go into collections, hurt his credit score and come back to haunt him in the future. This was maybe two or three ago and after a while, I gave up because he blew me off. Fast forward to today, he told me he applied for the Chase Freedom. "I want to start building credit," he said. I asked him what message he recieved. He told me, "It said something about 7 days?" I realized he had been declined, but what for? I quickly remembered he never payed that pesky medical bill. I told him he didn't stand a chance.

He seems serious this time about building credit. Since I'm his brother, I want to help. He said, "I will just apply for another one." I told him that he should sit tight, don't apply for anything and let me pull his credit report. I chose to pull TU as I feel it's the most commonly reported CRA out of the three. What do you know? There's 3 other items in collections. I told him that he needs to pay these collections before doing anything. I have never delt with collections, thankfully. So I need the myFICO community to help.

Question, what is the best way to handle these collections?

Thank you, IF

Placed for collection: 05/15/2015

Responsibility: Individual Account

Account Type: Open Account

Loan Type: COLLECTION AGENCY/ATTORNEY
Balance: $260

Date Updated:10/12/2015

Original Amount:$260
Past Due: >$260<

Pay Status: >In Collection<
Remarks: >PLACED FOR COLLECTION<
Estimated month and year that this item will be removed: 02/2022

Placed for collection:04/15/2015

Responsibility:Individual Account

Account Typepen Account
Loan Type: COLLECTION AGENCY/ATTORNEY
Balance: $424

Date Updated:07/03/2015

Original Amount:$424
Past Due: >$424< Pay StatusIn Collection<
Remarks: >PLACED FOR COLLECTION<
Estimated month and year that this item will be removed: 01/2022

Placed for collection:06/22/2014

Responsibility:Individual Account

Account Typepen Account
Loan Type: COLLECTION AGENCY/ATTORNEY
Balance: $203Date

Updated:04/16/2015

Original Amount:$203
Past Due: >$203<

Pay StatusIn Collection<
Remarks: >PLACED FOR COLLECTION<
Estimated month and year that this item will be removed: 01/2016

Placed for collection:10/07/2013

Responsibility:Individual Account

Account Typepen Account
Loan Type: COLLECTION AGENCY/ATTORNEY
Balance: $66Date

Updated:11/26/2013

Original Amount:$66
Past Due: >$66<

Pay StatusIn Collection<
Remarks: >PLACED FOR COLLECTION<
Estimated month and year that this item will be removed: 08/2020

[creditguy]

Are all of the collections medical related? Are they legitimate collections?

[IFtkkdx428]

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@creditguy wrote:
Are all of the collections medical related? Are they legitimate collections?

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Yes, the one for $260 and $424 are both "Medical/Health Care" related. The one for $203 is "Retail" and the $66 one is "Utilities."

Are they legitimate collections? I'm sorry, I don't understand. It's listed under "Adverse Accounts" on the TU CR and discloses "Pay Status: In Collection" for each one.

[creditguy]

When I said legitimate I meant are they collections that actually belong on his report or were they a mistake or someone else's collections.

Since the collections are legitimate , your only options are to pay them and be done with them. One of the collections looks like it's falling off in January, so that's one less to worry about. The others you can can pay or offer the collection agencies a pay for delete option where they agree to delete the collection from a credit report in exchange for payment.

[Anonymous]

He's lucky those are all manageable. I highly recommend you have him do the cct trial so you can see all three. I had more than a few collections that were on EX and a EQ but not on TU.

I had to laugh when he said "I'll just apply fir another one!" It wasn't too long ago that I was that clueless lol.

[IFtkkdx428]

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@creditguy wrote:
When I said legitimate I meant are they collections that actually belong on his report or were they a mistake or someone else's collections.

Since the collections are legitimate , your only options are to pay them and be done with them. One of the collections looks like it's falling off in January, so that's one less to worry about. The others you can can pay or offer the collection agencies a pay for delete option where they agree to delete the collection from a credit report in exchange for payment.

---

He did ask who he had owed (Original Creditors) and he also didn't seem surprised. I know for sure that the Medical/Health Care collections are his, as he has been to the hospital a couple of times in the past without insurance.

This is what worries me. I have him pay these collections and the collection agency doesn't remove them off of his report. What is the best method to doing this correctly? 

---

@Anonymous wrote:
He's lucky those are all manageable. I highly recommend you have him do the cct trial so you can see all three. I had more than a few collections that were on EX and a EQ but not on TU.

I had to laugh when he said "I'll just apply fir another one!" It wasn't too long ago that I was that clueless lol.

---

I agree, I have heard of others with much larger collection amounts. What is the "cct trial?" I don't micro manage credit because I'm currently in a good place right now. So I only pull 3 reports once a year at most. However, he does need some micro management for the next year at least. So please explain.

[Anonymous]

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@IFtkkdx428 wrote:

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@creditguy wrote:
When I said legitimate I meant are they collections that actually belong on his report or were they a mistake or someone else's collections.

Since the collections are legitimate , your only options are to pay them and be done with them. One of the collections looks like it's falling off in January, so that's one less to worry about. The others you can can pay or offer the collection agencies a pay for delete option where they agree to delete the collection from a credit report in exchange for payment.

---

He did ask who he had owed (Original Creditors) and he also didn't seem surprised. I know for sure that the Medical/Health Care collections are his, as he has been to the hospital a couple of times in the past without insurance.

This is what worries me. I have him pay these collections and the collection agency doesn't remove them off of his report. What is the best method to doing this correctly? 

---

@Anonymous wrote:
He's lucky those are all manageable. I highly recommend you have him do the cct trial so you can see all three. I had more than a few collections that were on EX and a EQ but not on TU.

I had to laugh when he said "I'll just apply fir another one!" It wasn't too long ago that I was that clueless lol.

---

I agree, I have heard of others with much larger collection amounts. What is the "cct trial?" I don't micro manage credit because I'm currently in a good place right now. So I only pull 3 reports once a year at most. However, he does need some micro management for the next year at least. So please explain.

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CreditCheckTotal.com

Pull all 3 reports for $1 and you can cancel the trial after.

[Anonymous]

BUT, when you cancel they'll offer the service for half, which is 15 dollars per month. Which, for anyone who is closely monitoring their reports for items appearing and disappearing is a great deal. It's a full monitoring site. You get a fresh experian score and report everyday and all three bureau score and report once a month. Of all the sites I've used this is the best one, they alert me before anyone else does. It's just great.

[gdale6]

For unpaid medical debt that is reporting on your CR:

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