topic Re: collection account in General Credit Topics

collection account

babbles — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:23:01 GMT

My credit has been perfect for about 15 yrs now but just received a collection from a health care provider courtesy of Tricare not paying the bill which was $96.55. When I got the notice from BC Services out of Longmont, CO about 30 days ago, I right away paid $20 while I continued to persue Tricare for the payment. They reported through Experian which my score had been about 720 or so.

Questions are:

1. how much will this affect my score till I pay it off, which will be tomorrow? Bal ($76).

2. spoke with them (BC Services) Friday and they stated they will report it as a zero balance. Will that reinstate my credit score with experian?

3. they also said that upon supporting documentation from Tricare that it was a billing error, they would remove it completely. Will that have the same effect on my score as the $0 balance. I called TC on Friday and they said for the 100th time, they will do an adjustment for that amount and I don't count on it.

4. is it possible they may have reported to the other bureaus and I just don't see it yet?

I was completed devasted to see a collection account and couldn't sleep well the other night. As I questioned to the rep, i thought they would do an harrassing phone call or another letter before they went straight to the credit file? Thanks.

Re: collection account

RobertEG — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:46:31 GMT

A collection is a major derog, and has serious affect on your credit score.

Paying the debt wont result in removal of any prior credit reporting, including the delinquencies reported by the OC that led up to the collection, and the reporting of the collection by the debt collector. The reporting of a $0 collection balance by the debt collector and a $0 debt balance by the OC wont restore the damage done by their prior reporting. Deletion of their derogatory reporting is necessary to remove its negative scoring affect.

If, however, you provide the documentation they requested and they delete the collection from your CR, then its negative effect will be gone.

If they have reported to another CRA, once that CRA enters their reporting, it will thereafter be included in any CR they issie. They cant report to a CRA and keep it secret.

Re: collection account

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:47:15 GMT

@babbles wrote:
My credit has been perfect for about 15 yrs now but just received a collection from a health care provider courtesy of Tricare not paying the bill which was $96.55. When I got the notice from BC Services out of Longmont, CO about 30 days ago, I right away paid $20 while I continued to persue Tricare for the payment. They reported through Experian which my score had been about 720 or so.

Questions are:

1. how much will this affect my score till I pay it off, which will be tomorrow? Bal ($76).
2. spoke with them (BC Services) Friday and they stated they will report it as a zero balance. Will that reinstate my credit score with experian?
3. they also said that upon supporting documentation from Tricare that it was a billing error, they would remove it completely. Will that have the same effect on my score as the $0 balance. I called TC on Friday and they said for the 100th time, they will do an adjustment for that amount and I don't count on it.
4. is it possible they may have reported to the other bureaus and I just don't see it yet?

I was completed devasted to see a collection account and couldn't sleep well the other night. As I questioned to the rep, i thought they would do an harrassing phone call or another letter before they went straight to the credit file? Thanks.

1. Paying the collection won't help your score unless you also get it removed from your CR.

2. See 1.

3. Having it removed completely will help your score, paying it and not having it removed will not. Do not pay it until you get a written agreement to have it deleted.

Re: collection account

babbles — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:55:26 GMT

Thank you for the quick reply. Do most CA offer that type agreement woud you say? What's the incentive for them to remove it by way of agreement?

Re: collection account

haulingthescoreup — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:57:16 GMT

They're not supposed to do it per their agreements with the credit bureaus. But the incentive is that they get their money if they're willing to work with you, so there are those who will do this. Certainly not the rule, though.

CA's buy debts for pennies on the dollar, so if you're willing to pay the full amount, they make a huge profit, even factoring in the costs of nagging you, running an office, settling lawsuits, etc.

Re: collection account

RobertEG — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:20:00 GMT

Caveat on a holdout until they accept a PFD........

Know whether or not the debt is still within SOL. You can safely hold out if they can no longer recover through the courts. If they can, you take that risk.

Re: collection account

babbles — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 23:35:08 GMT

I am absolutely devasted! I pulled my Experian credit file this afternoon and my score dropped an amazing 67 points!!!!!! From 748 to 681!!! Which is indicated on the report itself. Unbelievable what this $76.55 collection account did to me!!! I disputed it as paid in full to experian at the same time, so what do you think the response will be back from the CA? They agreed to pay for deletion. Next I have to file a grevience/ complaint to Tricare. Those bastards had previsouly denied the claim stating that the tax ID for the therapist had changed even though they authorized the referrals and I had 4 previous sessions with the same provider!!!! I can not believe my score dropped that much!! What in the world dictated it to fall so much for such a small balance???? Or maybe it wasn't the balance that mattered???

Re: collection account

Booner72 — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 02:05:58 GMT

Babbles, the balances doesn't matter. :*(

Re: collection account

MarineVietVet — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 02:32:51 GMT

@babbles wrote:
I am absolutely devasted! I pulled my Experian credit file this afternoon and my score dropped an amazing 67 points!!!!!! From 748 to 681!!! Which is indicated on the report itself. Unbelievable what this $76.55 collection account did to me!!! I disputed it as paid in full to experian at the same time, so what do you think the response will be back from the CA? They agreed to pay for deletion. Next I have to file a grevience/ complaint to Tricare. Those bastards had previsouly denied the claim stating that the tax ID for the therapist had changed even though they authorized the referrals and I had 4 previous sessions with the same provider!!!! I can not believe my score dropped that much!! What in the world dictated it to fall so much for such a small balance???? Or maybe it wasn't the balance that mattered???

Did you possibly mean Equifax instead of Experian? I ask because no one has been able to buy their own Experian FICO score since February of 2009. Creditors can pull Experian and also there is a CU (PSECU) in Pennsylvania that supplies that information to it's members only.

If this score drop is for a non-FICO (FAKO) score such as a "Plus" score then you really don't know what effect this had on your FICO's.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

Re: collection account

babbles — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 02:51:24 GMT

I went to Experian and pulled a report and it showed the collections account, when it went to effect, and clearly stated that my scored dropped by 67 points. How can I tell if this a FAKO?

Re: collection account

Booner72 — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 02:53:12 GMT

It's a FAKO for sure because you can't buy your own EX score anywhere except some credit union in pennsylvania. Apparently you used to be able to join that CU to get your score but now you can't unless you live in PA. They use to sell it but in 2009 they stopped selling it to the dismay of many.

Re: collection account

MarineVietVet — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 02:56:26 GMT

@babbles wrote:
I went to Experian and pulled a report and it showed the collections account, when it went to effect, and clearly stated that my scored dropped by 67 points. How can I tell if this a FAKO?

You know it's a FAKO because as I said before: No one has been able to buy their own Experian FICO score since February of 2009. Creditors can pull Experian and also there is a CU (PSECU) in Pennsylvania that supplies that information to it's members only.

Experian will not sell it's FICO score to consumers even on it's own website. What they sell there is called a "Plus" score and it's not used by any lender. Your Plus score might have dropped 67 points but you have no way of knowing what happened to any of your FICO scores.

Re: collection account

babbles — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:37:30 GMT

Now that this has occurred on my file, I am fearful that other creditors may pull my view for one their courtesy checks and see this and downgrade me from credit with them? Is this possibl?

Re: collection account

MarineVietVet — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:40:45 GMT

@babbles wrote:
Now that this has occurred on my file, I am fearful that other creditors may pull my view for one their courtesy checks and see this and downgrade me from credit with them? Is this possibl?

Other creditors will be able to see this and other AA (Adverse Action) might happen but don't obsess over something that hasn't occurred yet . Just concentrate for now in getting this collection removed if possible.

Re: collection account

babbles — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:53:11 GMT

Semper Fi from one leatherneck to another! Retired P.I. 2008.

Re: collection account

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:27:55 GMT

If the CA did in fact agree to a PFD (and I hope you got it in writing) then keep after them to follow through with the deletion of the account. When that is done your FICO scores will (or should) recover back to the point where they were before the collection appeared. It's highly unlikely your other creditors will take any AA for this but if they did you could always call and state your case with them. If your credit report is unblemished other than this with a 15 year history you should be OK with everyone else.

Re: collection account

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 02:19:48 GMT

@babbles wrote:
My credit has been perfect for about 15 yrs now but just received a collection from a health care provider courtesy of Tricare not paying the bill which was $96.55. When I got the notice from BC Services out of Longmont, CO about 30 days ago, I right away paid $20 while I continued to persue Tricare for the payment. They reported through Experian which my score had been about 720 or so.

Questions are:

1. how much will this affect my score till I pay it off, which will be tomorrow? Bal ($76).
2. spoke with them (BC Services) Friday and they stated they will report it as a zero balance. Will that reinstate my credit score with experian?
3. they also said that upon supporting documentation from Tricare that it was a billing error, they would remove it completely. Will that have the same effect on my score as the $0 balance. I called TC on Friday and they said for the 100th time, they will do an adjustment for that amount and I don't count on it.
4. is it possible they may have reported to the other bureaus and I just don't see it yet?

I was completed devasted to see a collection account and couldn't sleep well the other night. As I questioned to the rep, i thought they would do an harrassing phone call or another letter before they went straight to the credit file? Thanks.

Google "hipaa process" (often misspelled "hippa process.") Do this now.

This is a medical bill. You should be able to get some action on it.

I would also contact the provider, asking them if their tax ID number did indeed change, and contact the Tricare ombudsperson or whatever consumer relations officer they have.

They screwed up by sending you to collections, rather than reworking the claim. They should be able to pull back the collection. Something similar happened to DXH, and I was able to have the collection removed from his reports by having the provider resubmit the claim. (The billing service for the emergency room physician did not code the visit correctly; the insurance company denied it; the billing service submitted the account to collections rather than fix their mistake, without bothering to contact us. When I found out, the insurance company agreed to let the billers re-submit the claim, the insurance paid, and the collection agency withdrew the collection.)

A brand-new collection is typically a 75-point loss if your reports were otherwise clean; sometimes more.

Re: collection account

babbles — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 02:42:15 GMT

Thanks. What i have done to this point within the last couple of days is faxed a detailed letter over to Tricare's Reconsideraiton dept with the collection letter and the bill has been resubmitted for payment again, even though I have paid the balance off of $76. The provider had called Tricare numerous times on my behalf to explain the situation but Tricare still denied the claim even though they authorized the referral and the therapy sessions were with the same provider week after week for 6 weeks!! Unbelievable!! I will have to wait about 30 days to see if the claim is adjusted but at this point Tricare owes me what I paid to collections if approved this time. In the meantime a policy has gone into effect recently that changed their policy on my exact situation. By the way, unofficially, I guess my (FAKO score) from Experian reflected a 67 point drop from 748 to 681. I also filed an online dispute with Experian referencing my conversation with the supervisor by name at the collection agency.

Re: collection account

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:56:30 GMT

Sounds like a good start!

Your ultimate goal should be to get whomever sent you to collections to pull it back. They can do this, although it might take a while to find someone who understands this. (I'm still unclear on who sent you to collections...)

And Tricare needs to understand that it's far more than an issue of your out-of-pocket cost. By having a new collection on your reports, you are now facing (potentially) higher mortgage rates, higher CC rates, higher auto loan rates, higher insurance rates (yep!), and a general lower level of credit-worthiness for the next seven years, all because of their refusal to reimburse your provider. They need to make things right, not in the sense of monetary reimbursement, but by ensuring that this collection is removed from your credit reports.

Re: collection account

babbles — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:44:04 GMT

So what happened is Tricare authorized me referrals for a provider for therapy sessions for about 6 wks or so. TC paid the first 6 claims or so then somehow or another the provider's tax ID changed and TC, because of billing technicalities, denied the last 2 claims, ($96.55). In the process of denial, I had been constanly in touch with the provider and TC and even had the provider to call TC numerous times as well, but the claims were continually denied. So in the end, the provider sent the bill to collections because it wasn't paid. I kept after TC but nothing happened. I did send a detailed letter to TC as stated, along with the collecitons letter and detailing how my score with EXP has fallen by 67 points and it is critical that they assist me in getting supporting documentation to the CA that this was a TC technical issue.