topic Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM in Rebuilding Your Credit

TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 23:02:27 GMT

Iv been on my rebuild now for about 1.5 yrs. Started off with scores in the low 500s, about 9 accts in collections and no open accts in good standing. To make a long story short as of last month my scores were all about 650, i have 2 capital one cards, one 16 months old the other 10 months old and the only acct in collections was a medical bill for $4000 from exactly 5 yrs ago that I disputed on several occasions with no resolve. So last month I took the plunge and financed a car. I ended up with more Inqs than I expected...i previously had 4...now 8...but hey...no biggie. I knew my score was going to take a bit of a hit initially from my AAoA going down and the new Inqs even tho the salesman had told me my score would go up to about 700 right away....i knew better. Sure enough my score dropped about 20 or so points....again...I can handle that, it will bounce back with a few payments....right? Then yesterday I get a credit alert from CCT.......I figure no worries, my score changed a lil again. So I check...........................NEW ACCT HAS BEEN SENT TO COLLECTIONS FOR $386!!!!!! **bleep**??? NO WAY! I have not been late or defaulted on anything!! So I call Capio Collections and get a recording. So now I know it is a medical bill, because that is what Capio handles, but Iv had Medicaid for the last 3 yrs when I fractured my spine at work! I have not recieved any medical bills.....Can they just put this on my credit report without even contacting me? Iv been working so hard. Waiting for that last one to fall off in 2 yrs and now this! Does anyone have any suggestions? Now my score is down to 607! Im so sick inside.

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

CreditScoreChallenged — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 02:12:27 GMT

Maybe you can contact the hospital and let them know you had Medicaid and see if they will resubmit the bill to them. Did you submit your Medicaid at the time you were admitted? If so it maybe that Medicaid did not cover everything. Either way try contacting them and see if you can work something out.

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 08:02:33 GMT

No. I don't even know what the bill is for or where it is from! The only reason I know the info I know is because that is what is what is showing on my CR. The collection agency and the amount. When I looked into the agency is see that they handle medical collections. That's all I know at this time.

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

cuthatcard — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 14:54:24 GMT

I think I'd send them a DV ! Their address should be on your report on the CRA.

Most of these are bottom feeders, looking for a quick buck, make em show ya ! You have to work at this or they'll destroy ya, if you set still !

Good luck !!

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 00:25:22 GMT

UPDATE----I received a return call from Capio ...the Ageny that is handling the collection. He is telling me this is a bill fro an ER stay from July 2010!!! I have had dealings with this same hospital many times in the past 6 yrs and was never made aware of an outstanding bill from then. Can they just send this to a CRA? why didnt they try to contact me? Im 99% sure I was covered back then also but it wouldnt be the same medicaid coverege. I moved to Florida for a few yrs until my mother passed in 2013 and then returned to Mi. where I was injured at work and dealing with DRs, Specialists, MRIs, injections.....ect. The guy on the phone was nice and told me just to get a proof of coverage from july 12, 2010!!! I dont even know where to start. I can never get ahold of my D.H.S. worker who is in charge of my Medicaid because it is either state or Co. funded. Iv come so far for this to happen now!!

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

hoang817 — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 00:41:11 GMT

how did you get your cap one cards with the scores below 500??

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

rmduhon — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 01:55:55 GMT

This will fall off in July next year so at worst (assuming it's out of SOL) it won't be on the reports for long if you can't get it removed before then.

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 02:56:56 GMT

Aww man I know this is very upsetting. Wishing you good luck

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 05:43:22 GMT

jvo, I just went through a similar experience, with the same CA (Mitchell Bluhm/Capio). This is a practice called balance-billing, and it's illegal. If Medicaid (or in my case the VA) paid any part of the bill and the caregiver accepted it, that payment is presumed to be payment in full, regardless of amount. They are prohibited by federal statute from billing you for anything more.

Here's a good thought. Since it's 6 years old, it's probably past the statute of limitations. Don't know about Florida so you'll want to check to be sure, but given its age, you probably don't have to worry about being sued while you work to get it removed.

The first thing you'll need to do is send a debt validation request to the credit reporting agencies where it's showing up. (In our case they reported to TU and EX, no EQ.) They have 30 days for that. When it comes back, if it's done properly, you'll know if Medicaid did make a payment that was accepted. If nothing was ever paid, you should pursue this with Medicaid (can't help with that; sorry). But if they did pay any part of it, then here's what we did. We didn't have to do the debt validation stage because we had documents from the VA, the original provider, and the collector. So, we just disputed it directly. We wrote a dispute letter (sent certified) to the CRAs, with copies of everything, told them the collection was illegal, and cited the appropriate statute. You'll have to Google to get the right statute from the federal code.

It took the full 30 days but both TU and EX removed the collections from my husband's reports. TU came back at first and said it was a paid collection updated to 0. That was not acceptable, but before we could take another step, they removed it completely. EX just removed it. We never had to contact Bluhm/Capio directly.

So... take a deep breath. May take some time, but it's most likely fixable. Hope this helps.

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 11:18:12 GMT

Thank you everyone for the info, as always. As I stated yesterday, I now found out that this was from 2010. As of now it has only been reported to Ex. And they have they date collection was first reported as July 2016! 6 yrs later than it actually was. Is this alone enough to have it removed or deleted? It didn't even occur to me until I read one of your responses about the SOS. All I could think about was how now my report is now showing that my latest negative is 2 months instead of 5!

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 11:25:11 GMT

My first card was secured...after 7 months I got the QS1

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 17:50:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you everyone for the info, as always. As I stated yesterday, I now found out that this was from 2010. As of now it has only been reported to Ex. And they have they date collection was first reported as July 2016! 6 yrs later than it actually was. Is this alone enough to have it removed or deleted? It didn't even occur to me until I read one of your responses about the SOS. All I could think about was how now my report is now showing that my latest negative is 2 months instead of 5!

The date first report is not a reason for removal if you need this removed before the seven year exclusion google the HIPAA Letter Process and follow it exactly as laid out. If you have problems finding the website or any questions PM me.

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 03:06:07 GMT

Having studied this issue a bit compulsively in the last few months, I reached the conclusion that the Wy Chat/HIPAA method is great for getting old stuff removed in the case of old debts that nobody can document any more. It works because CAs have a very hard time proving medical debts without violating HIPAA, even if it was a valid debt. If they can't prove it, it has to be removed. And that's great if they are resurrecting debt that's years in your past and you don't remember it and don't have documentation and aren't sure if you ever owed it.

It's a little different if you do remember it. If you know you owed the money and it's a valid debt, then HIPAA uses a governmental policy that's meant to protect your privacy to get you out of paying what what you rightfully owe. If you owe it, it should be paid, the same way you'd pay anyone else you engaged to render services.

I don't think that's the case for the OP. If you never owed the money in the first place (the usual case for those on some type of government agency assistance), the far superior method is to prove that you never owed it in the first place. Then there's no question of it coming back again, and no sleepless nights knowing that you didn't pay a rightful obligation.

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

IOBA — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 16:25:08 GMT

What method or process would you recommend for the OP to use to get the never owed CA off the credit report?

She's disputed it and the CA just updated to say zero balance. It's true that it's a zero balance, but the money was never owed to begin with! And the CA should have never gotten the account to begin with!

Maybe claim that the account is not his (her husbands)?

It's a tough, frustrating place to be. We had something similar happened years ago. Never got it resolved - best we got was updated to zero balance on the CR. Then I did LOE as needed.

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 17:19:45 GMT

After a few more phone calls today I was able to recollect the situation. Back in July of 2010 I was in a rough state mentally and emotionally. I checked myself into the psychiatric unit at the local hospital. I called the hospitals billing depth and sure enough....no outstanding bills. I explained to her that the original creditor is showing up as Professional Emergency Care. She stated that what most likely happened was even though the hospital billed my insurance, the Dr. That seen me in the ER billed me and not my insurance. So I just filed a complaint with CFPB. I will be sure to keep updating this. If anyone has any input...plz feel free. What do u suppose is a faster route to having this rectified? CFPB or the HIPPA?

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 19:51:12 GMT

UPDATE-A few days ago I filed a complaint with CFPB. The next day I was alerted that the collection was also added to my TU report. I dont know if i mentioned that I did dispute this on my EX report last week sometime.....anyhow, yesterday I logged onto CCT and noticed that it was no longer on my EX report!! COOL!!.....but is it only removed while its being investigated?? Now today I was alerted by Credit Sesame and it has also came off my TU report already!! This leads me to believe that CFPB has worked their magic......AGAIN, and it was not just removed while being investigated....bc i hadnt had a chance to dispute it with TU as of yet.....Well, heres to hoping!!...............................any input??

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Rebuilding69 — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 19:16:44 GMT

My experience with EX is that when they delete something, it's gone. I've never seen them delete something during the investigation personally. So here's hoping!

Re: TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 17:56:56 GMT

called EX & TU and they dont show the collection on my most recent reports!! Seems too good to be true but Im still happy and very greatful for these boards. W/O the good ppl on here sharing their info and knowledge I would have had no clue on where to begin going about having this removed.......thx