I had a job loss, which resulted in a few charge offs, a repo that ended up being illegal, and medical debt that went through 2012. I started just living on cash with my PayPal debit card. The time frame was almost all defaults occurred 1/2008.
In May 2013, watched suze orman show, and got secured card with my credit union, I disputed a few things, they came back updated. I was considered judgement proof, otherwise I was considering bankruptcy in 2011/2012.
Did some research, found out dispute process not so good with e oscar system. Also discovered those medical debts showed up within three months of billing, since third party biller's find it cheaper just to send to collections, they get a split. Also found out the car repo was illegal (though they like to still try and haunt me, am tracking for a future lawsuit if necessary).
That being said, had early exclusion of some baddies off TU. When I broke my foot in June 2014, had plenty of time to work on credit. I qualified for charity care (the same program as your state) from 2008 on.
Now, because of Obama Care, states are required to back date charity care from the time of application. You can apply now, and have it backdated. Also, ancillary services (ambulance, labs, physicians bills etc) must comply. This is especially true if you went to a facility that accepts Medicaid and/or medicare. Since most facilities do, it's considered accepting government funds, and they have to give charity care.
I called my main hospital group that refused two years ago, and had them back date the charity care, they admitted that policies had changed, and dates were from 2010, 2011. Would have fall end off in 2017. Once you get that backdated, ask to pull from collection agency. Give it few weeks, call collection agency, make sure they are pulling from credit report.
Now, for the sticklers. You need to just show that you had or were at any time eligible for charity care. If they bring up the fight from the past, ask for new application (though some were able to find it in the system). Anyone at 200% poverty line (google, around 24k take home 2014 for single) is eligible for 100% write off.
Get supervisors. They may find paperwork in the system. This will take a lot of work, and you want to google whychat hipaa process. Do a LOT of study re charity care for your state. I didn't have to do any letter writing, all was handled over the phone. One bill was over 1209 (not properly billed to insurance, their mistake, I automatically don't owe).
With diligence, and a lot of arguments from a couple of collection agencies (if one agency is collecting multiple debts, they cannot use commercial law to insist you pay all or none), I removed medical collections scheduled to fall off through 2019. You can see the scores in my sig, and my cards.
Building credit while cleaning your reports is the double whammy. If there are any collections not removable via hipaa (utilities, cable, etc) only pay if they will delete. Don't call the cell or cable company, the front line csr's are not able to handle this, but will say anything.
Two years is not that long to wait. The none medical did not finish until January 2015 (one company violated the reporting act). But it was worth the wait. And I am in with Chase, Barclays and Amex. No BK.
Good luck. And if you go this route, the rebuilding forum has all the info to help. Get your filing fee back from lawyer.
Signature needs updating
