Collection Agency jacking me around

[Anonymous]

I had a medical collection account show up on my credit report.  I have proof I paid the bill, but I went ahead and paid the stupid thing because we are in the process of applying for an SBA loan and the CA assured me they would delete it as soon as payment was made and I could recover directly from the urgent care. I figured it would be faster and the amount was small. So the week I paid it it updated to a PAID COLLECTION, but did not delete. That was 23 days ago. I have called the CA twice and they assured me they submitted it for deletion but it takes up to 45 days for the agencies to update. The problem is, they did update it as paid so if the CA honestly submitted it for deletion why wouldn't it just have deleted? He claims it is common for it to update paid first, then delete. Is this true?

I never received a letter of payment confirmation or deletion from them so I called again today and asked for a letter stating they submitted it for deletion so I can provide it with my credit application. He tells me a paid in full letter can be sent so I ask him again to make sure it is a deletion letter, not a letter stating it was paid in full. He responds if you are unhappy with the wording of the letter you can have the lender call me. I have a bad feeling that they are jacking me around now. I cannot believe it takes this long to fix an error. 

[GregB]

I would contact the OC. Probably should have been done that way in the beginning since it is their error. Hopefully, dealing with the CA will not have made things worse.

[Anonymous]

Try to make not of any details of the call you made in which the CA agreed to delete if you paid in full--check your phone records for the day, time, length, etc. If you can remember the name of the customer service rep who told you it would be deleted, write that down too.

Unfortunately, it's usually pretty important to get a PFD agreement in writing from a collections agency before paying. Otherwise they can tell you any old thing just to get you to pay up ASAP.

If the letter you receive from them turns out to be a Paid In Full notice and not a request for deletion from the CRAs, definitely go to the lender with that letter as well as the information re: your phone call. You might be able to get some help from the OC on this. I'm not sure.

Also keep at the CA. Ask for a supervisor, ask for an executive, climb the ladder. Also present them with whatever information you have on the phone call in which a deletion was promised you. Don't let them off the hook. Good luck!

[RobertEG]

Their response is B.S.

CRAs post the code reported, and dont substitute another code in stages.

Deletion of an account is just one simple code. Either it is there or it is not.

Update of anything else under the account is separate, and totally unnecessary if the account is deleted.

They would not have simultaneously reported both an update in one field and a deletion of the account.

Even if they had, once entered, In either order of entry, as soon as the account deletion was posted, the account would be gone from your credit file.

They only reported update of the status to paid.  The posting of their reporting clearly evidences what they did.

[Anonymous]

That is exactly the argument I made with this guy. He basically told me I was wrong and didn't know anything. I am going to call again today. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That is exactly the argument I made with this guy. He basically told me I was wrong and didn't know anything. I am going to call again today. 

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You had an oral contract with the CA.  You do A, they do B.  B never happened.  Breach of contract.

To quote Ralph Nader, "Small claims court is your friend."

Once they are served, they will find religion. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

That is exactly the argument I made with this guy. He basically told me I was wrong and didn't know anything. I am going to call again today. 

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You had an oral contract with the CA.  You do A, they do B.  B never happened.  Breach of contract.

To quote Ralph Nader, "Small claims court is your friend."

Once they are served, they will find religion. 

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+1

I'll only add that you will definitely want to follow-up with the urgent care. This situation may not apply to you, but back in my rebuilding days, medical bills were my biggest issues. One thing that I found is that, frequently, my payments for one thing had been applied to something/someone else.

[Anonymous]

These people are complete crooks. I called to follow up and they refused to let me speak to the person I have been dealing with, instead transferring me to a lady who told me to "make it quick because she has other calls to take." She was a complete *itch, would not let me speak. I asked that I be sent a deletion letter and she said I will recieve one once the information is deleted. That they will report the deletion "when they can".  The original guy was so charmingly nice the first time we spoke, explaining to me the quickest way to have this remedied would be to pay them, they would delete it immediately and then I could recover the cost from the OC directly. Each call has gotten increasingly ruder. These people are the epitomy of disgusting, shady, collection agencies. If you end up with a collection with M. Leanord and Assoc. DO NOT DEAL WITH THEM DIRECTLY. Go to your OC. Uggh.