How to undo effects of false credit report info

[Anonymous]

I have very good credit, except that my credit card balances are too high.  Even though they are high, they were only about 30% of the limits .  2 years ago a hospital decided to attach my billing info to an indigent patient with a similar name, and started putting a bunch of collections on my credit.  At that time credit cards began to cut limits and raise interest rates becasue of the negative info.  The info was removed from my credit report, but reappeared 2 months ago.  The info was removed again, but not until another round of limit cuts and rate hikes.  My FICO score has dropped about 100 points, which is making it difficult to refinance the credit card debt.

Is there anyway to restore my credit to what it would have been?  Since cards are reducing limits and raising rates anyway, I don't know how much is due to which factors.  If I call any individual card, they will see my overall debt/credit ratio is too high, because all the other cards have done the same thing.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry to hear that happened to you,  I had a similar incident several years ago, A collection company started harrassing me over medical bills that weren't mine, It didn't apperar on my credit as the SSN and addresses were different,but it still took several months to get them off my case,

About the only thing you can do to undo the restore the damage caused to your credit lines by the Hospital's erroneous reporting, is to contact your creditors and explain to them what happened and they may restore your credit,  but they likely won't,

I really hate advising litigation,  however it does sound like you have a very good case against that institution for causing you egregious harm,  That was something they could have and SHOULD HAVE prevented, 

Contact them, explain the damage they caused and tell them they need to make restitution, They didn't hessitate to come after you, so don't hesitate to return the favor,

Good luck,

[Anonymous]

We contacted a lawyer after this happened again, and they weren't terribly interested, so I am not sure there are enough damages for them to take the case without a retainer, which is not a route we are interested in.  We didn't know better, so we did not get the hospital and creditors to put things in writing when they "fixed" them in the first place, so my understanding is that even though I got royally screwed, legally it is a simple case of mistaken identity.

It is really amazing what they were allowed to do without setting off any red flags.  On top of the collection notices, they added another persons SSN to my credit report, added a different spelling for my name, and added the sheriff's jail as a known address for me.  It is ridiculous that they can cross pollinate data like that.

[203bravo]

If I'm reading it correctly - the hospital issues are finally resolved and now you would like the credit cards to reverse their decision to cut your limits?  Have you spoken with anyone that has some authority at the credit card companies and get them to understand that their computers made decisions with bad info?

A long shot, but worth a try.

[Anonymous]

The hospital issues were supposed to be resolved in the past, but they have now reappeared twice.  I am also trying to figure out who exactly I should be contacting and how I should be contacting them to make this stop.

I initially went round and round with the hospital billing, until somebody figured out and admitted to me (over the phone, of course, not in writing) that somebody royally screwed up and did a name lookup in their database and attached existing billing info to a newly admitted patient that didn't match in SSN, spelling of the first name, birthdate or address.  The hospital then gave that info to all the subcontractors (anesthetists, and other medical groups).  After the hospital corrected the mistake, I informed all subsequent creditors that their info was wrong and to contact the hospital for correct billing info.

At this late date I am not sure who I need to contact and what sort of demands I can make for records that will require a written response.  Experian quickly wipes the bogus entries, but they have already reappeared once.  I have not subsequently contacted the creditors or the hospital directly.  The only contact and info for them I have is what appears on the credit report.

Does anybody know whether I should be contacting the collection agencies and the hospital directly at this late point, and if so, what sort of letter I should be writing to require them to responsd to this in writing? 

My biggest concern is that these bills are being bought and sold by different credit agencies with the false info attached, so this problem will keep coming up.  I'd like to stop it in such a way that there is liability if it comes up again, because this is currently costing me over a thousand dollars a month due to my inability to refinance my home loan and my credit card debt.

[Itsmeagain]

In your situation, I don't see how you are going to resolve the issues without the services of an attorney.  There are laws that protect you and attorneys who specialize in just this sort of case.  Have you looked at The National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA)?  I won't post their link for fear of violating the ToS here but just type it into your search engine and it will not be hard to find.  They have a link for finding an attorney and I sure think you could use one.

Good luck . . .

[haulingthescoreup]

It sounds to me like an attorney is next, as well, but here is one suggestion.

Hospitals have boards of directors that are responsible for seeing that the hospital serves the needs of the community. I would get the names of the chair and all the members of the Board. I would also get the name of the Chief of Staff (the head physician), the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Executive Officer, and the head of the Business Office. Also check to see if they have an Ombudsman.

Write a letter to every one of these individuals, cc'ing each one so that they all know that they all know, explaining what you wrote here (very good and compelling summary, btw), and asking for what you would like them to do. At a minimum, I would demand a "To Whom It Might Concern" letter admitting that they were totally at fault in the first place, and that they have been reporting this in error, as well as a promise that they will take corrective action to prevent it from happening again. If you can get a home or business address (non-hospital address) for the members of the board, that might be smart.

I would finish it up by mentioning that if they did not respond to your satisfaction, you would next be writing your local newspaper (assuming such things still exist), your local television outlets, your local talk radio stations, and your state Department of Health. Hospitals are businesses that depend on the good opinion of the public, as well as licensure by the state.

With luck, someone on this list of names will want to find out wth has been going on.

[Itsmeagain]

Excellent suggestion Hauling . . . Kudos . . . . The court of public opinion may very well be the best place to try this.

Now I know why you make the big bucks!! . . . .