Medical Bills Sent to a previous address

[Anonymous]

Need some guidance here..

My wife and I bought a home Decemer 2013. We later received medical bills to our old address starting in Sept 2014 from MRI's she had done in 2013. (A balance that the insurance company ended up not paying) Earlier this week we learned that the account was sent to collections. Nothing has been reported on our CR and initally the OC said I would have to deal with the CA, but after speaking with a  Manager I was told that i could still pay the OC directly being that they only sent the account to the CA at the beginning of the month. I spoke with the CA and of course they want me to pay them directly. However, she did mention that I would have to pay the debt before FEB to not have it hit our CR. My next question was if I paid the OC I would need to make sure that the info is communicated to you all by then to ensure nothin effects our CR. She agreed but said the only way you can not deal with any miscommunication is by paying directly here. Both said they would get the debt espunged from her CR because neither of them has filed the debt to any credit agency. I'm looking for advice on how to move forward to be sure we dont end up getting the short end of the stick. Currently, neither side has reported the debt, both seem willing to accept payment, however the hospital has provide in writing that the debt will be espunged and I know the CA hasn't filed our didnt plan to file until Feb. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[RobertEG]

Why do you want to pay to the OC?

They cannot agree to non-reporting by another.

Paying directly to the debt collector, if they agree to a pay for not reporting, would be their own agreement regarding their own reporting.

I would pay the debt collector if they offer a pay for not reporting agreement.

[Anonymous]

My fear of paying the collection agency is the original creditor eventually filing the debt on my CR. Can the collection agency add this debt to my credit report if it's already paid before they add it?

I'm torn because both sides are making this sound too easy. From the little research I've done I've seen that easy is usually not the case.

[AndySoCal]

I would pay the OC it sounds like that ehy have assigned the account to the collection agwency and not sold it the collection agency.. You can confirm with the OC manager if you wish. If that is true the OC has the ability to pull the account back from the collection agaency but you need to pay the balanace in full.