NCO Financial Collection Account

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone,

I recently (couple of months ago) moved to USA from Europe as a permanent resident and facing some difficulties with a collection Agency.  I traveled to USA way back in 2007 as a tourist and faced to an accident so I was taken to the hospital by 911 Emergency service and I did not know that I was charged a bill of 1500$ until I pulled my credit last week. No one mentioned that the are charging for this service and this account is currently with NCO Financial Collection Agency. Since I was a tourist and I did not have any Social Security Number I do not know how they reported my information to a collection agency. Do I still need to pay-off this or can I fight to get rd of this entry from Credit report? One of my friends ask to seek the help from a lawyer. If I called them and agree to pay off this will they remove this entry from Credit report.

Any advice really appreciated.

Teesha

[llecs]

I think there is still a debt owed, regardless of residency or tourist status at that time. I'd guess the debt is still valid.

Whether you pay it or not is your call. It can report for 7 years past DOFD (date of the accident in your case) and depending on what state you live in now, the statute of limitations (the time frame they can sue for the debt) may or may not have expired. But how are they going to find you? They didn't have your new address when you came here, did they? In fact, without an address I don't see how they can report. There are probably 100s of people out there with your name across the USA. How can they report without that info? Also, if you don't have a social security number now, I don't see how you are able to pull your report. You need a SSN for that, right? They probably aren't even reporting to your credit reports. BTW, they can report without a SSN, but they need other identifying info like an address, DOB, etc and there has to be some sort of residency history for them to skip trace or do background checks to find the right person.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. They have already reported this to Credit Agency and I do have a SSN which I got few weeks ago when I moved to USA.

I have heard this NCO is one of the worst CAs in this country. How about if I dispute this through Experian.

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the reply. They have already reported this to Credit Agency and I do have a SSN which I got few weeks ago when I moved to USA.

I have heard this NCO is one of the worst CAs in this country. How about if I dispute this through Experian.

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I wouldn't dispute because it'll likely get verified. Even if they delete, someone else could take over and report again. I'd do one of two things: 1) I'd either follow the HIPAA process (google for more info...involves paying the OC and then sending letters to the OC or CRA), or send a DV. If they verify and don't delete, then send a PFD if you agree with the debt.

IME, I've dealt with NCO. They haven't been all that bad and deleted or disappeared everytime I've sent a DV. However, the new CAs collecting after NCO are bad.

[RobertEG]

Regardless of how they were able to put together enough identifying information to report the debt to a CRA, the fact is that they did.

Maybe they used a passport or visa number.

Any debt accrued with a company that is authorized to report to a CRA is reportable.  If you wish to attack it, you will probably have to dispute the accuracy of the debt itself,

If the debt itself did not occur, the reporting of a collection on the debt would not be proper.

If only the debt collector has reported to the CRA, then a dispute of its accuracy would have to be made with the debt collector, and not the original creditor.

It is difficult to dispute the legitimacy of a debt itself with the debt collector, as you did not accrue the debt through them, and they dont have the original business records.

You can start by sending the debt collector a debt validation request, but that will probably just result in their confirmation that, yes, they have collection authority based on assignment/sale of the debt to them  by the original creditor, the naming of the original creditor, and a statement of the amount of the debt.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the replys. I'm planning to call them and pay off this amount. But the status of this account is currently on 'CLOSED'. If I call them will that going to make this case worst. is there any possibility that I can negotiate with them and ask to delete the entry from Credit agency.