Best way to get a medical bill deleted from CR ??

[Anonymous]

I recently began trying to clean up my credit after irresponsibly ignoring many legitimate issues for far too long. When I pulled my credit report, I discovered an old medical bill from 2004 that I had no idea was in collections. I had paid my co-pays, and had never been contacted by the creditor (United Collection Services in Washington State) regarding any balance.

The collection is only on my Equifax report, and after reading reviews on their website about the respect United Collections showed to patients when collecting, I sent them a PFD hoping they would happily accept payment and delete the collection. Instead, I received back DV and a phone number. When I called, the woman I spoke to was short and abrupt, and told me it was against company policy to delete collections so I shouldn't even bother asking.

Since I'm pretty new to this whole process, I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for the best way to deal with this. Should I pay the bill, and then dispute it with the CRA?

[Anonymous]

Never contact a CA on medical debt!!!!

First send this dispute to all CRs reporting medical debt.....CMRRR!

Dear CRA,

My name is xxxxx xxxxxx , my SS # is xxx xx xxxx.

I am sending this dispute certified mail # xxxx to make sure you receive it.

I have no knowledge or records of account # xxxxx reported by xxxxxxx

Please advise me as to the name and address of the medical provider, the date and type of service,and to whom the service was provided, as any account I might have had would be obsolete.

If you can obtain this information, I also would need the name of the person providing this data, and the manner in which it was provided in order that I may pursue additional legal remedies.

 

If you can not obtain The information from the original creditor  within the required time frame (30 days)   Please delete this account from my CR.

Please mail me an updated report when this dispute is completed.

Very truly yours,

xxxxxx

ADDY

To protect your rights under HIPAA, you should not write or correspond with a Collection Agency regarding a medical collection account within SOL.

This process is not applicable if the account is valid and you are unable to pay.  The medical claim must either be paid, inaccurate, or you are prepared to remit the valid correct amount due with the HIPAA letter.

The Pre-HIPAA letter is sent to the CRA to dispute medical collection accounts on your CR that are within SOL and are:  paid, valid but unpaid, "not mine" or inaccurate.

1. Dispute a paid medical collection directly with the CRA and they should delete.  If not deleted, but verified, send HIPAA letter (Whychat's process - insert b). 
2. Dispute valid but unpaid medical collections because you need the CRA to verify the balance.  There may be no valid balance due and the CRA will delete.  Only after the CRA has verified and you agree that the amount is correct is the HIPAA letter sent with payment (Whychat's process - insert a).  The payment amount should be the same amount as was verified by the CRA and on your CR.
3. If the medical collection account is "not mine" or inaccurate, you need to have disputed the medical collection listing with the CRA.  Only after the CRA verifies and does not delete an invalid or inaccurate medical collection do you send the HIPAA letter (Whychat's process - insert a or b).

I do have the next letter that would go to the OC after the dispute is closed & not deleted.

Message Edited by HappyDays on 07-21-2008 05:44 PM

[Anonymous]

Okay, I spent the past few months following the HIPAA process. I made sure that my cashiers check had been processed by the OC and waited a little bit to see if they'd take care of deleting it from my report without me pushing. When they didn't, I disputed with Equifax and copied the letter to the OC with my request that they delete based on the privacy laws. I never heard back from the OC at all, and just got the dispute results from Equifax saying that the account was being updated as paid in full but not deleted. Very frustrating!

I know that the next step is to file a complaint with HIPAA, but I'm wondering if anyone has had any real success with that? It seems like their refusal to delete shows a confidence that they are not in violation of HIPAA. My goal here is solely to get this off my credit report, so what do I do at this point to make that happen?

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I just saw the details list HappyDays has for when it isn't deleted. My details are as follows:

- Collection paid in full July 2008

- Paid the OC

- Collection is from a therapy office

- United Collections is reporting it to Equifax

- Date of Service is May 2003 to April 2004, reported June 2004

Letter's Sent

- Skipped the initial CRA dispute because I sent the CA a PFD letter (before finding out about the HIPAA process) and received detailed DV from the CA in response

- Sent the HIPAA letter with cashier's check to OC, sent certified

- Sent follow up dispute letter to CRA & OC

Finally I am here with Equifax's response that it is now marked as paid. I have copies of absolutely everything.

Not sure if this helps, but the DV that the CA sent me is a full summary of billing from the therapy office, including when the account was in good standing and including "service description" for every charge - not anonymous billing codes.