Discovered a unpaid medical debt discrepancy - does it matter or am I chasing my tail? DOFD issue

[JM761]

Hello,

I have an unapid medical debt for a physical therapists office. $666.

I didn't know about it until I pulled my credit report (or, it's been so long, maybe I did and ignored it?)

I looked at all 3 CR and they all say DOFD was April 2016.

I dug through my papers and found an old statement, dated: Sept 2017. It says the total ($666) was over 120 past due at that time. That part makes sense and is accurate. 

When I looked at the dates of service, the *last* date of service is May 2015

2015 vs 2016 makes all the difference...b/c if it's 2015, then it falls off my credit report

I called the credit agency (Eastern Account System of Connecticut) and they had an automated system tell me my balance is $2000+. 

That is absolutely inaccurate so I asked to speak to a rep. They had me on hold for 20 min and then recording said to leave a message.

DOFD is supposed to be the day the account went delinquent and was never brought back to current, correct? 

Accord to the statement, my last statement said my dates of service were from 03/30/2015 - 05/26/2015 with a running balance that = $666.

What is my next course of action? Do I have one? I was thinking I should call the therapist's office and ask for an itemized bill. 

Would they know the DOFD?

[JM761]

Just wanted to add: I spoke with the PT office - they confirmed the last date of service was 5/26/2015.  They said "sometimes we wait a while before sending to collections"

I asked her about my date of first delinquency and she said "that would have been in 2015 if you didn't make any payments after May 2015 and, according to your bill, do you did not.

She's sending an itemized bill and a more complete statement of info. Hopefully that will reflect what she said accurately.

Next I spoke with Eastern Account Systems. The woman said that the PT office does not offer settlement options. I don't have the full $660 right now so I'm going to try again. This woman seemed to be rushing me off the phone b/c I didn't want to pay and i had questions.

I asked about the DOFD and she didn't fully understand what I meant. She said the account was opened with them April 2016.

I thanked her for the info but asked about the DOFD again because according to my account was past due since 2015, 2016. 

She agreed and said according to the statement that they have there, it looks like the last day of service was 2015 and no payments were made. She didn't seem to know what a date of first delinquency meant, so I didn't push it. I'll try again in the morning.

She did say she would send an email to the PT billing office for clarification b/c the CA can't change the date themselves. I don't know if that is going to get my anywhere b/c the PT office seemed confused about the DOFD...unless I am? I don't see how the DOFD was 11 months after my date of service. I would expect it to be soon after my last visit in May 2015.

Thanks in advance if anyone has insight on DOFD and medical billing!

[gdale6]

DoFD for medicals is 30 days after you didnt make a required payment. If the CA wont change the date use your proof to file a complaint with the CFPB. 2015 defaults are coming off through out this year.

[JM761]

@gdale6 

Thank you for this! I somehow missed this notification and never saw your response. I'm so grateful you commented and I am so sorry I missed it. I woke up with a bee in my bonnet about this issue and decided to search the group for answers...only to find my own post in the search

Again, thank you. 

You said : DoFD for medicals is 30 days after you didnt make a required payment.

I guess my next step is to try and figure out/understand when I was supposed to make the payment. Does that sound right?

When I spoke with the physical therapist's office on the phone, she said that they "don't send to collections right away" and I asked her more about the DOFD and she didn't have much of an answer. I feel like I'm going to go in circles unless I know the right quesitons since the CA said that the OC is the one to set the DOFD.  I'll resesarch a bit more and see if I can come up with a plan so I ask the doctors the right questions.
Thank you again for your help!

Right now, I only have a statement with a list of all the charges (a series of visits over the course of approx 2 months). Nothing about "date due". I am pretty sure that I read medical debt is owed upon receipt...I think? 

[gdale6]

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@JM761 wrote:

You said : DoFD for medicals is 30 days after you didnt make a required payment. Yes it is. Here is how these usually go, you see the doc this month, you get the bill next month with the due date, once you go 30 days past that due date and never bring the account current the DoFD is set. CO happens typically once the account reaches 120 days past due.

I guess my next step is to try and figure out/understand when I was supposed to make the payment. Does that sound right? Yes, you can see about having the docs office send you a copy of the original bill, this is the easy way. The docs office isnt going to know much about DoFDs if anything.

When I spoke with the physical therapist's office on the phone, she said that they "don't send to collections right away" and I asked her more about the DOFD and she didn't have much of an answer. I feel like I'm going to go in circles unless I know the right quesitons since the CA said that the OC is the one to set the DOFD.  I'll resesarch a bit more and see if I can come up with a plan so I ask the doctors the right questions.
Thank you again for your help!

Right now, I only have a statement with a list of all the charges (a series of visits over the course of approx 2 months). Nothing about "date due". I am pretty sure that I read medical debt is owed upon receipt...I think?  Oh well if you already have the dates of the billing in the statement then you dont need a copy of the original bill. Use 30 days past the date of the bill for each visit. The medical industry is so far behind the times its not even funny, every visit is a different account number and billing to itself....

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[JM761]

Hello,

I have a collection from a PT office for $650.

I have two issues:

#1: The DOFD is incorrect and I don' tthink the PT office fully understands DOFD. I've tried to talk to them about it and between me/them, we aren't getting anywhere. I'm sure I'm not saying it correctly but they are confused too. I want to fight it b/c if they update to the correct DOFD, the info will fall off my report. Any suggestions are apprecaited!

#2: I don't have the $650 to pay right now. Would a payment plan be better than waiting till I had a lump sum? How would that be reported on my CR? Right now it says "placed for collection". If I can't get DOFD changed, then I want to pay b/c medical debts over $500 come off my report in July. I was thinking of doing payments May and June so it's paid by July 1. Any little bump in score is best right now - we need to get financing for a new roof - so something like this might help. 

thanks in advance!

[JM761]

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@gdale6 wrote:

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@JM761 wrote:

You said : DoFD for medicals is 30 days after you didnt make a required payment. Yes it is. Here is how these usually go, you see the doc this month, you get the bill next month with the due date, once you go 30 days past that due date and never bring the account current the DoFD is set. CO happens typically once the account reaches 120 days past due.

I guess my next step is to try and figure out/understand when I was supposed to make the payment. Does that sound right? Yes, you can see about having the docs office send you a copy of the original bill, this is the easy way. The docs office isnt going to know much about DoFDs if anything.

When I spoke with the physical therapist's office on the phone, she said that they "don't send to collections right away" and I asked her more about the DOFD and she didn't have much of an answer. I feel like I'm going to go in circles unless I know the right quesitons since the CA said that the OC is the one to set the DOFD.  I'll resesarch a bit more and see if I can come up with a plan so I ask the doctors the right questions.
Thank you again for your help!

Right now, I only have a statement with a list of all the charges (a series of visits over the course of approx 2 months). Nothing about "date due". I am pretty sure that I read medical debt is owed upon receipt...I think?  Oh well if you already have the dates of the billing in the statement then you dont need a copy of the original bill. Use 30 days past the date of the bill for each visit. The medical industry is so far behind the times its not even funny, every visit is a different account number and billing to itself....

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@gdale6 Thank you for all of this info! I searched for this message all morning and finally found it -not sure what was going on with my computer but it wasn't showing this one. Finally, after re-posting (and, it looks like a mod merged the two - thank you, mod!), I can finally see it.

As you mentioned, I already have the statement! For once, I'm a little ahead of the game.  The first date of service was 3/31/15. Then I went multiple sessions (2-3x a week) for 6 weeks. So, the balance slowly built up. They sent over the full amount owed (~$650) even though it was multiple visits that brought it up to $650. Will that make a difference? 

Do I bring this info to the CA or to the Credit Bureaus? I just want to make sure I don't poke the bear but, at the same time, I don't want to pay an old bill like this. Technically, I owe it but only b/c my insurance gave me a hard time - I'm feeling a bit oppositional about paying a 7 year old bill.

thanks in advance.

[JM761]

Just to clarify (for my own sake and see if I'm missing any thing):

First DOS: 3/30/15 

Last DOS: 5/26/15

Some days had multiple charges (ie: PT, hot/cold packs, manual therapy, etc - the broke it down)

In the end (5/26/15), the total was $666

CR reports DOFD as April 2016 but it's obviously May 2015 (or maybe June b/c it's 30 days past)

I see how from the original response, the suggestion is to go to the CA and, if that doesn' work, file w/ CFPB.

[gdale6]

Take the info to the CA first and ask they get the correct DoFD from the OC. Now here is something else to think about if its not updated in  a while when it does its going to ding your Fico. Its really up to the OC to set the correct DoFD.

[JM761]

@gdale6 Thank you for all your help. 

I've been on and off the phone with the CA all day. When I finally got someone on the phone, instead of the circle of holds, transferrs and dropped calls, the woman at the CA I spoke to said that they are unable to change anything w/ the CRA b/c they are using the dates recieved from the doctor's office. I spoke with her about the dates and she continues to state that the bill they have says that I saw a PT named "Joe" on 5/26/16. I know that isn't true b/c my last DOS was 5/26/15. I'm sure it was a typo b/c thye were sending the info over to the CA in 2016, so they probably misdated it. Either way, I'm going in circles and pulling my hair out. I'm sending them a copy of my paperwork, including an itemized bill I requested from the PT's office from April 2022.

the CA is correct, according to their records. It looks like the issue is the PT office...ugh!