Medical Payed Off Collections - odd dates - how to drop?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Has anyone run into this before?  I have a payd off medical collection on my report, but a few things don't make sense.  Please take a look at the dates I bolded; it looks like I payed it off before it was even sent to collections.  The other problem with this is that I never actually got any mail or calls from the collections agency.  I first saw it on my report and contacted them through the phone that was listed.  I then called the hospital and took care of the bill immediately.

Also, why does it still say "Open Account" for Account Type when it's been payed off for a few years?

How can I get this dropped from my report?  When this first happened, I talked to the collection agency and they just flat out refused to remove it off the report, but this was a few years ago.  Should I contact the credit reporting agency (TU) directly or should I contact the collection agency?  DW letter?  Dispute based on weird dates?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Balance: $0
Original Amount: $347
Original Creditor: (Medical/Health Care)
Last Payment: 06/26/2007
Pay Status: >Account Paid in Full; was a Collection<
Account Type: Open Account
Responsibility: Individual Account
Date Verified: 12/01/2008

Date Closed: 05/01/2008
Date Placed for Collection: 02/04/2008

Date Paid: 06/26/2007

Loan Type: COLLECTION AGENCY/ATTORNEY
Remarks: >PAID COLLECTION<
Estimated month and year that this item will be removed: 05/2014

[llecs]

It's possible the dates are misreporting. When did you pay it? Based on the removal date, the DOFD would be around 5/2007. DOFD for medical debts would be when you first went to the doctor//medical provider. It says you paid the following month. Is that possible? Seems awefully quick to pass it to a CA after being just one month old.

In any case, since you paid the doc, consider the HIPAA process. These forums don't support it, but you can certainly google for more info. The alternative would be to start with a GW to the CA or, if the dates are accurate, you might be justified in sending a DV letter to the CA since you were never notified and it isn't customary to send someone to collections that quickly.

[Anonymous]

I honestly don't remember when I received the service.  But I do remember questioning it at the time with the collection agency because I didn't recognize the name of the medical establishment.  They pointed me to the hospital which sent them the info and the hospital explained what it was for and it seemed to make sense, at the time.

I guess I'm not sure what would happen if I do the following:

1. If I contact the reporting agency directly with issues about the details, could they contact the collection agency and re-age the info?

2. If I contact the collection agency, can they re-report/re-age the info?

3. Can I contact them together at the same time?

[llecs]

Re-aging is defined as changing the DOFD thereby causing the OC/CA TL to report longer than the 7-7.5 yrs. It's illegal to do that. It's relatively safe to say that doing anthing won't cause the DOFD to change. Contacting the OC or CA or CRA can result in the TL updating, but that's not re-aging. If unfamiliar, I'd start with a DV to the CA. I would not dispute unless you know more. It's hard to claim it isn't yours if you paid it. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you.

No, I have no intention of disputing the actual debt because I did pay it and the original billing (from the hospital) was valid (which is why I paid it).  But if I do a debt validation, wouldn't that mean that the collection agency says "yes, you did owe us and you paid it; it's all legitimate".  So I'm not really sure what that would accomplish. (I did some research on this site, and that's still the quesion about debt validation that I couldn't find an answer to.)  Or did I totally misunderstand how that works?

If someone can point me to more info on that, I'd really appreciate it.