Trying to rebuild really bad credit before getting engaged...

[Anonymous]

oh no! the SOL in colorado, where we live now, is 6 years! What's the point of settling if they can still come after you for the full amt owed?  Is there anyway to stop them from doing this?  I have a letter of settlement from the CA, does this mean anything? If an account on his CR says "closed" and bal:$0, I dont need to worry about him still owing them money right?

[Anonymous]

When I settled with the CA they sent a letter that says "The National Bureau of Collections (the CA) and the Medical center of SE Oklahoma (the OC) have agreed to accept $275 as settlement in full for account #.....  This payment relieves you of any further personal obligation on the above mentioned amount and account number."  Can they still sue me if they sent a letter saying we have no further financial obligation to them?

[Anonymous]

---

stik78 wrote:

oh no! the SOL in colorado, where we live now, is 6 years! What's the point of settling if they can still come after you for the full amt owed?  Is there anyway to stop them from doing this?  I have a letter of settlement from the CA, does this mean anything? If an account on his CR says "closed" and bal:$0, I dont need to worry about him still owing them money right?

---

If the letter states payment was made & the Bal is $0..............no they can NOT come after you.

What they usually do is accept partial payment & tell you that they will sell it to another CA........next thing that you know another CA is calling or reporting.

Read that letter over & over to see that it says settled!  Bal $0

If it shows on CR  as Bal $0   never lose that CR

CR should be kept forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   once something has been change or deleted that you can NOT get it back without proof!!

[Anonymous]

OK this was medical.....................if there are any more  you use the HIPPA letter.......very different from other debts.

They will not sell or report this debt!!!!!!  you are safe!

Is there a CA reporting this on his CR?

Message Edited by HappyDays on 07-11-2008 06:41 PM

[Anonymous]

so do i need to still write them a GW letter asking them to take it off of his CR altogether?

[Anonymous]

yes, I had to settle with the CA that the hospital (OC) sold his accounts to.  We checked his CR yesterday and it said that the accounts were settled but that they were still open accounts....

[Anonymous]

Send ALL correspondence to the HIPAA COMPLIANCE OFFICE of the HC provider,CMRRR

Your Name)

(address)

(City,State, zip)

s.s.# (social security #)

HIPAA Compliance Office

( health care provider creditor)

(address)

(date)

Dear Sir/Madam;

This letter is in reference to (account #) for services provided to (name of patient) on (date of service).  

  This account has been paid. been paid

Please be advised that under Federal Statutes. the Fair Credit Reporting Act, (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq)and (name of your State)'s Consumer Credit Statutes, you may be held liable for the actions of (collection agency name).

(a) Duty of furnishers of information to provide accurate information.

(1) Prohibition.

(A) Reporting information with actual knowledge of errors.

A person shall not furnish any information relating to a consumer to any consumer reporting agency if the person knows or consciously avoids knowing that the information is inaccurate.

In addition, the HIPAA and (name of your State)'s Medical Privacy Statutes are in effect in this situation even though the health care services you provided may have been prior to enactment .

The Privacy Rules prohibits a covered entity from using or disclosing an individual's protected health information ("PHI") unless specifically authorized by the individual or otherwise allowed under the Privacy Rules.

In general, PHI encompasses substantially all "individually identifiable health information" that is transmitted or maintained in any medium. "Individually identifiable health information" includes health information that is created or received by a health care provider, health plan, employer, or health care clearinghouse, and that relates to an individual's physical or mental health or condition, including information related to an individual's care or the PAYMENT for such care.

Your furnishing of my account information to (collection agency name), is not in compliance with HIPAA,or (name of your State}'s Privacy Act, and any subsequent reporting of this account on my credit reports to (credit reporting bureaus) is a clear violation of Public Law 104-191 ("HIPAA") since there can be no permissible business purpose in divulging protected health information to anyone on an account once there is no longer any payment due.

You are required under the FCRA and FACTA to accurately report the status of any account to the credit bureaus, and you are prohibited under the HIPAA and State privacy regulations from doing so on a PAID account, as there is no longer any permitted business purpose.

Therefore I am requesting you promptly rescind all such account information furnished to (collection agency) and require them to purge their records of all reference to this account, and that you insure that any and all reporting of this account is immediately deleted from my credit reports.

This simple procedure to request the deletion of ALL reference to this account from the records of ( collection agency name) and to require them to have this account information deleted in its entirety from my credit reports will resolve this problem completely.

Please respond, in writing within 10 days that you are processing this request.

I am reserving the right, to take appropriate legal and civil action including reporting to any applicable regulatory authorities any lack of cooperation or compliance with this request.

I hereby waive my rights under HIPAA and any State Privacy Act for the single purpose of your transmission of this request and accompanying documentation in any required report you must make to your E &O insurance carrier.

Sincerely,

signature

(Your Name)

[Anonymous]

thanks! so I send this to the OC or the CA or both?  And am i reading the letter right that HIPPA regulations state that no medical-related credit issues can be reported to credit bureaus because of privacy regulations?

[Anonymous]

yup!   call the hospital and ask for the address for the HIPAA COMPLIANCE OFFICE........it might be the same or different then the address of the hospital.

[Anonymous]

oh my gosh thank you so much! you are my new best friend.  And then it's their responsibility to have it all removed?  I don't have to call the CA?  Do i need to send them a copy of the letter of settlement from the CA to prove I paid them off?

Do they have to remove information on accounts that haven't been paid/settled? I just found one more tiny account with a $50 balance (but the CR says Past Due Amt:$0) from the same hospital listed by a different CA.  I didn't settle with them or pay them off but do they still have to take the information off?

There's also ANOTHER medical collections account that my CR says has bal:$0, Amt Past Due: $0,  account status:closed and has a comment of "PAID COLLECTION"  It's with a radiology company (which I assume qualifies as medical).  I don't have a letter proving I paid them, will a copy of my CR stating the above suffice?  Do I need to prove it's paid?

Thanks again for all of your help, you've really been a sanity saver!

Message Edited by stik78 on 07-11-2008 07:58 PM