medical collection: collection agency vs. hospital accounting dept

[rebeme44]

Hello:

My FICO score went down on all 3 credit bureaus about 26 points due to a medical collection.  Do I contact the collection agency or the hospital (which is right around the corner from where I live) to make the payment or settle - and I do have the money to do both?  I want the item to be deleted from all 3 of the credit bureaus.  The collection agency is Medical Data Systems.  Which route should I go to get this done?  I disputed the collection item with all 3 credit bureaus already.

[Anonymous]

Ask the hospital to recall the debt from the CA and you’ll pay them directly. If they agree, they’ll revoke collection authority from the CA, who will have to remove themselves from your reports. Do not pay until the CA is off - if you pay before that, the CA has no impetus to delete.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Ask the hospital to recall the debt from the CA and you’ll pay them directly. If they agree, they’ll revoke collection authority from the CA, who will have to remove themselves from your reports. Do not pay until the CA is off - if you pay before that, the CA has no impetus to delete.

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+1 for this response!  This is the route we are taking as well!

[Hockeypnc1]

What if the hospital refuses to recall the debt and say "your balance with us is 0, the collection agency has the debt now"

??

[Anonymous]

If they do, then you’ll have to just deal with the CA at that point.

[Remedios]

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@Hockeypnc1 wrote:

What if the hospital refuses to recall the debt and say "your balance with us is 0, the collection agency has the debt now"

??

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There is a suggestion in this thread on how to deal with medical collections. Good luck. 

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Help-Credit-in-the-500s-with-many-new-charge...

[Anonymous]

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@Hockeypnc1 wrote:

What if the hospital refuses to recall the debt and say "your balance with us is 0, the collection agency has the debt now"

??

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In this scenario, you have recourse! First, you can try a PFD (pay for delete) with the CA. Contact the CA (you can call them, or write), and ask if they are willing to delete the collection from your report, in exchange for payment. If so, great!

If not, you have recourse! Google, "tough nickel medical collections," and follow her instructions in the article. My DW's CA refused PFD, so we just paid the balances to $0. Then the collection tradelines lingered on her report, month after month, her scores were mired. We then took up the tough nickel approach, and within a month, the collections were removed across the board. Her credit score is now untethered and rising every month.  Good luck!!