Hospital Medical All Together In 1 Entry On Report-Hit Report & Caused 65 Point Loss

[Anonymous]

Hello! Okay, a collection just hit report on Equifax (which was being monitored by scorewatch-no update alert, though). Anyways, it is medical. Says "unknown name" for creditor. Called Eq today and the rep said she doesnt know the name, but provided a name???? Anyways, it is a local hospital in the town of which we live. DH called and spoke with the billing clerk at the hospital and she told him that the medical was for me, not him. I called back as she then stated that the medical was mine, dh, and daughter's combined. It was for all treatments that we received since April 2002. The old charge is medical for daughter. She said that they always report that way, with all medical combined in 1 sum and just use 1 date (which they used 2005 as the date of service for entry). How is this legal? They have combined all of the dates of service from the hospital to show 1 date and all of the fees that the ins company did not pay in 1 lump sum. Is this seriously legal???? Just when I thought we were doing great, the bottom falls out! We were due to put an offer in on a house this week and now we are seriously outta the picture for getting financed. No joke! This is as bad as it gets for us. We made so much progress over the past several months and now this. The total due is $3,086.00 and not a chance to pif-we have literally put every penny towards old debt since the 1st of the year to raise score by reducing debt. I just honestly want to give up on this. I mean this just turned our world up-side-down.

Any suggestions out there as I am at my wits end. Thanks!

[fused]

I'm very sorry to hear this has happened to you and your family. While its not unusual for doctors and hospitals to have "family accounts or ledgers", entering all treatments dates as one single date of service is ridiculous. I would ask them to provide you your family's account ledger.

Seeing that you can't pay this debt off in full, the HIPAA process doesn't apply. Have you posted your mortgage situation in the mortgage forum? Maybe one of the LOs or others might be able to help you.

[Anonymous]

Fused, thanks for replying! I have not posted in the mortgage forum yet. The mortgage company has already told us that we will have to make payment arrangements with any medical before we would be able to close. I could handle them reporting, but they are not reporting correctly in my eyes. The lady at the hospital said the last treatment date was in 04/2002 and that is included in that balance. So, as of this month that is 7 years. I know that they can report for 7-7.5 years from the date of service. I am just furious that they did not send a letter or anything advising of them turning this in to a CA. When I talked to her today she did ask if we had been contacted by a CA and I advised her that we have not-and we have not been. She sounded shocked that we have not been notified. She said that they will continue to report until the balance is pif. She said that we could make monthly payments, which it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that. However, they will not remove this from the CRA. I did go ahead and pay for and EX and TU report and this medical is not showing on either of them-yet. And hopefully they will not report to them as we need a mid score to be at least 620. I am just shocked that 1 collection caused a 65 point loss! I have read that things like that can destroy your score but never ever realized it would really destroy a score like that! TU is over 600 and EQ was almost there. We can get the mortgage with a 580 mid but we were shooting for a 620 all the way across so we would be safe. This is just crazy to me! And on top of that we signed up for scorewatch on 04/01 and never were alerted the drop in score or the new account. I just decided to pull the report today so we could at least place an offer on a house that we found. I did call EQ and dispute as they placed all of these medical bills together. I did not think that that was legal. We have had other medical bills on our CR and they have always been listed separately-never together. Can you please advise me if this is legal how they reported? If so, can you explain how it is legal. I have read and re-read the FCRA and the HIPPA codes today and I cannot figure this out. And of course on top of trying to figure it all out, just very bummed. They are sending a copy of all of the bills together as they have reported. When that is received, can I forward a copy to the CRA and dispute for inaccuracy? I just really need advise on this one. We have been trying so hard and BAM, this appears. Please advise of what I can do if anything. I appreciate your help!

Message Edited by bearcat59 on 04-06-2009 05:30 PM

[fused]

Yes, ask the OC for a copy your family's account. Until we know exactly what is says, there's not much I can offer you. If the last date of service was really in 04/2002, this med collection should be off the report by no later than 5/1/2009.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, fused. I was typing with rage I guess. The first date is April 2002, not the last date. And the last date of treatment they are showing on this bill is from 2005. She said that is why they have listed the date as of 2005 on the credit report. I am sure this changes things. I have been trying to "dig" up a recent statement from them as we have used them within the past year. The last report that they have sent included all dates of service together, but they are for more recent medical dates as in 2008 to present. They list the patient name, date of service, charges, minus ins and balance, then the next date with name and so on. My issue with this this they are reporting 1 entry with 1 balance with a date of service as 2005. I mean I really don't want them to list each single date as this would be more detrimental I think, but can they legally report all medical together for 3 patients and use 1 date of service and 1 amount? I thought each date of service had to be reported seperately. I am so confused. They are mailing a copy and I should have it within the next few days, but I know looking at this recent bill of what the statements look like. Thanks again fused!

[Anonymous]

fused, I received a copy of the statement today and this is how it reads:

9/20/04          DH         15.00

4/25/08          DH        314.40

4/25/08          DH        104.44

5/07/08          DH        100.00

8/09/08          DH        100.00

9/21/08          DH        100.00

2/20/09          DH        ins pending

2/04/03          Me        770.03

12/03/04        Me        1,127.34

12/03/04        Me        228.82

4/01/02          DD        120.92

6/27/03          DD        424.35

9/14/08          DD        100.00

total due from patient   3,505.30

Now they reported the date on the report as 2005 in the amount of 3,086.00. Help please! Thanks!

[fused]

I assume the dates on the left are the actual DOS (dates of servcie)?

[Anonymous]

Yes, i guess...it just says "date". Here is how it is listed here on myfico ex report:

Credit Account Account opened in Aug 2005

Status as of Mar, 2009

Date opened Aug, 2005

Date of last activity Aug, 2005

Date closed Not Reported

Account number Not Reported

Loan type Not Reported

Largest past balance $0

Terms Not Reported

Account Type Open Account

Account holder Individual

Scheduled payment amount $0

Descriptions

• Medical
• Collection account

No contact information provided by Equifax

Balance Current Status Past Due Amount $3,086 120+ days past due Not Reported Seven year payment history 30 days late 0 times 60 days late 0 times 90+ days late 0 times Worst Delinquency None Reported The Worst Delinquency reports the worst missed payment status that has been documented on this account. Your FICO® score evaluates how recently that missed payment occurred and in general, the more recent, the more impact it has on your score. However, the fact that it occurred is still predictive of future payment risk and could be considered by your FICO® score.

[fused]

When it comes to getting the most info, you need to pull your reports directly from the CRAs, myfico reports are just awful. I need to see what the DOFD is on your EQ report, myfico never shows this.

[Anonymous]

Do you happen to know an inexpensive way to pull from them?