Credit report - Account in Collections
 

I’ve been working very hard to establish good credit here so imagine my shock when I pulled my credit report and found that it said that I had an account in collection.

My Credit report says that I have not paid a bill of $266 in 2004 to a medical company that I have never heard of, but the date does tie in with another hospital bill so I think it is legit. I checked the statements from my insurer and it does show that they submitted a claim to my insurer, but it was declined because my excess had not been met. The company did NOT send me a bill or any correspondence at all. The bill was passed to the collection agency about 6 months ago, but they have not contacted me either yet.

Has anyone else been in this situation? and what is the best way to resolve this and hopefully be able to get it removed from my credit report. I have no problems paying the bill, but I want to ensure that they know that I never received a bill. Do I contact the original creditor or the collections company, do I need to dispute the report with Equifax?

Thanks
Stu

Re: Credit report - Account in Collections
 

Re: Credit report - Account in Collections
 

I am not condoning this but there is a slight loophole you may exploit. If you file a dispute on the entry the company have a limited time to respond - if they dont respond in this time then the entry is deleted. Many financial institutions are currently overfaced with such disputes since everyone is entitled to a free credit report, so it might work in your favor - and technically you have never heard of this company or had a bill!!

Of course they may be super efficient - but at least you might get some answers - file the dispute with the agency. :)

Re: Credit report - Account in Collections
 

All's fair in love and war!

OP needs to read up on a specialist forum on how to contest this (link given my post above). He has the advantage that it is a medical collection and therefore you have a lot more ammunition to throw at them than, say, a credit card collection.

If OP intends to pay but requires the blots removing from his credit record, he should follow the links through to the "HIPPA letter". But he should do nothing until he fully understands the plan he intends to follow since actions can have unintended and irreversible consequences.

Re: Credit report - Account in Collections
 

Crap, might have blown it already then.

I spoke to the Hospital I was in and got the phone number for the Company that did not bill me. Spoke to them and foun out that they did not put my apartment number on the bills hence why I never received it. They told me that I had to speak to the collections agency to clear it up.

Re: Credit report - Account in Collections
 

You're okay! Go to the board I gave and have a bloody good read. I'm assuming that you want to pay the bill and get it off your credit record. This should be possible. Don't waste your time speaking to them on the phone or running around with them and their cronies in crime. When you've decided how you're going to proceed, everything needs to be in writing with proof of receipt stuff. Trust the bastards not one inch, and learn how to dictate to them what will happen rather than the other way round. If you just pay it now, they'll happily take the money and leave it on your credit report for the next seven years -- not a good deal!

Re: Credit report - Account in Collections
 

Man there is a lot of reading there, thanks for the link fatbrit :)

Think I understand the basics, hopefully this will work

Re: Credit report - Account in Collections
 

Take it slowly. It's an art as much as it is a science.