I have been doing pretty well in my credit clean up thanks to this board and just when things started getting good I find another tradeline entered onto my CR. This is for a medical bill for my son, my wife signed the financial responsiblity and thought insurance had paid. There is a balance of $350.00. I never recieved a statement regarding this and was only notified when alerted by Credit Expert of the new entry. My wife has told me that they have sent letters but she threw them away thinking it was'nt important. I have called and offered to PIF if deleted and they say no way, this is strange because we have used this doctor for our kids and have always paid when insurance hasn't. In our state there is a law that states a husbands and wifes debts are seperate and one cannot be held liable for the liabilities of the other. They have also recieved notice that I dispute this debt and have not noted so on my CR. I don't really want to get nasty with this clinic but I will not have any derogs placed on my report at this time considering all the hard work I have put into this. I know that using "I never signed for financial responsibilty" is a technicality but it is the law. I feel bad doing this to a business that I have used for several years and have never had a problem with until now but they are not budging on the deletion upon payment. Does anyone have any ideas? Should I start being a little more forceful with this company?
Sounds like 2 violations: (1) Illegally entry on your report, and (2) No indication of the dispute on your report. At $1,000 per violation, they would owe you $1,650 above the balance for the service.
I know I have them on FCRA violations but I really would rather not go that route, my wife really likes the doctor and I think this is more of a problem with office staff. I worse comes to worse I will get nasty but I am wanting to avoid that if at all possible.
Did you ever talk to the ofc mgr? Your wife may like the doctor, but if the ofc has a hands off approach to this matter, you'll be uncomfortable every time you go back there.
I have tried talking to the office manager and the "collections" manager. That is really where the problem lies, they have no idea about the laws relating to credit reporting, if it was a CA I could at least talk to someone who thinks they know what they are talking about. These people have no idea. Personally I don't want to do business with them anymore, but my kids love the doctor and my wife doesn;t want to switch. I have no problem paying this, I just wish they woulld have sent the letters to me instead of my wife. I talked to her some more this evening and I guess this doctor's office sends all sorts of things to us newsletters, articles of interest anything, so I can't really get mad at my wife for throwing statements away when we weren't expecting any.
Let me get this straight, they sent bills to your wife, but placed this on YOUR report for non-payment? Who has the insurance, you or your wife? I always thought they send the "left-over" bill to the one with the insurance, so if you are the one with the ins. maybe that's why. I would be pretty blunt with the collections manager, check your state Unfair Debt Collection laws, in my state they hold the internal CA's to the same standard of the external CA's. I would tell them that hey have violated your rights and in order to avoid a lawsuit you will pay in exchnage for deletion. You may also want to speak to the doctor, tell him/her of the problem. Sometimes you have to play hardball to get what you want!!
KHM, My wife signed the financial responsiblilty statement, her insurance paid and the balance was our portion after insurance. I am sending them a letter tommorrow with a demand for removal, if they refuse I guess I will have to get a little more aggressive.
If a doctor treated my finances like this I sure as He** would not want them treating my body because you might end up dead.
Re: ANY ideas please... HMOs usually forbid balance billing, as that would allow the providers to collect over and above the contracted amount and copay. Then their price controls tactics are out the window. Nonetheless, many providers continue this practice because the HMOs are lax to enforce that section of the provider's contract. Contact the insurance company to find out if such a clause exists. If so, you have grounds to refute the balance & resort to the FDCPA, etc. If you have coverage in your own name as well, the provider can file a claim through them for any remaining balance. I may have mentioned this before, but the staff of your local congressman / assemblyman could place a courtesy call on your behalf. Sometimes their mere expression of concern is enough to get the ball rolling.
