I had a Dr Office submit a debt to collections that I had already paid nine months earlier. I discovered this when the CA called my house. Not knowing better at the time I corrected my name, mailing address and zip code and requested that they send something in writing. I denied the debt with the CA person on the phone, who threatened me with court action if I didn't send them money right away. I called the doctorâ??s office the next day (because they had already closed) and they said that there is nothing that they could do once a bill is posted to the CA, but that they could ask the CA to change it if I paid them right away. Because I was unable to get to my past records that were in storage and I wanted to do the right thing, I immediately drove to the Dr Office and gave them a check for the amount (just over $100). Then I want to my storage and got my billing archives. Thank God that I found and read this forum. I have already sent a registered dispute and validation letter to the CA and a dispute letter to the Dr Office demanding that they refund my money. Then I disputed with the CRA online who responded within hours that the debt was valid. Well, it's been over 45 days. My credit report still has a collection account past due and Iâ??ve received nothing from the CA, but the Dr Office did send me my un-cashed check and a copy of a letter sent to the CA telling them that it would be appreciated if the CA would correct the problem because they "had posted in error". No apologies though, which really makes me mad. They say the fault lies with their billing company. Hereâ??s some history. I discovered that the Dr office outsources billing to a company that had cashed my check nine months earlier for a visit 18 months earlier, but they had failed to notify the Dr office, and both failed to try and contact me directly via telephone. The CA had called me on a Thursday and posted a negative report to the CRA (EX) on the next day, Friday. I know because I monitor my credit using a service and received an alert. Also, when the CA called me initially I had told the CA that this was the first time that anyone has contacted me regarding this problem and she told me that I was lying because they had sent out a letter 30 days ago. I told her that I have a mailbox at the end of the driveway, and asked what reason the Post Office provided about delivery failure. She told me that it had been returned by the post office as undeliverable due to a non-existent address. Then I asked her to confirm my address and the CA had my name and address wrong, which they had received from the billing company. Wow, what idiots, my name and address are in the public phone book and the internet. Later that day I dug through my billing archives in storage and discovered documentation from the time of the original bill that I paid. I had written down at that time that the bill was stamped "overdue", and that the billing company had my address wrong, but the Post Office did get it to me after six weeks from the time of mailing. Additionally, I had written down that I had called the billing company to correct my address with them, the date and time and who I spoke with and that I told them that I was mailing payment the same day. I later discovered that the billing company had cashed my check nine days later. The Dr Office forced me provide a copy of my cashed check as proof, which cost me ten dollars, before they would call their billing company, who then admitted an error only after I threatened to open a fraud investigation through my bank. (I have since discovered that they are dumping their billing company due to errors per one of the receptionists) Today I paid $10.95 to Experian to get a copy of my credit report and the negative entry is still there. I again disputed this online. Then I called the Dr Office and they said the thereâ??s nothing that they can do because they have already told the CA to fix the problem, but that they would call later this week and ask again. The CA hasnâ??t responded to my dispute and validation request. I have my "green cards" from all my sent post mail. I have been woefully naïve about this process and having excellent credit this is something that Iâ??ve never experienced before. This is getting time consuming and I could use some advice to get this negative entry removed from my credit report. So, what do I do next? I would like to try and handle this myself to save on legal fees, but I don't want this to drag on either because I'm interviewing and don't need a credit blemish to affect the outcome of a proposal. BTW-this forum has been a great resource. UPDATE, 20080707: I just received an investigation result from Experian and the status has been verified and updated after only a couple of hours. How can it be verified if the debt doesn't exist?
After more searching, next step maybe to sue? After some more searching and reading I came across this post at t-disputing-debt-didnt-exist-52633.html#post380842 I think my next step is to prepare to sue the OC in small claims court (a first for me), but I'm not sure what to sue for specifically. (Other than false billing) It has lowered my FICO score. The OC is passing the buck saying that it's not their fault because their billing company screwed up and that I should contact the billing company. I thought WTF? Then the receptionist tells me to try and work out a deal with the CA. I told her that maybe I needed to have a talk with the good doctor at the club along with his friends about his billing errors that are going to cost him his patients and money. I was then told that she could only ask the CA to help, but that it's out of her hands now.
That's ridiculous. The Doctor's office (or the company that handled their billing) sent the account to the collection agency. They can take it back from the collection agency. It wasn't your mistake, you shouldn't have to jump through all kinds of hoops to fix it. The doctor's office should call the billing company and demand that the billing company remove the account from collections. But if they won't do that, then you should ask them for the contact information so you can talk to the billing company. Call them and ask them to fix this, and follow up with a letter sent CMRR. If that doesn't work, you may be off to small claims court.
Dr office submitted to collections It was the Dr office who submitted the bill to collections. A bill that had been paid to their billing department nine months prior, but the billing department failed to notify the Dr office. The Dr office has since discontinued business with that particular billing business and that businesses phone number is disconnected. The Dr office just told me yesterday that they can't and won't do anything more about it and referred me to the CA. The CA refuses to talk with me on the phone, they hung up on me yesterday. I just need this removed from my credit report because it was submitted in error the the Dr office. I wish that I could get compensated for my wasted time and money fixing their screw up.
Send a copy of that letter the doctors office gave you directly to the collection agency. If you can I would recommend finding a physical address and just walking in there with the copies yourself and request prompt action on this matter. Send a copy of that letter to the credit reporting agency asking for deletion. You can also contact the FTC for their dispute referral program, they can submit the dispute for you and possibly get action where you have not been able to. Usually if it goes through the FTC the credit reporting agency gives it more attention. I would wait on seeing a lawyer yet, you still might be able to fix this problem yourself and save some money.
I will personally visit the CA Thank you for the advice NightStar. I will hold off on a lawyer and pay the CA a personal visit. They have to kick me out of their office, which should be more difficult than simply hanging up on me. Of course, they could be working out of a home. Anyway, I'll find out. The Dr office did send a letter to the CA over a month ago asking the CA to fix the problem because of their own error. I received a copy of the letter that was addressed to the CA. Then I will send a copy of this same letter and the steps I've taken so far to both the CRA and FTC. Hopefully, this will get something done. I'm just peeved that these companies can ignore this problem when it has a direct impact on my personal credit. Maybe I even send a letter to the BBB. I'll update this thread when I get more information.
They don't ignore us they think were all a bunch of dead beat's,they ignore the law,because they think it only applies to us.make sure when you should them the letter you it hold close so they can read.im getting out of control.so keep us updated.
I visited the CA with a copy of letter from the Dr office. The lady admits that they also got the letter from the Dr office and have taken steps to correct the problem. I asked her why they didn't respond to my letters and she told me that they don't have to. She then said that they only report every 45 days, after which it could take another 6 weeks for the CRA to delete the record. I asked her then why was I reported after only one day after they called me, if they only report to the CRA every 45 days. She immediately got rude and told me to dispute with the CRA if I had any more problems. She then told me she considered our business done and walked away. I yelled at her back asking to speak with a manager and she told me that they have no more business with me and to leave. So, the CA has yet to report to the CRA to delete the entry because they're waiting for their next 45 day submission. I don't get it. The CRA has come back 3 times now from my online initiated investigations that this is a verified entry. The Dr office has washed it's hands of the mess and I'm stuck with an erroneous open collections entry on my credit report that could be there for another two months. I'm mad as hell.
I'm sorry i would have been taken out in handcuff's butt that's me give them sometime a simple fax are e-mail would have solved the problem.this is the case were the sqeaky wheel got hosed.
So they have put false information on your credit report and are refusing to correct it. I'd sue them.
get their attention File a lawsuit. Small claims. Max out the amount allowed - that will cover costs and such foryour time. Document all costs incurred by you to try to fix this. You can then take this to small claims. If they don't show you win, if they do show, you win.
Sorry to hear of the trouble you had, you can always send a copy of that letter to the FTC, they have a consumer dispute referral program. They can submit disputes for you. If you send them the letter they should make the credit reporting agency remove. If that does not work then I would get a lawyer.
Don't file in small claims. If you're going to file suit, sue them in federal, where the judges understand the federal laws.
Negative report has been deleted! Well, I filed a complaint with the BBB against both parties with registered mail copies sent to them too. I threatened contacting the Attorney General and a Federal lawsuit against the CA and CRA and demanded that the CRA provide the name and address of the company that verified the information. Next thing I know I get an e-mail saying a previous investigation was updated. And discovered that the record was deleted. Thank God. Now I must request in writing that they send the updated information to all of the credit granters who reviewed my information in the past six months, or in my case the time that the negative report was part of my record. This has been a learning process and a situation that I hope never to repeat. Luckily I didn't have to go to court. I thank everyone who has provided help and information directly and indirectly to other postings and promise to share this website and what I've learned with anyone that I can.
