A couple years ago, I was issued a summons for a medical debt. I called the office and said "I have an HMO, I paid my co-pay" and told them whatever (can't remember) that the insurance company said. They admitted their error (medical co) and I said "what do I do about this summons?" and they said "ignore it, we will get it cancelled". I just pulled my 3 credit reports and it is listed on two of them. Is it on file because they filed it in the first place? If due to their mistake, and realized it was not my responsibility, will I still show up anytime anybody does a judgement search? Or is it on here because it WASN'T dismissed? It makes me mad if it's even in the court records permanently if the company made an error, that is not my fault, (to not try to clear it up before this, I contributed tho), but can the record be removed completely on the court records and how can I get this off my report? And hi, newbie, with lots and lots of problems, trying to do searchs and learning a little before posting for help but since this one kind of stands by itself, I'd like to address it while I'm learning the waters. Guess my plans to refinance next month are out tho. :-( Coming out of chapter 13, payback 100% in early July (been in 2 1/2 yrs), wanted to refi and get money out for a house addition, but need to work on this report first now I see. Pulled a credit score from EXp for $5 before I read enough here to realize EXP was not the place to pull, but it was 579. :-( Anyway, be posting soon, hoping for some directions and appreciate all replies. EQ - not reported EXP - Judgement: $1500 status: civil claim judgement liability amount: $0 date resolved: NA responsibility: NA date of removal: chopped off my printout TU - type: civil judgement responsibility: joint amount: $1500 est date of removal: 2012 And what is "joint" btw? My insurance co and I?...I've been single for over 10 years.
Do you have your EOB from your insurance showing that they were already paid? Had they already been paid when they sued?
They had not been paid. Can't remember the details, whether it was part of the "write off" portion that a doctor gets hit with an HMO, or what, but it was NOT that it was already paid. And I "think" it was part of the writeoff portion because I have no recollection of telling the doctors office to resubmit or anything and it would be paid...my memory is that the issue was "mute" once it was brought to the doctor's office's attention. I can call my insurance to find out tho if necessary. It is dated 2003.
Work thru your insurance company. If it is an in-network doctor, they have obligations under their contract that the insurance company can enforce. In addition, they probably don't have the right to collect separately amounts beyond the insurance contracted rate schedule. You want your company to enforce your contract, and the doctor to vacate the judgement, assisting you in removing from credit reports.
Do you mean as in have the insurance company contact the doctor's office to ask them to remove the civil judgement record? The issue about payment is solved, was even before the hearing was scheduled, which was why they were dismissing the suit (or supposedly). Everything is hunky dory money wise, doctors office realized it was not money "I" owed and I'm thinking it was not even money the insurance company owed, so nothing was owed the doctor's office. They just didn't process the insurance correctly, which showed the balance. So the question of money being owed isn't the point, the point now is they filed to sue for it and afterwards, but before the hearing, it was determined they had no right to seek the money. They said they would dismiss the suit, this was weeks before we were due in court. And I'm wondering if it's on my credit report simply because they filed it in the first place, or if they filed and forgot to dismiss it. Either way, it was not a valid suit in the first place, which was pointed out to them before the court date and they acknowledged this. I guess I'm trying to understand what my insurance company can do. If they had a problem with the doctor seeking money from me after the fact, that would have been their issue to take up at the time. I'm thinking I contact the doctor's office but can they get any record of the dismissed judgement removed from ANY court records? If I were to re-fi, even if it didn't show on my credit reports, it might show up in a more extensive search, and if the doctor's office filed it erronously and due to an error on their part in the first place, why do I get the black mark of them having initiated it in the first place? :-(
Does your credit report show a judgement? Was there a default judgement, resulting in the reporting of a judgement on your credit report? If the doctor's office agrees that no payment is due, even if there is a judgement, they should agree to vacating the judgement. You can then work on getting the judgement removed from your credit report, with their assistance if needed.
In the mean time, if you get the doctor's office to vacate the judgement, if you did need to refi, you could probably use credit rescoring based on documentation from the doctor to minimize the effect of the information on your report.
Thank you for (all) replies. I meant to get home early enough to call the courts to see what they said. I can't tell by what's on the two credit reports if they are reporting a default judgement or just reporting because it was scheduled. I will mail a letter to the doctor's office on Monday asking them to remove it but call the courts Monday AM to find out exactly what they have on record. Thank you for all the replies. I'm going to compose a summary of all three reports and will post hopefully over the weekend. One has 31 negatives, probably about 8-10 of which are the same student loans, the OC, and the collection agency each showing the same ones...the OC shows as "charged off" but I consolidated so they didn't "charge off" in my opinion, they got their money. Anyway, not a pretty site but need to get my arms around all three and them will come here for guidance. If only I'd known about this six months ago, I might be ready to re-fi this summer. :-( Thanks again for all the replies.
Ok, called the courts and the doctor's office today. Courts do have a default judgement and I found my folder with the summons AND the garnishment statement. So in summary...I receive the summons, I call my insurance and they contact the doctor's office and the doctor's office understand this amount is NOT due...think it was part of the chargeoff under the HMO plan, but it's not due by either me or hte insurance company. So the doctor's office says they will call their attorney and tell them to dismiss the case. They don't or for some reason this didn't happen, so the attorney goes to court, I'm not there because I was told by the doctor's office they would get it dismissed so I wouldn't have to go (my mistake), and then a garnishment arrives at work. I immediately call the doctor's office who has someone at the attorney's office fax over something to say "don't garnish". This must have happened because I was never garnish and I'm going to personnel today to see what is in my record that they faxed...and what it says. So I called the doctor's office yesterday. They have moved, he's out of town for a week and the nurse said she'd have to wait until he got back next week to find out whose got his old records from the other place. (This was all March 2003 btw). So here's where I need help...my first letter, I want to write a letter summarizing the situation...do I get nasty, act mad, get stern, or just recap nicely and ask that it is removed, say it appearing on my credit report and is negatively affecting me when it wasn't my error in the first place. Your suggestions would be most appreciated. Dont' know what the "do not garnish" letter says, will be interesting to see what it says as the reason to NOT garnish. If the judgement is vacated...is that an admission of error or just that it's settled? Will those show up on a mortgage search even if it's not on the CR. Even if it shows but will not negatively affect me if they "rescore" based on circumstances...it's a dayum shame I have to have the red flag in the first place... :-(
In your letter, be very direct and firm. Save going ballistic for a later time, but don't gloss over the errors they have made and their responsibilities to correct them either. Include that this is damaging, and delay in correcting is more damaging, without going into details. All parties know it is damaging. "It's someone else's fault", or "I can't do anything about that" are not acceptable, since the reply is "Then, pay". Pull copies of your credit reports, including FICO scores. Document any damages that accrue as a result, such as rejected credit applications, or rate increases. Outline the sequence of what happened, including that while they told you they were correcting the account and that both your insurance and they agreed that no amount was due, that their attorney proceeded to sue, that they obtained a default judgement and a garnishment order, but that their attorney had at least retracted the garnishment order. Outline what the current state of the problem is, and what is being reported on your credit report, and the damage it is doing to you, and what you want them to do to fix it promptly, vacating the judgement, and ensuring that all damaging information is permanently removed from your credit reports. Put the full situation in one place, in your letter. All other parties will easily forget their part in the mess, so you will probably need to pull them back in line to get this corrected. Although the fastest path to correct this is if they do it willingly, you have to proceed as if you might have to force them.
I am beyond furious. Just before sending off my letter to the doctor's office, I decided to swing by the general sessions office to see if they had any documentation that "drove" the garnishment release order that remember...was faxed to my company on the day I received the garnishment order, when I called the doctor's office and said 'YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO DISMISS THE CASE...since there wAS no case!!!". The release document has a comment that says "reason for release is bankruptcy". My chapter 13 bankruptcy, which I was IN when this happened last year had NOTHING to do with this $1400 bill. I even called Cigna again today and she faxed me the EOB (?) that clearly shows this $1400 is the part that is to be WRITTEN OFF by the doctor under his agreement with Cigna. I saw on a lawyer's website in IL, that "dunning of charges above the "customary blah blah" and that is not part of the co-pays or deductions" is like punishable (somehow) in ILL. How can I find out if that is the case for Tennessee too? I would love to include that in my letter to the doctor. It was either the error on the doctor's office part to communicate to their attorney to DISMISS charges, or an error on the lawyer's part that he didn't dismiss charges that the judgment went through in the first place...THEN they say it's released due to BANKRUPCY? How about DUE TO OUR ERROR???? I realize my responsibility in not showing up for the hearing even tho I was told it would be cancelled and not worry about it. That won't happen ever again. Am I right to be furious? Don't think there's much that can be done but by God, I want at least the paperwork to be right. What happens if upon a extensive mortgage search, they check public records, see that the judgment is "set aside" or "vacated" but also see that the reason given was BANKRUPTCY???? When I asked about getting it off my credit reports, the court lady told me that after the attorney has the judge sign off on the "set aside" order, that I will THEN have to go down there again to get documents and mail then to the credit bureau's myself. I said "I don't think so, the attorney can do that while he's here" and she said 'I don't think the attorney will do that" and I said "we'll see". If it was their error in the first place, I'm already pissed I've spent this much time on it and yeah...I used all kinds of talk of "with mortgage rates flucuating the damage any delay in this matter is untold"...and the stress and the time spent and the embarrassment that I was given a summons at work and then a garnishment order was delivered to my employer...oh the shame! I had to take a xanax when I left, and then when I went through a drive through and ordered sweet tea, and as I drove off to take my pill, realized they gave me UNSWEET?????? LOL...poor lady, she better be glad she probably only makes $6 an hour because I wanted to turn right away and say "I SAID SWEET!".
