In February of â??04 I had to make a trip to the ER, I gave them my info for Cigna and paid my Co-pay. About 6 months after that I received a letter from a collections agency stating I owed $385 for the visit. I called Cigna and they told me there was a glitch in there system and they had paid $1200 instead of $1585. They told me they would review it and get back to me. A few days later they called to say the check was issued and they had contacted the collections agency ad the original billing company and informed them of the error. I called an confirmed with the collections agency and was assured it was handled. In march of â??05 I received a letter from the same collections agency and was told that the amount was still outstanding. I called Cigna and they told me they again and a glitch and had never issued the check. I spoke with a supervisor and received a copy of the check and they called the collections group and the original biller and informed them again of the error and sent out the payment. I confirmed this with the collections agency. At that point the man told me there would be a few dollars in interest, and at the time I paid it hopping to be done with this forever. In July I received another letter stating the was still $385 outstanding. I called Cigna who faxed me over a copy of the cashed check and sent that over to the collections agency and was told it was an error between the biller and the collections agency and to disregard the letter. In November I received another letter stating the outstanding balance was $385. I called the collection agency and they told me again that it was an error with them and the biller. I found out at the end of January that I have a mark on my credit for an outstanding balance of $385. I went back through my files and pulled out all the info again. I called the collections agency and was told I still owe the money. After digging around a bit I found the new phone number for the original biller and managed to talk to someone today about it. They informed me that the account has been paid in full and that the collections agency was notified of this in June of â??05. I feel like a moron because when I first got notified there was a problem, I pulled up one of the â??fire a collection agency and work with original billerâ? forms and never sent it. Iâ??ll never make this mistake again. I applied for a CC and was turned down because the report they pulled showed a seriously delinquent account (a collections account). Iâ??ll also be moving into a new area in the next 3-5 months and I donâ??t want this to interfere with my chance of renting a home/apartment. So here are my questionsâ?¦ Is there a way to completely remove the collections agency marks from my report? The amount was paid in full to the original biller on the collections agency. I paid them a few dollars in interest at one point so I have a feeling I canâ??t. The collections agency is worthless so Iâ??m thinking Iâ??ll have to at least dispute the account stating paid in full, but Iâ??m not even sure what credit reports this shows on. I recently had credit line increases on two credit cards so Iâ??m pretty sure itâ??s not showing on all my reports. What is the best way to pull all 3? Is there a service that is reasonable that will let me pull all 3 say once a month for the next 3 months so I can see how things are working out? Also be nice if I could dispute the claims online, but I can mail them in if needed. Any ideas or suggestions of other things I can do are appreciated. Thank you for your time, Tim
So the account was paid in full by insurance to the original provider? The interest was also paid to the original provider? The account when paid was owned by the provider, and only assigned to the CA? Have all of your contacts with the CA and the original provider been by phone? Have you written any letters, or received any letters?
Cigna paid in full including interest to the original provider of service. The collection agency was the only one contacting me. I'm not sure what you mean by owned. Cigna will not write checks to a CA, they only deal with the original provider. All contact has been via telephone. Edit: the copy of the check i have was deposited by the original provider. Edit2: I just looked over a letter from the CA and it says they are collecting this amount FOR EMSOC(the provider)
