Gooooood morning, **I haven't posted in a while.** I see there are alot of newbies on the board. I hope someone is out there who can help. I am helping my sister with her credit. She has some medical bills listed on her report. I was told by a friend that medical bills can not be listed on the CR. However, looking at the FCRA and FDCPA---I did not find anything. If anyone knows the law that governs this let me know. We live in Texas if this helps. Also, she has no revolving credit. I attempted to apply for starter credit cards (Orchard, Household, HSBC, and Premier). They are only offering her secured cards of at least $300. Please advise if you know of a credit card that is not sured. THANKS YOU GUYS AND HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!
When you say your sister has "medical bills" on her CR, do you mean she has medical bills that have been turned over to collections? Can your sister confirm that service listed? If not, they may not be legitimate.
As for revolving credit, a secured card is not a bad way to go. Orchard's secured card doesn't report as a secured card, and with nothing else on your report, it will go a long way to improving your score. Stay away from cards like First Premier. For what they charge in intial fees on an unsecured card, you could open a secured account, and have more of a balance immediately available. You can get a Crown Jeweler's secured card, it will report to all three bureaus and reports a $500 limit, and everyone is approved. A purchase is required, but a small purchase is fine. Chevron's gas card is easy to get, and also works at Texaco stations. Further down the line you can try for cards from Target and Macy's.
Regarding the medical bills she can not confirm the bills are hers. I was inquiring about a law about reporting medical bills on the CR. Thanks for the recommendation on the CCs. Have a great day. Tammy
("borrowing" from WhyChat) 1. Opt Out 2. Delete Old Addresses 3. If your sister cannot confirm that these are truly her accounts, she should DISPUTE it with the CRA as " This account is unknown to me, please furnish me with the correct name and address of the medical provider, the date of service, and who the service was provided to".
She might also look into a secured card with a credit union. It might have better terms, and be more likely to be converted to unsecured, than sub-prime lenders. If she has negative medical TLs on her CR, she may have to deal with that first. She can both dispute with the OC or CA, obtaining the address from the CRA, and dispute with the CRA as "not mine". The CRA will probably do little beyond requesting that the OC or CA "verify" the account electronically, which may get it off if, say, some identifying information is clearly wrong, but the CRA would be unlikely to send any additional information on the account. That is the responsibility of the CA if you dispute with them.
The first issue is whether they are even yours or not. If they are not yours, they are being erroneously reported, and FCRA supports removing them by disputing, either to the CRA, or to the OC or CA, and suing if needed. The second issue is if they are yours, are they accurate, or legitimately posted as a "collection" account. For example, if they were your bills, but you paid them, and they were reporting with a balance due, that would also be erroneous. Or if they were sent to a CA after you had already timely paid the OC, or due to errors in submitting an insurance claim by the provider, I would still dispute with both the OC and CA. The third issue, which you bring up, is whether medical bills in general can be reported. I do not know of any prohibition within FCRA or FDCPA to accurate reporting of legitimate medical bills. There might be other limitations on a state by state basis, possibly connected to medical privacy laws. Why pursue issue 3 if issue 1 applies, and give you the strongest leverage to force removal?
Ontrack, What you are saying is absolutely true. However, a friend mentioned---there was a law. I am familiar with the FCRA and FDCPA....and wanted to know if there was something I was missing. Thanks!!
