New to the site, thought someone might be able to tell where I should begin. My FICO score/Credit Report is a mess!!!!! About 5 years ago my credit went down the toilet...I got divorced, my eldest son was diagnosed with diabetes and a couple months later my youngest went through reconstructive head surgery. Topping it all off I was encountering health problems myself due to complications with my pregnancy. All of us were in and out of the hospital/doctors office and the costs of monthly prescriptions were (still are) outrageous. My insurance was horrible and incurred alot of residual medical bills. With working FT (minimum wage job) and trying to complete my degree, money was extremely tight. I was trying to pay each creditor something and was living paycheck to paycheck. Some of the creditors were understanding but majority of them were less than helpful and VERYYYYYY frustrating!!!!! Calling every other day to "read me out" over the money owed. Probably 80% of the creditors were "Unwilling" to accept a $10 - $20 payment (which is what I could afford at the time). Most of accounts eventually ended up being trurned over to collection agencies and they were worse than the original creditor. It was ridiculous...you couldn't please them! I finally came to a point where I gave up. Within the last year I've been going through and trying to clean up my credit report. Its amazing what is reported when you aren't looking. I had duplicate and triplicates of some medical bills, which I ended up getting removed but still have some which the CRA's refused to remove...all they tell me is their "VALID". My response back is "I understand the debt is valid however, what your missing is the fact your reporting the debt TWICE" and they can't do that legally (Right?). Regardless, I've gotten my credit report (almost) down to either the original creditor or the collection agency only...so I know what I have left in "Unpaid Medical bills" that I know of. I've reviewed alot of posts on "Unpaid Collection Accounts" vs. "Paid Collection Accounts". From what I've seen their basically the same regardless of paying them off? If thats the case here's my dilema, these debts are around 4 years old. I have a total balance of around $6K, around 18 or so "Unpaid Medical" accounts. My FICO score last time I checked was 559, which is killing me. There has been no activity from these agenecies for a couple years(according to my credit report last updated by agencies in 98-99). I can't afford to just whip out the check book and pay them off but, I would like to work out an amicable settlement with the companies. Ultimately removing the "Open collection" accounts from my credit report is the goal. I don't want to open a can of worms with the creditors and have them hounding me day and night nor, do I want to pay the medical bills off and still have the items on my report. Not sure exactly where to start or how to go about this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Well AndersonL let me be the first to welcome you aboard. You have a lot of work to do. And don't pay anything just yet. Aside from what you've read about paid/unpaid collections what have you read about medical accounts. specifically, did you in fact get the bills from the dr's and hospitals to the correct address and in a timely manner. Let's begin there. You don't want to attack this all at once. As soon as your head pops up they will be back to collections activity again. The good news is the older these accounts are the harder they are to validate. Have you gotten all your reports?
Thanks for the welcome =) Q: Did you in fact get the bills from the dr's and hospitals to the correct address and in a timely manner. A: Some of the bills had the correct address listed. Others were sent to my ex-husbands address so, naturally I didn't receive those until they were already in a collection status and on my credit report. I've gone back and forth with some of the Dr's and Hospitals on the bills, my ex-husband was legally responsible for these at the time but the hospitals and collection agencies seem to disregard that fact. I don't believe there is anything I can really do about making my ex liable either because, a year or so ago I legally terminated his parental rights. Q: Have you gotten all your reports? A: Yes I have received all 3 of my credit reports. Just a side note: Currently I have about 9 open revolving/installment accounts that have had no late or missed payments (6 CC's, Auto Loan, and Student Loans). Accounts have been open ranging from 6-20 months. This was done to help start re-establishing my credit.
