and as I suspected I have multiple collection accounts that I don't feel should be on my report. Here's the deal: back in 2000 I had knee surgery and the insurance company 'forgot' to pay 4 bills. Well in the process of getting my car last year I had to have those debts settled. So I contacted the insurance company and gave them the information and they paid all 4 bills in full. Needless to say they're now on my credit report dragging down my score. I have a couple of questions regarding this - The first question is there is now 6 collection accounts for what seems to be those 4 incidents. Should I call the creditor to find out which to dispute or just start sending validation letters? - The second question is what course of action do you think is going to be necessary to get these removed since they are paid. But truly are not my debt? I also have some other items on my report I'd like removed but as it said in the FAQ I'll focus on the blatantly wrong stuff first Ã? Thanks, Steve
I am not sure if I should be giving advice since I have 2 of these same TL's in collections, both paid by insurance after the fact. However I am still in the middle of fighting with the CA's for deletion so I don't know how well this process works. I used Why Chat's site, here's the link to the HIPAA info for health care collections. You'll need to send the letter to the actual health care provider that sent your account to collections, not the CA: http://community-2.webtv.net/YCHANGE/STORAGE/page14.html and his site in general: http://community-2.webtv.net/Y-chat/WhyChatsCredit/ Read thru the info in depth, Why Chat's got great advice so trust it. I know there have been a lot of folks using the HIPAA letter, but I don't know the outcome of those. I am awaiting mine tensely! Keep us posted.
I just had sort of the same problem. I had a collection on my report which was unpaid medical. Turns out the hospital sent thew bill to an 8 year old address. I contacted the CA and paid the balance. I lucked out with the rep since she forwarded it to the OC and they had had it deleted since they were at fault. My approach would be the sweet and nice, desperately trying to clean up my report and speak to the right person at the CA. If you plead mercy, and state your case, without getting indignant, you will probably succeed. Try the nice approach first. If you get an a-hole rep, try calling again at a completely different time. Mitch
