I called Central Financial Control(Tenet) about a collection account that is posted to all 3 CRA's for the amount of $186.72 2 weeks ago. I made an offer of "pay to delete" and the csr just got down right ugly. I called the OC to find out the exact details of the debt. Come to find out an error was made between me and my insurance carrier and the debt is valid. However, I never acknowledged that fact at any time. Imagine my surprise today when I open up my mail and find a letter from NCO stating that my OC has placed the debt with them. Now get this: These mofo's actually have the balls to claim that "now" the bill is $201.39 of which $14.67 is interest. The letter actually states that! Unbelievable! Osama Bin Laden has a better chance of being the speaker of the House of Reps before I pay these bastards one penny of interest. What would be my best course of action?
How old is this debt? Was the claim submitted correctly to your insurance? Is Tenet in-network and covered under contract with your insurance? What does your EOB, or any corrected EOB from your insurance say, and is it in agreement with what Tenet or NCO say? What does your payment agreement with Tenet say, regarding interest?
Re: Tell me what yall think about t Here is the thing Ontrack, I dont have a problem with paying the debt. I tried to negotiate a pay for removal with Tenet but they refused(verbally). Now to have them place this with NCO came as a surprise to me.
Re: Tell me what yall think about t If the original contract under which they are billing and collecting does not specifically allow for interest, then NCO is just making it up. Often happens, but also an FDCPA violation. If interest is allowed, but the amount they are collecting is not in agreement with contract, then violation as well. How best to use this to your advantage is the question. What you want, presumably, is: Pay debt owed, get TL removed. This might be best forced by forcing the issue of NCO FDCPA violation thru requesting validation, and raising FDCPA violation issue with Tenet, assuming they still own the debt. You want NCO to send it back, and then settle with Tenet, with removal. If NCO sends it back, and you pay Tenet what is actually owed, NCO's posting of the FDCPA violating collection amount on your CR is your basis for forcing them to remove it entirely. Note: NCO is under some settlement agreements with state AGs (possibly FTC also) for FDCPA violations around mis-reporting, specifically re-aging. They might be "sensitive" to being caught with further violations. Tenet is also under settlement agreements around mis-billing, both with respect to federal and state Medicare misbilling, and with regard to a class action settlement around inflated billing of uninsured patients. I am not quite sure how to best use this, but if the NCO collection amount is blatantly erroneous, and you DV it, that might be a start. What they do in response might determine your next step.
