I am to the point in my journey to deal with a CA that is a PITA. We had medical bills for our newborn that were submitted to insurance by OC in August 2004, who denied them because newborn wasn't even listed on our insurance yet. I spoke with the OC who was reluctant to re-submit the bills but said they would, but could we pay cash for the entire bill and have the insurance company just reimburse us? Insurance company told us "no way" and to have the OC just re-submit the bills. OC agreed to. Dec 2004 we get a letter and then a phone call from CA asking for two bills to be paid. We had things going on besides the holidays and I asked CA if we could hold off until January to discuss it and I could look into it. She agreed. January 2005 I get another call from CA. I explain to her that the bills should have been covered by insurance. Not her problem. Shortly after we receive notice that they are suing. OC apologizes, re-submits bills to insurance, which are paid all but $36 for something not covered. We offer to pay $$ but OC says it's already turned over to CA and they have no control over CA. We have to pay CA. CA says we need to pay entire amount or go to court. OC and insurance company both call CA explaining that the bill is taken care of. CA goes through with suit anyway. At court, the judge asks us to try to come to an agreement in the hall outside his courtroom first. We explain the situation to the representative for the CA who accepts our payment of $36 and drops the rest. However, he refuses to delete the accounts from our credit reports - actually he told me it was against the law. Disputes have removed one account from my DHs Equifax but the rest remain on all our other reports. What is my next step to get these accounts removed?
Right off the top of my head, I would advise instituting a civil action against them and their counsel for unconscionable means to attempt a debt insofar as they followed through with their suit although they knew full well the account had been paid. I'd throw in additional counts for intentional infliction of emotional distress and perhaps, malicious prosecution if that applies to civil actions in your jurisdiction. Short of that, request validation from the collection agency directly. In addition, check to see if the two remaining tradelines are marked as being in dispute on your credit reports. If not, you can use that as leverage or pad that as an additional FDCPA and FCRA count if you elect to sue.
