The Situation: Medical debt from 2003 was not paid because the OC did not submit the claim in a reasonable amount of time. Account went to CA, from whom I never heard a word. TL showed up on all 3 CRs some time later. The Catch: Two CRs list the account PAID. One lists it as PAST DUE. That means that the CA is reporting incorrectly. The Question: Which strategy do you opine would be best for this instance? A.) From this thread: http://consumers.creditnet.com/Discussions/credit-talk/t-paid-collections-trying-to-remove-63777.html Send dispute directly to CA saying they're reporting misinformation; either it gets deleted or they pull my report, in violation of the law. They could also correct the information they're reporting, but this doesn't seem likely since the account has already been paid. B.) Send nutcase DV letter like the one here: http://consumers.creditnet.com/Discussions/credit-talk/t-thanks-all-wish-me-luck-18103.html#post125081 Here is a thread from a year ago in which I asked questions regarding this matter, but I never got anywhere with it: http://consumers.creditnet.com/Discussions/credit-talk/t-paid-ca-needs-removal-62890.html As always, any input is greatly appreciated.
Was the OC "in-network"? If so, and they failed to submit the claim to your insurance timely, under their contract with the insurance company, you probably don't owe it. Contact your insurance company, and have them put pressure on the OC to comply with their contract. The debt goes away, so should all CR info related to it.
The EOB states "Non-participating provider." The service was out of state. What I am having the most trouble with is deciphering exactly why the "Billed Charges" section of the EOB doesn't have a single amount (out of 12 services) that matches the amount of the service in question.
Do you have a copy of the itemized bill that the OC submitted to the insurance company? Not the dumbed-down consumer bill. The other problem common in medical billing, is that there may be many separate billing entities for one visit or stay. This bill may not even be a match to your EOB, if it is for a different or separate service, so it may not even have been submitted to insurance.
According to the billing lady (I spoke to her months ago), my insurance company paid most of it, save $392. Once I find the number I will request an itemized bill. Would there be any danger in sending the nutcase letter to the CA, who is reporting the TL?
Here's a stumper: If the OC balance is $392 (not reported, just there), and the CA TL is PAID, is it possible and likely that the OC would send it to collections again? If I get the CA TL removed, at some point in the future it would still be possible that a new TL would be placed in the remaining amount. I'm wondering if the SOL that would apply would be for my state or the state in which the OC performed the services for which the debt is owed.
Well, I've decided that this is the order in which to do things, stopping when I get deletion. 1.) Nutcase letter 2.) Dispute with CA based on erroneous info 3.) Request insurance billing statement from OC and drag this thing out further Any opinions?
Remember to Schmooz You have a real good story here. That's the most important thing for goodwill schmoozing deletes. I got most of my credit cleaned up before even starting to send the letters. It's best to get the lay of the land. Find out what departments can influence the collection agency. as far as appealing to the good conscience of the CA, that's a long shot. These guys are trained to brush off all the stories that they hear. But the OC, that's a different story. I was very, very persistent. I called and called. I got supervisors, managers, all up and down the line. If I hit a dead end on one direction, I went after a different department. 3 weeks of hard work and 3 deleted paid collections! Bottom line - don't forget to schmooz!
Mix-ups in medical insurance and patient billing are common. Responsible providers work with their customers to fix them, without trashing their credit. Responsible CAs work in the interest of their clients, the medical providers. It is not reasonable to ding your credit for a bill you are not aware of and have not received. Get the claim and billing information from your insurance and the OC, use that to support when claims were filed, if payment was delayed due to errors in filing, and if your billing was delayed due to the other problems. Use that to support your moral arguement, made to hospital administration, not billing or collection, that you paid promptly and in good faith once it was straightened out, it is wrong, and even erroneous, for them to damage your credit as a result, so they should correct the error. You are a customer for medical services, and proper billing is part of what you expect. Dinging your credit for their mistakes is not good customer service.
