Local doctors office bill went to collection. Not notified

I had a bill with a local doctor's office. They only claimed to have one person working in the office and when my husband and I called to request statements - it was always an issue of they'd print it out and mail it that day. Well - we never received the statements - time passed and we finally received one that said we were being sent to collections.

So now here we are trying to get in touch with a well known collection agency. The number we dialed never worked and would always cut off. Finally my husband went through several prompts and said we had 4 months to pay the total - which was only 180.00. We decided to break it up into 3 months and send payments. When they woman finally called - she said I would not like the letter I requested with the remaining balance. To sum it all up we could never get in touch with the agency and now it's showing up on my credit report.
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you made a mistake by paying without confirmation
its ok though
what to do now.

dispute the account as paid in full zero balance
get the results and mail your payment copies to the address provided from the dispute if the dispute is verified and they say you still owe money. if not its over.
then validate the debt with certified delivery mail
go all the way to state attorney general if needed.

you said you paid and it still shows up
so that is the assumption i am making here

really one should try to negotiate with the doctors office first. Read what I did on that page.
but in this case someone has taken your money and something has to be done with them

Medical collection on an insurance dispute. Remove clean delete

I have a medical collection due to an insurance dispute and would like some coaching to get it removed from my report. I am getting divorced and not receiving all the mail. My husband's insurance changed processing agents and was requesting documentation of additional coverage (which I didn't have) before they paid my claim. I was unaware of their request due to my husband's lack of notification. When I discovered the charge was on my report I called the doctor's office and paid the bill in full. Now I find out that I over paid because they were a PPO for our plan. The insurance company is paying the doctor directly and now I have to fight them to receive the overage plus they won't help me to remove it form my credit report. I haven't contacted the collection company yet and would like to know which is the best direction to go to have this issue resolved.
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the ppo would be liable for the late payments
thats why to doctor bill doesnt want to help
all they see is you were late and thats all
maybe the ppo could help

but if you already paid there is no incentive to get the doctor to help now that they have the money in hand

so i would haggle with the ppo and see wht relief you can get
and of course the my husband thing will always be trouble
until
you are totally removed from all loans, insurance and anything credit

Served court documents for a judgment hearing on medical bill

i'm looking for advice. i was served by certified mail today for a 6 year old medical bill. i do not dispute it. i would like to know what options i may have on this $776.86 suit. like do i show up or not. let it go to judgement and if i did what could i expect to happen. and any other info you may have on what i can expect from all of this.
please help.
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it would be best to pay this before it goes to court
so the judgmen doesnt show up on your report

Medical bills sent to collections. Insurance

Hi, Bo

I emailed you before and you were a great help. But now I have another big issue that i seem to not be able to get off

I send valadtion letter to West assest after 30 days of no response I send Val follow up,
I then sent dispute letter to CRA that they sent me back as verified.

I then for the 3 and forth time requested detail bills from this company because I have had and still have medical insurance that they never billed. still with no response so I called company they told me they do not send bills

PLEASE HELP there is 17 account from them on CR
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if its insurance you have to work that our yourself
somehow

if one does not follow up on certified delivery mail
debt validation

call your state attorney general and the ftc and your local bbb

Utitlities nd bills not reported unless unpaid. collections

On your website you stated that non lines of credit such as insurance and phone bill collection accounts show as a negative only. How do they differ from a revolving account collection or installment account collection? Do they all have the same effect on your score or since credit wasn't extended it's not as bad on your score as a revolving or installment collection account? Also I heard that it doesn't matter the amount of the collection $10 or $10,000 it still has the same impact but relating to your debt to income ratio the amount would certainly matter right?
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revolvong credit is usually reported to at least one bureau every month positive or negative.

phone, electric, insurance, hospital bills, water are utilities and utilities are not lines of credit so they only show up on your report if you don't pay and let the account go past 90 days with and outstanding balance. then the utility will show up as a collection or and uncollectable bill.

any type of collection ,means an account has gone past 90 days late and affects your score negatively.

the last statement is true because a 10,000 collection would reflect you have a 10,000 payment due for that month.

sometimes hospital bills are looked at more leniatly than other collection because they can be accidental debts or mistakes with insurance and many times can be settled for less.

a utility is something that was charged out and used by the consumer who did not pay and shold have.

Judgment from local hospital. Negotiate a settlment

The local hospital took me to court and consequently got a judgment againstme (my property) for $1,400, now it is up to $2,360 with interest. In 2years it will be off my credit history according to one credit report fromone of the credit bureaus.I contacted the hospital to see my balance and that's when they told me theabove. They sent me a form to fill out agreeing to have my credit checked once again and asking total financial info , notarized, etc. I don't want todo this, but would rather send them a negotiation letter from your web site. What is the amount I should offer them to settle this. It has been since 2003 since they got the judgement. I did make a few payments after court, but then finances became so unbearably tight due to disability and no incomethat I stopped making payments. Now I would like to settle it. The rest ofmy credit report is good except for this so I'm looking to clear it up - oneday I may need it.
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40 cents on the dollar

Medical bill charged off and sent to collection agencies.

Hey Bo I wanted some advice. I have some medical bill and I have paid them. They were with collection agencies. Can I still have them remove the bad information? What do you say to them. also with charged-off credit cards what do you say?
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one must negotiate BEfor you pay to get the bad marks off

the credit cars are a different story
pay them off
then reopn the same acount with a downpayment
call and tell them before hand you are trying to be a reasonable credit worthy person and need help

after 6 mo, 12 mo, 24 mos
ask them to report only the past 24 month preriod
since these are revovling credit lines
they usually only report the past 24 months anyway
so your not asking for much

i did it with a bp oil card
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Bo what about with cards like capital one. I have a charge off account and they are still charging me interest. what do you suggest?
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call them
ask for some way to get back in good graces
be willing to pay a downpayment on top of what you owe
ak for help with interest and penalties

explain you are trying to buy a home and be a reasonable credit person
ask for help
you are a ood person who had some problems
just give me a chance
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Bo I wanted to ask you if old accounts are removed say tha have passed the statue will that help you beacon.
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yes but not much
as accounts from today
back two years
count for 80% of ones score

7 years is when account comes off your report
so keep good recent credit open

http://www.oskie.com/raise_credit_score_fast_quickly_free.htm

http://www.oskie.com/get-new-good-credit-started-have-no-credit-got-turned-down.htm
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Bo I am confused about the validation? I do have charge off accounts so do I just sent the letter and what happen with the account while it is being validated. I am in the process of trying to settle with a collection company for Sams card I asked him if they would remove it or show it paid in full. But he said they did not do that. Did I ask the right thing? What are my other options?
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validation is best used for collections from second or third parties

sams is a first party
so validation is not what you need wuth sams

you have done right with them
try to get them to remove if paid in full
if they will not ask them to settle for less, and mark paid in full
if they will not do that ask for marked paid in full with no new date of last activity at least, if you pay in full

dentist bill went to collection in 2002. Should I pay it?

I have a $600 dollar dentist debt on my credit report. It was posted in 2002. What would you recommend I do? I had insurance at the time but its possible that they did not cover the work that was done. Since this was from 2002, should I contact the collection agency? or should I dispute it? or is it better to leave it alone since its from 2002. I appreciate your guidance in this matter

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I guess it depends on your credit score now
and
if this is affecting something you wish to do

you can dispute it and hope
might do that
then
negotiate, pay and be done
ask for humble credit help
talk to both the collection agency and the original creditor

if you have new good credit this should not hurt your score much even if they do redate it
but i would make sure they at least did not re date the account

medical bill, sold to collection, report past due. Should i settle?

A medical bill for $989 that we set up a payment plan on was given to a collection company for the children's hospital, We have made the agreed upon payment every month since they started. About 6 months ago.
I went out and pulled my credit report last Friday and saw that they have it listed as seriously past due and list the balance but do not put anything in the payment status and as of October it shows a KD for the month. I called to verify they were receiving payments on time from my account and asked about it, they claim that all they do is change the balance every month 35 days after the payment is made and it will say its seriously past due until its paid off completely.
This dropped my credit score substantially, I was told last fall when we refinanced our house that my score was in the low 700's and now it shows 649 and this appears to be the only negative new thing in several years. Are they right and only doing what they are required to do? I told them that if they had told me this 6 months ago that I would have paid it in full and put it on a card as the drop in points is worth more to me than the $900. The last two times we had major medical bills we did this same thing and it wasn't handled like this. Should I offer to pay it off completely if they will amend the report to show paid on time and in full to get my points back?
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should have paid it off and negotiated for a better credit right then.
So do that NOW.
Make sure the debt is validated when you are not paying the original creditor.
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Thanks, I couldn't pay it off when it was with the hospital because the insurance company was due to pay more, original balance was over $2,400 and it took over 4 months before the insurance company paid it down to the correct level around $980. I was communicating and updating the invoicing dept. of the hospital but they turned it over to their collections department while it was being paid down by the insurance company. The woman in the invoicing department and my HR rep at work told me if I paid the bill it would be like pulling teeth to get that money back from the health insurance company so I guess I got bad advice at the time.
I will move some money around from savings and offer them the settlement.
Should I insist on getting an agreement from them in writing if the say they'll amend the report and only pay them in full after I get the agreement? And do they actually remove the whole thing or just amend the report to say that I made all payments on time and it is paid in full?
The thing I don't understand is that Children's Hospital is the original debt holder, they sold the debt to Holloway Credit Solutions and on the report it list Holloway as the debt holder. How can Holloway report that I'm not making payments when they are auto drafting them from my checking account?
When I asked them about the KD in October after 6 months of payments they told me all they do is adjust the balance every month
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this is normal and accurate reporting f0r collections, yes.
bureaus only report what they are sent to report.
send the holloway group debt validation and make them show they have legal right to collect
most don't expecially on charge offs.

Yes insist on writing before you pay.
but validate first even though you know it is your and you have made payments
insist on validation. Play hardball in a nice tone.

in the end, if nothing can be done pay them anyway, if you can, and BE DONE.
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My credit score went down when I paid a collection

On 6-7-07 my score was 650 that same month Capital One raised mycredit limit from $300 to $1,800 (%18) as well as Washington Mutual approved me for an $8,000 card (%9). I have a secured loan for a boat and have never been late. There are two vehicle payoffs paid never late since 2003. Now 10-10-07 my score is 642. I thought I was doing great until I paid $200 on a $3,000 medical collection that was never on my credit but now is ( I was alerted today 10-11-07 of this new entry to my credit). I never thought apayment would have such a negative impact on my credit.
My question: Since I have all but this one huge medical bill and the others were paid between 20 and 65 days ago would it help to file a dispute withthe CA's in hopes of getting these collections updated to paid status any faster? It's now mid October and I had planned on making a vehicle purchase in December of $30,000 with about $8,000 down and am afraid that since my credit appears to be collapsing I'm going to either not get approved or get approved with a high interest rate. I have approximately $1,800 a month of disposable income. Normally I would wait on a vehicle but due to a manufacture change I am running out of time to buy this particular vehicle type.
WaMu- $8,000 limit with $5,200 balance
Cap One- $1,800 limit $1,000 balance
Vehicle 1 payoff 2003
Vehicle 2 payoff 7-2007
Boat - paying since 4-2006 never late
Truck to pull boat - on wish list
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Bo
One should validate and negotiate before they pay.
call the collections agency and talk to them.
ask for no new dates at least. totally removal if you pay in full now.
you have enough money to do it. Once a person pays on a debt, they validate the debt themselves.

I would rather close cap one (had problems with reporting maxed out all the time) if it is over 1 year old.
get one if these credit cards instead.
they will not help until 1 year passes.

the interest rate difference from 650 - 620 is not more than 1% if you have 5000.00 down on most car loans. Do you have a credit union. sometimes all collections have to be paid with credit unions. Credit Unions provide very competitive rates.

Even though your score went down right now it will go back up soon if you keep good current credit going.

Charge offs, medical bills, collections, credit report

I have 2 charge off’s from Capital one and some medical bills in collection. The total is about 6,000 as listed on the credit report, and I would imagine it is several thousand higher with the interest that accrued since. My wife and I would like to settle and remove the items, we are just a little unsure about how to proceed. I have read much of your postings, and the steps seem quite logical as such. We have spoken to a local credit counseling agency, and they took the stand that none of these steps were feasible, and they only option we really had was to pay the debts in full; including all of the ridiculous interest that has accrued. My credit score is around 570 right now, and I would like to get it up into the 700’s in the next year or so, as we would like to get into a bigger house. Thanks for any help you can offer
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I am not sure which steps are not feasible. But I promise they all work in some cases.
I would negotiate.

If all else fails do pay them if possible.
It is best to get some relief if you pay in full with fees such as TOTAL REMOVAL.
Most people get a 35 cents on the dollar for settlements.

I would talk to the creditors. Creditors can help the counselors can not.

How do I delete a late payment from my report that is paid in full?

How would I be able to delete late payment from accounts that are already paid in full and close. Also I have a collection account from a medical bill which is already paid in full. it went to collection because I never received any bill for it since it was sent to an address I never reside at.
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You cant to number 1
The most asked question in credit help to 2.
Thats life.
Negotiate and pay no matter what happened and get it as far behind you as quickly as you can.
If you already paid then you are better off because you have a paid in full account rahter than a maxed out account.
Read this

Medical bill collection unknown. Inquiry or credit report pulled by collections agency to find my address

Medical bill collection unknown. Inquiry or credit report pulled by collections agency to find my address
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A part of my medical bill was denied by my insurance leaving a balance of $116 which I was unaware of. The doctor's office claims to have a bad address and they do not make collection calls so they passed my debt over to a collection agency. I feel that in this case a call is warranted if mail is being returned; they must have written the address down wrong. Then it went out to collections but they did not pull a report to obtain my address. My address is current on all reports and I had mail forwarding set up. So... did the collection agency have the obligation to pull my report in order to obtain an address?
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"majors@oskie.com" / to Inquiry on unknown Collection /
Abosolutley NOT!They cannot pull your credit report unless you sign for it.
If you have an inquiry on your report from the collection company, then ask them to kindly remove the debt and inquiry from your credit report, plus send you a signed letter on company letter head saying such has been done as required by FTC law. No one may pull my credit report up without my signed consent.
Read this sort of related collection page.

http://www.oskie.com/how-i-get-paid-collection-collections-account-removed-credit-report-completely.htm

Medical bills

I am working on fixing my credit myself. Almost all my bad credit is from medical bills totalling $2,500. I plan on paying these off like you advise. I currently have 2 credit cards and plan on getting another to get new rated credit as you advised. My only question on this is where you say to keep them under 30%. Do you mean carrying a balance of more than 30% is bad because I always pay my balance in full every month so does the 30% rule still apply to me if I max out the card but then pay it off before the due date each month. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Forever in your debt,
Fix Credit Myself
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"majors@oskie.com" / to fix my credit my self / show details / 7:39 am
When ever you max out the card your score goes down and when you pay it your score goes back up. You just don't check your report each time to see.
I would ask the card to raise my credit limit so it did not need to get maxed out.
This is not bad really but make sure if you go to get credit you have paid that one down to less than 30% and you will be OK.