Received first collection letter....where to go from here

[IngridA]

Hello All,

My husband received a collection letter for an account from the local hospital. We had fallen behind on the payments and were not able to communicate with the hospital before it went to collections. (Things are really hectic around here because we are moving at the end of August).

My main concern is that I don't want this to go on his credit report, and if I understand correctly, they cannot report it during the 30 days because it has not been validated.

So my question is, do I go through the DV process and then pay or should I pay within the first 30 days of the date of the letter?

Any help is appreciated.

Ingrid

[Methuss]

Dv the collection agency and get back on track with your payments to the hospital. Once you have the payments to the hospital re-established, the CA has no reason to be bothering you. Just explain to the hospital your situation (moving) and how things got misplaced. As long as you don't get some jerk, you should be able to re-establish your payments with the hospital and have them pull the collection.

[IngridA]

Thanks, Methuss.

I'll do exactly what you said -- I might just put the whole thing on a CC - it's not too much -- and we can the card balance down when we get the proceeds from the house.

I will call the hospital tomorrow and try to get this resolved.

Ingrid

[cabledude]

I agree pay the hospital directly and DV the CA. I did this once and the hospital accepted payment, then CA just faded away.