Reality of Pay for Deletes

[parko03]

The DH has two medical bills from almost 2 years ago on this report. $642 and $125. Both are from a workers comp case that we had to initiate after seeing on his report when old employer never paid. I initiate case stating I want them PAID and REMOVED FROM REPORTS. THat was about 8 months ago, time passes, paperwork is processed.

Today old employer contacts workers comp person to ask about how much are they and he is willing to pay them. Now with the discussion I had with the worker comp lady it seems as if he is just willing to write us a check to pay them. Thats's great BUT I want them off his report.

SO.......we either keep it in the legal system with the workers comp case so they get paid and removed OR we accept the $ from old employer directely and I wirte a couple of pay for delete letters? Does that sound about right? My concern is that keeping it in the system is going to take much longer and we would like to start lookin for a house in the next few months.

So what would you do? How successful are these pay for deletes? The names on the CR are OSI for 125$ and Sentara Hospital for $642.

Im going to call her back soon or Im sure the old employer is going to call us. Ive seen his number on our caller ID once so I know he'll call agian. I want to answer it and solve this.

SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!! THANKS

[kbean]

Okay, I have heard that med bills don't play a factor in mortgage approval, but I can't say for sure. But in terms of a potential creditor's opinion, a paid collection is better than an unpaid collection. In terms of credit repair, they both suck.

Speaking from experience, I have had the fortunate luck of getting a delete from a Russel Col. Agency for a Dr. bill that they said they would delete if I paid, 'on a technicality.' They called this 'technicality' IMPROPER CONTACT.

So I signed something that they signed, I paid, and they deleted. The bill was for like 180 bucks or something.

It is possible. How old are these bills?

[retmar]

You should try and get the check sent to you. Then, you will be able to pay it yourself to reach your goal. If they remit payment, it will be harder, if not impossible, to get it removed. It would end up showing as a "Paid Collection".

Go to around page 30+ of this section and look for the thread titled "????? About HIPPAA". It gives you letters to include with the payment and sent directly to the provider so as to assure it is deleted. I believe insert "B" is the one you will use. To include, if they won't send you the check, have them wait until you can get the HIPPAA letter created and sent to them to include with the payment. This may work, but, can not promise as I am unaware of anyone trying it like this, but, it is worth a try. My thought is if they don't comply, you could still file the complaint and cause them to be fined, and, due to the date care was provided, this would include the CA also.

True, you could argue that the bill was not paid due to any inaction of yourself, but, the bill is your responsibility if no payment is received by the provider from insurance. This is more than likely what the CA would use as an excuse to not delete. Or, they would say it is against the law to delete anything. This, of course, is a very large pile of ????, but, so many times they do this.

[parko03]

The bills are a little over two years old. My thinking was that if I kept it in the workers comp court case the courts can give me something to send to the companies and CRA that will make them remove the listings once they are paid.

This is important because he has sooo much medical on his report. Granted, 90% are paid but all neg medicals and one little 200$ credit card. So 2 less medical listings to me are a big deal. We don't want to get jacked on a rate when it comes to getting a house so every little bit helps.

[Ahntara]

The medical collections won't prevent you from getting a mortgage loan (mtg companies know about the state of US health care), but those accounts will continue to affect your score. And in residential lending, scores are everything.

You have nothing but hard choices here. Research carefully. I tend toward advising you to go ahead and pay them and then do "nutcase" letters, given all the documentation you will be able to provide about his workers comp case. But the final decision will be up to you.

[parko03]

THat is what I am leaning towards. Thanks.

Just wanted to see how realistic "pay for deletes" are.

And just to make sure I do it right. I send them a letter suggesting the pay for delete first. RIght? They get NO money until they agree??

[parko03]

ok, he's gonna send us the money and I want to get the pay for delete thing started.

Just to verify, I send the letter to the OC right? In this case, the hospital and a physician specialist.

[chesire17201]

yup, deal with the OC as they are the ones who can and should recall the collection from the CA....

[retmar]

If you will follow what I said and use the HIPPAA letter, your chances of getting them deleted is far greater than your just offering payment for deletion. Remember, since the debt is still within the SOL, they have legal right to sue you. Therefore, your letter offering to pay "only if" will not get the attention as they will figure to just sue, or, continue to send the letters. If the debt was timebarred, then there is no problem demanding what you want before paying them.

A short version of HIPPAA is that the OC is forbidden to share your personal information to anyone other than you without your permission. This includes CA's. By sending the HIPPAA letter with the correct insert, you are forcing the OC to recall the debt and assure it is deleted. If they failed to do this, you would file the complaint and they would automatically be fined a minimum, which I beleive is $5000 for the first offense, plus, since this debt was incurred after HIPPAA was enacted, the CA is now liable also. The letter and insert is provided at the thread I mentioned in the other post.

As to getting the other ones that are paid deleted, you can wait until next month and file disputes with the CRA's during CHOD and some, if not all, could get deleted. This happens as many CA's do not respond to disputes of this type because they have no further business with the account. You would dispute as "Not Mine".

To include, all of the collections that showed up on our CR's were Medical and each and every one of them are now gone. All had to be recalled by the OC and all TL's had to be deleted. We got a CA in trouble with their State, got a Medical Provider spanked hard by the US Government, and all we are paying just over $110.00 total. The OC's had to write off as a loss. Yes, there were circumstances due to our type of Health Insurance, but, some of the others were legit, but, payment was refused because of things they did. True, this was not the right approach, but, the end result was worth it.