Old Medical Debt that has been paid but is being reported by CA

[keepitcomin]

I have a situation that I am unsure how to approach. There's little guidance about a situation involving how to get a CA's tradeline off of your credit report when you've paid the OC.

A couple of years ago (in October 2005), I had an appendectomy at a hospital in San Antonio, even though I was in the process of moving to Dallas. My in-laws lived in San Antonio, and, at the time, I was not only starting a new job but planning to move. When I went to the hospital and was asked to provide my address, I technically didn't have one. So I gave the hospital my in-laws' address (with their permission, of course). I thought it was the easiest way to ensure that I received all of my bills from the hospital once the insurance had been processed. All went according to plan except for one bill for $156. Although the hospital had my in-laws' address and I saw them regularly, I guess this bill slipped through the cracks. So in May 2006, I received a billing statement from Premium Asset Recovery Company (a collection agency) requesting payment on the account. When I read the name of the OC and recognized it as the hospital I'd been to only a few months before, I gave them a call. The CSR I spoke with was very nice and she explained that they simply didn't have a valid address for me (NOTE: eventually the USPS stopped forwarding my mail to my in-laws' house and was all sent back to original senders). So I asked her what I needed to do to square the account, and she told that she'd send me a final billing statement and I could send a check or I could just pay her with a check by phone. I like efficient & quick, so I asked if I could just pay by phone and have a final receipt mailed to me. She said sure! So that's what I did. However, months later I received a copy of my credit report and the CA's tradeline was listed on all 3 of my credit reports. I disputed them immediately knowing that this was not an open collection account. One (with TransUnion) dropped off immediately and never reappeared. The second (with Equifax/CSC) was duplicated and took 2 disputes before one was removed and only one remained. The third (with Experian) still remains no matter how many times I dispute it. I think that it's a bit unfair that this collection account appears in my credit files simply because I didn't receive notification of the debt until it had been assigned to Premium Asset Recovery Co. I already have other, fairly minor credit issues (all of my FICO scores are in the mid-upper 600's), and I'd like some help with trying to get these lingering tradelines to go away.

Any help/advice would be grealy appreciated!

[Robert Nashville/Savannah]

Welcome to the forum.

It isn’t clear to me just “who” is doing the reporting to the bureaus and/or if the information is actually “wrong” or if you, understandably, just don’t like the negative trade line?

Regardless of who is reporting, it is certainly true that if the information being reporting is wrong, they the reporting party must correct it or it must be removed so continuing to dispute and putting more and more pressure on is probably the course you want to follow. But, if the information being reported is correct, then there is no obligation on the part of the reporting entity or the bureau to remove the entry.

While I understand your situation, keep in mind that it is your responsibility as the consumer of the medical services to ensure that all the bills have been paid and to ensure that everyone who needs it has an address they can use to reach you…so…a “good-will” letter to whoever is reporting may garner the results you want.

[Gravity357]

You might have to wait for a while eventually the CA will purge this account information and you can dispute. It's worked for me.