Getting blemish removed from credit reports?

[Monkeyleg]

Last year I had a lot of medical bills. One ER visit wound up in the "out-of-network" category by mistake (either the hospital's mistake, or the insurance company's mistake).

Anyway, I started getting notices from the hospital last September or so. When I added up all of my out-of-pocket expenses, I saw that I'd met the maximum for out of pocket. I called the hospital, and they told me to call the insurance company. I did, and the insurance company said they'd run an audit.

Meanwhile, the hospital sent my case to a collections agency. I called the woman at the agency assigned to my case and told her what was going on, and that I didn't want my credit record blemished. I kept her up to date, and faxed her papers everytime I received information from the insurance co.

Anywho, the situation was finally resolved last month, and I only owed the hospital $90, which I promptly paid.

However, when I went to apply for a car loan last month, I was turned down because the credit report showed I had a delinquent bill that was referred to a collection agency. We just tried to refinance our mortgage, but it had to be in my wife's name only, all because of that blemish.

Today I called the claims department at the hospital and asked to speak to a supervisor to see if the blemish on the report could be removed, as it was not my mistake. She was a real sweetheart, and essentially told me to do something not physically possible.

So I'm wondering how, if at all possible, I can have this removed from my credit record. I just saw a copy today, and this blemish will remain on the reports until 2012.

Thanks for any replies.

[garyk/nm]

Send a dispute letter to all 3 major reporting agencies, outlining, in exact detail, what happened. They are required to include this on your report.
True that the report can't be erased, but a counter-explanation may negate it.
Good luck, and maybe send some dead flowers to the supervisor at the hospital.

[Brad Johnson]

Actually, it can be removed. All the original reporting agency has to do is report that it was filed in error and request that it be removed from your credit report. The hospital, along with their collections affiliate, will be the ones to do this.

They may dig in their heels and say no, but you have recourse. The hospital's error caused you to be incorrectly reported to a collections agency that is probably out of state. The collections agency, which is probably not in your state, then notified you by mail and by phone. As a result, your ability to carry on in a lifestyle similar to that previous to your hospital visit has been severely impacted. A competent attorney could turn this into a pretty solid civil case in no time, not to mention that the feds would be interested in it (RICO, Mail Fraud, and violations of the Interstate Commerce Act).

No guarantees, but I bet a nastygram from a good attorney will work wonders for you.

Brad

[Monkeyleg]

Brad, the supervisor at the hospital says they have no record of me calling them before the account was sent to collections. I don't have any documentation to back up my statement that I called them.

The insurance company is telling me one version about how the mistake happened, and the hospital is denying that the mistake as explained by the insurance company could even happen.

I've asked the insurance company for documentation in writing. If I can get that, I know exactly which attorney to call. The guy is as sharp as they come.

[Brad Johnson]

Also, see who it was that reported the delinquent account. If it was the hospital, go after them. If it was the collections agent, your only option may be a nastygram as CA's are notoriously difficult to deal with.

Brad

[Matthew Carberry]

If you ask the collection agency (the entity actually reporting to the credit bureaus) to provide the documentation they are using to justify the collection, they have to.  (use certified mail (or the other one, whichever is cheaper) to document the receipt of your request)

If you ask them, say, every month, and they stop responding, they have to stop reporting.

One of my coworkers found a law firm that specializes in essentially hassling collection agencies into removing the reports.

I'll try to remember to get the website from them and confirm that's the actual technique.  There is a fee this firm charges but this can get stuff off in a matter of months rather than waiting for it, maybe, to fall off in 7 years.  He's currently using them on his and his wife's credit.  I'll double check on how it's working.

The law is actually pretty good on getting your credit cleaned up, it just takes more effort than most people are willing to provide and nobody lays the "how" right on out there.