Kiaser
Senior Member
Cash: $ 43.05
Posts: 209
Joined: 12 Apr 2006
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| Remove a blemish from your credit |
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I'd like to explain how I was able to remove a nasty blemish from my credit long ago, and the reasons why this may work for some of you out there as well.
The story goes that I was in a wreck. I was taken to the hospital for some road rash removal (ejected from the car), paid my deductible, and left. Weeks later I received one call from one of the doctors assistants who said they needed payment for some other stuff, which I referred them to my insurance agency. I also checked with my insurance agency immediately after as to if these charges are covered by my insurance policy, which they replied yes. From that day on I never heard about the charges again (my insurance agency did not send me a bill for more deductible nor did the doctors office ever contact me again). Obviously anyone would assume the bill was paid accordingly (especially since the insurance company verified the charge was covered).
Fast forward three years later and all three credit bureau's are reporting that I owe $250 to some debt collection agency. Apparently my insurance agency decided the give the run around to the doctor and not pay the bill just to save some cash at the jeopardy of my credit. The doctors office, instead of contacting me again (despite having my mailing address, forwarding addresses, and all phone numbers on file), decided to sell my debt to a debt collection company who immediately started to destroy my credit (putting multiple instances of debts on my credit). I check my credit quarterly so I was quite surprised to see me high 700 score drop to 580.
I contacted my former insurance agency, I contacted the doctors office, I contacted the debt collection company. I was furious and gave the full spill about how I was never notified about the debt. At each turn I wasn't given an inch, an apology, or even a fax telling me that an attempt to contact me was never done.
I paid the debt to the collection company, which helped raise my score a little, but the blemish still remained and would remain for the next seven years. Fortunately I had a friend who worked for Experian at the call center who gave me great advice.
A law had recently been passed that required credit bureaus to investigate any disputes on your credit and must do so within 30 days. My friend also told me that credit disputes are backlogged so bad at the credit bureas that almost all disputes are approved because they can't meet the 30 day deadline. You see, when they receive a dispute they must contact all parties involved (your original debtor, the debt collection agency, etc) and get all the facts and statements from them and compare it against your dispute. Usually, getting in contact with all parties involved is quite a process and it never gets finished (no one calls back or responds, the place is out of business, they lost their records or can't retrieve them, etc). Also, lots of things have to be mailed which also takes up time.
So I got all my facts together, a full letter of dispute explaining that I was never informed or contacted of the debt properly, documentation from the insurance agency that the charge would be covered and if not the charge would be forwarded to me, etc etc. Also, I included a copy of a letter from the debt collection agency showing that I had paid the debt in full, which is the most important part of this process.
Next time I checked my credit, all three bureaus had completely deleted the blemish, not even a mention of it.
One of the most important parts of this process is to pay the debt off completely, and get a note verifying you paid it off. Some of you may have massive debts that you can't pay off, or they were debts that aren't yours (from identity theft or other), so this may not work for you. But for those who can, pay that debt off completely before you dispute the blemish, as if a debt remains then your dispute will be given a much larger priority than other disputes.
Below I have copied the dispute letter I sent into all three bureaus:
Credit Report Dispute
MY NAME
MY ADDRESS
MY ADDRESS
MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER
Signature _____________________________________
Creditor:
Account # XXXXXX
CREDITOR NAME
CREDITOR ADDRESS
CREDITOR ADDRESS
CREDIT PHONE NUMBER
Later sold to:
Account # XXXXXXX
DEBT COLLECTOR NAME
DEBT COLLECTOR ADDRESS
DEBT COLLECTOR ADDRESS
DEBT COLLECTOR PHONE NUMBER
Dispute:
This involves the balance of $257.79. I was never contacted by the creditor or my health insurance about any balance due whatsoever from 2002 to the current day although mailing addresses and phone numbers were available to them both. I�ve paid the balance to the creditor out of my own pocket on March 25th, 2005 the moment I found out I had a balance and will settle my reimbursement with my health insurance. I�ve also included the letter of resolution that my account was paid in full and NAME WITHHELF at DEBT COLLECTOR said the collection would be removed but was not clear as to whether it would remain as a negative on my credit. Since I was never contacted about a balance due nor was I liable to pay for the balance in the first place (my insurance was to take care of all balances and forward any Co-Pay I was liable for to myself) this item needs to be deleted from my credit report. If my insurance would not pay for a remaining balance, the creditor should have contacted me by phone or current mailing address (available both by credit report and my health insurance company which the creditor was in contact with) if mail was returned undeliverable with address on file.
Comments:
I believe I have provided enough proof that the collection levied against me by DEBT COLLECTOR / CREDITOR was unfair due to the following reasons:
1) I was never notified that I had any balance due to the creditor.
2) It is my health insurances responsibility to pay for all balances and forward any remaining Co-Pay balances I owe to myself, the creditor did not attempt to contact my health insurance for payment or contact information.
3) The creditor states the bill was returned in the mail with no forwarding address, but no further attempts were made to contact me.
4) The creditor states I contacted them in October 2002 to have them resubmit the claim to my health insurance for payment, however I never made this call and if my health insurance in fact did not pay after a resubmission I was never contacted after that to notify me the balance was still due. If any balanced remained the creditor should have contacted me with all means available (phone number, mailing address, etc which were all available from credit reports and health insurance).
5) No attempt of any kind was ever made to contact me about an overdue balance after the mail was returned undeliverable despite the creditor having access to my health insurance information or credit information, all of which contain proper mailing addresses and phone numbers to contact me. The proper address of MY ADDRESS was on file with my health insurance and available on my credit report, I have verified both.
6) The balance is now paid in full and was paid in full promptly the same day I found out a balance was due.
7) I cannot be issued negative credit for a balance I was never notified of when the creditor had many resources to find proper contact information and nearly 3 years to contact me.
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