[mikester]

So, my wife was in a car accident last year. We ended up with some bills that are covered by our medical insurance.

We got the bill for the balance that wasn't covered by our primary medical provider in the mail.

I call the hospital billing person and tell them my car insurance will cover the remainder (I checked and they will). She asked me to fax over the insurance information. I did so, I have the fax transmission sheet with the date, time and success on it. I don't hear anything else (this was last month).

Today I get a collection notice in the mail.

I call the hospital billing person again and it is someone different - the first person had an accent I could just barely understand what they were saying. This person has good english. She tells me there is nothing she can do, I have to handle it through collections.

I don't want to. I want to pay the hospital. I don't want a collection notice on my credit report at all.

Tomorrow I'm going to call and ask again, with the fax in hand that I sent. If I don't get her to take the information then I will ask to speak to her supervisor and hope for the best. I'll keep asking for a supervisor until I get the result I want.

failing that of course is it bad to pay something in collections? Does it matter? It shouldn't have gone to collection to begin with - I sent them the data.

I HATE FAXES but she would only take it via fax for some reason. It's lame.

I'm in the middle of trying to refi my house and this screwing up my credit will really piss me off. Right now I'm a nearly 800 score...