about a bill that went to collections...
 

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...

I'm not an expert but will offer some advice.

Is it possible to go to the hospital and speak to the billing department manager? I would think that you should go to the highest level person you can to get the results you would like. You don't need to be rude but the layering of people near the bottom may just hold things up longer.

What matters is if the collection agency has reported the collection on your credit. Chances are they haven't yet, so I would talk to them right away before they do report it. Get an agreement from them to not report it in exchange for paying it in full. If they have reported it, there's a 50/50 chance they'll give you a deletion letter in exchange for paying it with which you can get the collection removed from your credit report. If they have reported it and won't give you a deletion letter, you've got an uphill battle. You can run your credit for free once per year through www.annualcreditreport.com - the outfit set up by the three bureaus. Run all three. Collection agencies may only report to one.

Better to protect your valuable credit rating than risk damaging it by trying to get things paid they way you'd like. I'm sure your car insurance will reimburse you instead of paying the original provider. The original provider has sold the debt, so they don't really care to get involved canceling it and so forth.

I think Steve may be wrong, but of course laws are different here. If you call the collection agency and simply make arrangements to pay, they likely won't offer to keep your record clean. In fact, I believe doing so might even be illegal (sort of like a bribe).

What you need to do is call the collection agency and dispute the collection. Explain the situation, fax or scan/email them your documentation and explain that this should have been taken care of and you want to protect your credit rating.

If the collection agent refuses to work with you, ask for their superior. The collection agency we use has a manager overseeing a pool of collectors. The manager is the one I deal with when there's an issue with an account we've sent them, and she's wonderful.

The hospital is correct in that you now need to deal with the agency, even if they shouldn't have sent you there. But remember that collection agencies are used to dealing with deadbeats, and will just assume you are one trying to scam your way out. Prove to them you're not, and they should play fair with you. If they don't (and assuming you're completely in the right) then you'll either have to fight them (talk to a lawyer) or just deal with the credit blemish. Neither are great options.

FTR, I deal with collection agencies all the time, from the other side of the table, so I'm not just talking out of my arse, but laws are definitely different here. They're very heavily weighted in favour of the consumer (too much so, IMO). It's good when the consumer is legit, but most of the time they're not.

Call your car insurance company. It is their job to fix problems like this.

Credit bureaus don't report to the credit agencies for 60 -90 days. Why? they usually loose money once the bill hits the persons credit report, b/c once it's there it's there...

I had this happen to me a few months ago with Sprint over a bill that wasn't even supposed to be!

Anyhow, I'd call the collection agency and forward the insurance info, better yet contact your insurance agency and explain the urgency and have them expedite payment, get cc'd on all communications and follow through, follow through, follow through!!!

Credit agencies are under a lot of pressure to collect as much of the debt as possible b/c they buy the debt for 60+- cents on the dollar.

They don't want you to blow then off because they reported it to the bureaus...

Get it in writing, follow through and make sure you get that "zero balance" statement.

I'm in the mortgage money/credit business and we see this all the time.

Unfortunately most people don't do enough follow through, they just expect/trust the insurance will handle it...don't, make sure it's done and get the paper trail.

sorry for the rambling

I don't think your experience in Canada translates well to here. I've dealt with many collection agencies and done a fair amount of credit repair. Bottom line is collection agencies in the US are almost always scum. I didn't say to pay unless the collection agency gives mikester what he needs. They won't offer ***** on their own. They'll gloss over how it'll be considered "paid in full." What that means is a paid collection will be on one's credit, which is horrible.

In the US, you dispute the collection with the credit bureaus, not the collection agencies. They couldn't care less what you say or what you threaten. They only pay attention when an attorney gets involved or when money is being offered. If the collection isn't an error, a dispute will almost always result in the collection being verified.

Usually they'll spend some time trying to collect before they report. It costs them money to report. If mikester calls up with a willingness to pay, how would they interpret that as just another deadbeat? They'll understand.

I'd estimate that 50% of the time a collection agency will accept partial or full payment in exchange for a deletion letter. That says to me they care about the money more than ethics 50% of the time. This works to a debtor's advantage.

be SURE to do everything in writing - nothing at all orally

that is critical

Good Luck

Before you do anything, Google "Universal Default"..... Then get a lawyer.

I've found collection agencies won't always agree to that, which can kill the process. Upon relying on oral agreements, I've never had them renege. YMMV.

I'm irritated with this whole thing obviously.

RE: Universal default. The only other debt I have is my mortgage. No CCs of consequence that if they pulled that on my I couldn't just pay the balance off and tell them where to go.

We'll see what happens tomorrow when I make some more phone calls. Going down there would be a major imposition but not something I wouldn't do.

I disagree - it is their responsibility to pay it but it is my responsibility to ensure that the hospital has the information they need to bill my insurance.

I have no doubt they will pay promptly assuming the claim is submitted. I've spoken to them about it prior to instructing the hospital to bill them. The problem is the hospital never did the billing. I have a fax transmittal sheet showing that I sent it and it also shows the first page clearly (which has all the information they need).

Now it still could have gotten screwed up in the fax transmission.

Where I failed was on follow through - admittedly. I tried to call them when I sent the fax but nobody was there, I left a voice mail but there is no proof of that.

Suggestion- be very polite when you speak with the collection agency. They'll make notes, and they can affect how a supervisor will treat your situation. Definitely ask for a supervisor if/when you hit a dead end.

Well, I spoke again with them today. I wish she had been more clear with me yesterday...

The bill is not "in collections" and the activity will not show up on my credit report - according to her. Being a state funded hospital they are strapped for staff so they contracted some of their normal billing out.

I still intent to attempt to get it in writing that this is not 'in collection' but simply normal billing. The notice I got looks like a collection notice - not a bill.

The billing person at the hospital took my information and supposedly forwarded it to the person at the contractor to contact me to resolve it. I left them a message yesterday and it still hasn't been returned. If I still do not hear back from them by tomorrow I will call the hospital again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day.