Can I get a medical collection removed from my credit report?

Posts Tagged ‘Medical Debt’

Can I get a medical collection removed from my credit report?

|

Question:

A subscriber to Ask The Money Coach.com asks – “Can I remove a medical collections from our credit report? It has been paid and it is our account. I didn’t know that it had been reported. I did call the collection agency and was told by law it could not be removed unless there was a mistake. I was told I could dispute it by written letter and to fax this letter to the representative and they would take it to their arbitration department. Is there ever any circumstances to warrant removal? Was I given the correct information from the representatives? And if I try to dispute it on the grounds of personal circumstances and I lose, will it hurt me more?”

Answer:

First, you need to understand that the big three credit bureaus ‑‑ Equifax, Experian and TransUnion ‑‑ maintain credit files on individual consumers in this country, not joint credit accounts. Now, it may be the case that this medical collection was an account for which you and your spouse both assumed liability and therefore the collection account is showing up on your account as well as your spouse’s account, but I just want to be clear that there is no such thing as an “our” or “we” when it comes to credit reports.

You stated that you did owe the account and that you did pay the account. Just by paying a collection account does not and will not automatically remove it from your credit report. Negative information such as a late payment or collection account under the Fair Credit Reporting Act can remain on your credit report legally for up to seven years.

Now, you said that the person told you that by law it cannot be removed unless there was a mistake. No, that is not accurate. It’s within their power to remove anything that they want to remove. This goes for a collection agency, a medical institution, a hospital, a collection agency, a creditor, a credit card company, etc. Frankly, the incentive there is less at this point since you’ve already paid the account. You’ve already given them the cold hard dollars that they were seeking and so a bit of your leverage in getting them to remove that medical collection account from your credit report has been lost.

I am always telling consumers, if you are going to pay and settle up on an account that has been past due, that one of the things you should ask for upfront is that your creditor or your collection agency agrees beforehand and in writing to remove all negative information from your credit reports. They won’t always agree to do this but certainly if you ask for it, you have a more likely chance of getting it done if you try to request it and get it in writing upfront.

With regard to them disputing it or with regard to you disputing it by written letter and faxing it over to their arbitration department, I would go ahead and follow the course that they’ve recommended but again, there is no requirement under the law that they remove this information from your credit report. It’s just a matter of them looking at your circumstances and trying to say: “Ah, the person did pay after X amount of time!” You didn’t indicate how old or how past due this account was, so it is really going to be entirely at their discretion.

You said if you disputed on the grounds of personal circumstances and lose, will that hurt you more? No, it won’t hurt you more but it could potentially hurt you more if you try to dispute it with the credit bureaus and then you enter a statement, something called a “consumer statement”, on your credit report.

Generally speaking, I advise people not to enter a consumer statement on your credit reports, because those kinds of statements which do tend to reflect some element of your personal circumstances, that is: “I was sick, ” “I couldn’t work, ” “I was out of a job, ” “We had big medical bills, ” “We had credit card debt.”… Whatever it is you are trying to explain in terms of your personal circumstances, is essentially just an admission that you did in fact not pay as agreed and that the creditor was correct in reporting your tardy payments.

So, don’t add a statement to your consumer file and this is not something that you can legitimately dispute with the credit bureaus themselves. You can try to go directly to the medical collections agency and see if they would be willing to remove it on some other grounds. The fact that they have said: “Unless there was a mistake, ” tells you upfront that they are going to take a pretty hard line position on this. You already know that there was not a mistake because you indicated that it was in fact your account.

So, good luck in managing your credit in the future and I hope this information has been helpful to you in terms of knowing what can and can’t be reported on your credit report.

Key Differences Between Equifax, Experian and TransUnion Credit Reports (askthemoneycoach.com)
Should I put a “consumer statement” in my credit report? (askthemoneycoach.com)
Can You Bump Hard Inquiries Off Your Credit Report By Monitoring With Soft Inquiries? (askthemoneycoach.com)

My parents are getting older and I’ve had to pick up more of their medical bills. What can I do to lighten my financial load?

|

Author: The Money Coach

Q: My parents are getting older, and while they don’t live with me, I’ve had to pick up more of their medical bills as their health declines. What can I do to lighten my financial load?

A: First, know you’re not alone. A study from AgingCare found that while an estimated 34 million adults provide care for elderly family members, 63 percent of them don’t have a game plan for paying their aging parents’ bills. Instead, most caregivers wind up dipping into their own pockets for their parents’ prescription drugs and nursing expenses.

One way to lessen your financial burden is by taking advantage of federal and state aid. Make sure your parents are getting all the senior citizen benefits they’re entitled to by logging on to BenefitsCheckup.org, a service of The National Council on Aging. The site allows you to find and apply for government and private programs that help pay for expenses including health-care bills. For local resources, check with the Eldercare Locator service and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

One final note: Many employers offer dependent-care flexible spending accounts (which allows one to pay for a dependent’s expenses with pretax dollars), but you can only take advantage of it if your parents live with you at least half of each year that you claim them as a dependent.

Free online edition of Zero Debt for a limited time! (askthemoneycoach.com)
Vital Signs: Five tips for hiring a home health aide (marketwatch.com)
Flexible Spending Accounts About to Get Less Flexible (askthemoneycoach.com)
4 Ways Healthcare Reform Will Affect Your FSA (askamoneyexpert.com)

Where can I get a list of agencies that can help me pay my medical bills?

|

Author: The Money Coach

It will take multiple steps to help you eliminate your medical debt. But here are six strategies you can use to knock down those hospital bills and improve your credit rating.

Examine Everything

Start by going over all your medical bills with a fine-tooth comb. Question charges that seem inflated (like that $20 bottle of aspirin). Also, ask for explanations from your healthcare providers regarding invoices for services you don’t recognize or understand. Simply forcing them to account for everything may result is certain charges being waived or reduced.

Find Out About State Freebies

Lots of states offer their residents free mandatory coverage or health insurance with small co-pays and low deductibles. If any of your treatment should have been covered by a state program, see if state resources can fill the gap and pay what you’ve been charged.

Ask Directly for Discounts

Ask the hospitals, clinics and healthcare professionals that serviced you whether or not you qualify for any discounts, charity, or write-downs of your total bill outstanding. Don’t be ashamed to let the hospital(s) know about your entire financial predicament. They may be more lenient if they know that you’re not working, are not insured, have lots of other debts, are a single mom, etc.

Request a Payment Plan

If you can talk to a kindly, flexible billing representative/hospital administrator, or even better, the doctor(s) who treated you, ask if you can get on a payment plan. Try to stretch out the plan for as long as reasonable in order to give yourself time to pay off all that you owe. If they agree to discount $2,000 of your original $5,000 in bills, then you’ll have $3,000 remaining to pay off over time. If you can commit to pay that off in two years, that means you’ll have to pay $125 a month ($3,000 divided by 24 months).

Negotiate to Improve Your Credit Rating

Also, while you are negotiating, request upfront that the hospital agree to delete all negative references to your credit files. They may only do it once you’ve completed your repayment plan. But that’s better than letting the late payment or collection information sit on your credit reports for seven years. Get any agreements in writing.

Get a Medical Advocate

Don’t give up on negotiating down that medical debt, or to improve your credit standing. Sometimes you have to go to multiple people or write numerous letters. But it will be worth it in the end if you can rid yourself of thousands of dollars of medical bills. If your own efforts don’t get you anywhere, get help from a third party, such as Access Project (http://www.accessproject.org) or Medical Bill Advocates (http://www.billadvocates.com). For those with hefty hospital bills, The Access Project’s Medical Debt Resolution Program can guide you through the maze of negotiating with insurance companies, medical providers and public programs to resolve your medical debt.

How to Handle Overdue Hospital Bills (ybpguide.com)
Can I get a medical collection removed from my credit report? (askamoneyexpert.com)

My son and I are the victims of identity theft. What should I do?

|

Author: The Money Coach

Q: Someone Made Medical Claims Under My 12-Year-Old Son’s Name. Two Bills Went to Collections. I Have Health Insurance, But I am Disputing This Because My Son Did Not Make These Claims. Meantime, My Credit is Being Affected. My Insurance Has Gone Up, My Limits are Being Lowered, and My Inactive Credit Cards Are Being Closed Due to Derogatory Public Records and Collections. Should I Tell My Credit Card Companies What’s Going on and Dispute It? And Can I Get These Collections Off My Credit Report?

A: This is, unfortunately, a bad case of identity theft. You need to protect yourself and your son in a number of ways, starting by pulling your most recent credit reports, examining them for any other accounts that you may not know about, and then putting a credit freeze on your credit reports. Read this article for more information about how a credit freeze can protect your credit rating.

http://askthemoneycoach.com/2010/01/what-is-a-credit-freeze-and-how-can-i-use-one-to-protect-my-credit/

Additionally, if you know who made those claims, you should report that person to the proper authorities — both the hospital and healthcare provider, and the police. The accounts you mentioned are in collections that wound up on your credit report. So I imagine, the identity thief is probably someone you know, love or trust. If this person was able to use your son’s information, they presumably had knowledge of your home address and – more importantly – sensitive data such as your social security number. Notify the hospital or clinic where the services were performed that it was definitely not your son. Then ask if you (or the attorney you mentioned hiring) can investigate the hospital’s records related to the medical claims you’ve been billed for. The identity thief likely filled out some forms, and you’ll be able to see if they did, in fact, list your social security number and other personal information of yours. This may give you a clue into who had access to such private information about you. Even if it turns out that your information was merely misappropriated by a complete stranger, you should dispute this information with
the credit bureaus. Let them know that you were the victim of identity theft and the credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) may remove those collection accounts. Read this post for the websites for filing an online dispute with the credit bureaus.

http://askthemoneycoach.com/2010/01/what%E2%80%99s-the-fastest-way-to-get-the-credit-bureaus-to-fix-mistakes-in-my-credit-reports/

Regarding your credit cards, yes, do notify them also of the identity theft and that this is the reason for the collections and public records on your credit file. But honestly, I wouldn’t expect much from them. Unfortunately, the damage has been done. And while it’s good to put your creditors on notice about the identity theft, I doubt that those creditors will re-open your cards or restore your previous credit limits. Your best bet is to probably wait to clean up this identity theft mess first, then re-apply for a new credit card and/or a new increase in your credit limit.

Lastly, I would also suggest that you enroll in a credit monitoring service. That way you’ll be able to monitor your credit reports and make sure nothing fishy is going on, such as unauthorized accounts you didn’t open.

Ask The Money Coach

Posts Tagged ‘Medical Debt’