Mercantile Adjustment Bureau

[rbrooks]

My wife had a medical bill that went into collection with Mercantile Adjustment Bureau in Williamsville (Buffalo) NY.

 

There were actually several small ones and one larger one for $436.

 

We sent in checks to cover each and every one; All the small ones were applied as expected, and we received notice that they were considered paid pending clearing of payment.

 

That was November.

 

I go to check the wife's FICO last month, and pull a report, and the $436 is still hanging. We file a dispute through Experian.

 

About two weeks later I get a letter saying they 'validated' it but weren't able to complete their investigation. Wait, what? How do you validate something without being able to investigate?

 

Things start to get heated here. We obtain copy of cancelled check, the CMRR stub signed by their rep, and fax it to them. 'Todd' the supervisor says he will take care of it.

 

Apparently he took care of it by sending it to their 'Compliance Division' which is unreachable (They don't take calls according to the CSR's answering the phone). I've been hung up on by LaFawnda and Shaniqua trying to get through to someone that will actually talk to us a few times. When asked how long it will take for them to review and provide a receipt of payment, I am told 'Compliance can take as long as they want and there is nothing you can do about it'.

 

Getting very frustrated here. We're on the verge of decent clean credit after several years of being on the short side and this is one of the biggest stumbling blocks. I've tried everything, even found the name of their director of compliance and sent faxes to his attention, nothing. They hang up on me almost immediately if I call.

 

What's next? Lawyer up? Drive there (They're local) and make a scene? Be prepared to continue disputing with all three CRA's monthly until they finally give up?

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[rbrooks]

Thanks very much for the quick post approval and welcome!

 

Welcome to CreditBoards! We hope that you find what you're looking for here.

 

Some helpful tips:

 

• Your post may not get a reply right away. Don't be discouraged, this is a very busy board. If it falls off of the first page, feel free
  to reply to your post yourself, with the word *bump* in the text. This will *bump* your post back up to the top of the board.
• If you haven't yet, take a peek at out Newbies Section.
  Everything that you need to know is in that forum, for the most part! It's a lot of reading, we know, but this credit stuff can have a steep learning curve. In no time, you'll be posting like the pros!
• If you find that someone is discourteous to you, use the REPORT button at the bottom of every post - that will ensure that a moderator or admin looks at the post and decides if it is against the TOS.
• Off -topic posts should go in the General Forum.

 

Again, welcome to the CreditBoards family!

 

CB Admin: LKH, Pam, radi8, breeze

CB Mods: CargoJon, Chris in OK, cotterpin, CramItCCCAs, Fallon, MarvBear, CtSoxFan, pryan67, psp, Stryker, TrevorHere

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[breeze]

[rbrooks]

No input on this?

[kal el]

I would use whychats hipaa method, worked for me on paid medical collections.

[Iamdanieltuck]

You could try an ITS letter, it might sped them up a bit.

 

My wife had a medical bill that went into collection with Mercantile Adjustment Bureau in Williamsville (Buffalo) NY.

 

There were actually several small ones and one larger one for $436.

 

We sent in checks to cover each and every one; All the small ones were applied as expected, and we received notice that they were considered paid pending clearing of payment.

 

That was November.

 

I go to check the wife's FICO last month, and pull a report, and the $436 is still hanging. We file a dispute through Experian.

 

About two weeks later I get a letter saying they 'validated' it but weren't able to complete their investigation. Wait, what? How do you validate something without being able to investigate?

 

Things start to get heated here. We obtain copy of cancelled check, the CMRR stub signed by their rep, and fax it to them. 'Todd' the supervisor says he will take care of it.

 

Apparently he took care of it by sending it to their 'Compliance Division' which is unreachable (They don't take calls according to the CSR's answering the phone). I've been hung up on by LaFawnda and Shaniqua trying to get through to someone that will actually talk to us a few times. When asked how long it will take for them to review and provide a receipt of payment, I am told 'Compliance can take as long as they want and there is nothing you can do about it'.

 

Getting very frustrated here. We're on the verge of decent clean credit after several years of being on the short side and this is one of the biggest stumbling blocks. I've tried everything, even found the name of their director of compliance and sent faxes to his attention, nothing. They hang up on me almost immediately if I call.

 

What's next? Lawyer up? Drive there (They're local) and make a scene? Be prepared to continue disputing with all three CRA's monthly until they finally give up?

[ICANHASMUNY?]

My wife had a medical bill that went into collection with Mercantile Adjustment Bureau in Williamsville (Buffalo) NY.

 

There were actually several small ones and one larger one for $436.

 

We sent in checks to cover each and every one; All the small ones were applied as expected, and we received notice that they were considered paid pending clearing of payment.

 

That was November.

 

I go to check the wife's FICO last month, and pull a report, and the $436 is still hanging. We file a dispute through Experian.

 

About two weeks later I get a letter saying they 'validated' it but weren't able to complete their investigation. Wait, what? How do you validate something without being able to investigate?

 

Things start to get heated here. We obtain copy of cancelled check, the CMRR stub signed by their rep, and fax it to them. 'Todd' the supervisor says he will take care of it.

 

Apparently he took care of it by sending it to their 'Compliance Division' which is unreachable (They don't take calls according to the CSR's answering the phone). I've been hung up on by LaFawnda and Shaniqua trying to get through to someone that will actually talk to us a few times. When asked how long it will take for them to review and provide a receipt of payment, I am told 'Compliance can take as long as they want and there is nothing you can do about it'.

 

Getting very frustrated here. We're on the verge of decent clean credit after several years of being on the short side and this is one of the biggest stumbling blocks. I've tried everything, even found the name of their director of compliance and sent faxes to his attention, nothing. They hang up on me almost immediately if I call.

 

What's next? Lawyer up? Drive there (They're local) and make a scene? Be prepared to continue disputing with all three CRA's monthly until they finally give up?

 

file complaints with the State AG, and the FTC.

 

 

http://www.ag.ny.gov/contact.html

 

 

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

 

 

 

Call the provider, and ask them if they have been paid - tell them you have proof of payment.

 

 

redispute this with the CRA's - send copies of your payments. ask fo it to be deleted.

[rbrooks]

test

[rbrooks]

Ok, I had an error when posting a minute ago.

 

The problem seems to be that they applied our check to someone else's account; The account written in on the cashed check did not match the one we'd remitted the check for. So I highly doubt the hospital has been paid.

 

I think they've sent our money elsewhere and expect us to forget about it or pay again.

 

How does hippa come into play?

[rbrooks]

OK I just looked up the whychat letter. Makes sense I suppose.

[ICANHASMUNY?]

if you have a copy of the check, send a copy off to the CA. along with the hippa letter.

 

file the complaints.

[Nitro3]

I have a paid collection with them from Niagara Mohawk when I lived in Amherst. Moved to NC and they mixed up the zip code #. Received a collection notice before the bill actually arrived when I learned of the mix up. This was pre-creditboards too!

 

I have written, called, CMRR to no available communication from them.

 

Goodluck, let us know how you make out.

[rbrooks]

Just file a complaint with the ag's office in buffalo, the investigator is karen davis, that's who u need to contact, she is really fast and in the buffalo area!

 

 

Now that's some useful info! Thank you so much.