collection on credit report when I never received bills

[highdesert girl]

Hi all I'm new to this board. I've done topic searchs but could not find one that matched my situation exactly so I thought I'd post here and see what I should do.

 

I just found out that I have a collection on my credit report, for sure on Experian, haven't checked other 2 yet. I have one of those credit score monitoring things through one of my credit cards and noticed that from Oct 2007- Nov 2007 my score dropped 100pts. I was shocked and saw on there that it said I had one derogitory. So I pulled my free credit report and found that I have a closed account for $500 that is severly overdue and is turned over to a collection agency/ attorney/ blah blah. I had no clue what it was from. So when I was going to dispute it, it showed it was from a hospital (the original creditor) I did have a stay in Feb. 07. So I held off on disputing since I do owe for co-pay(s), I've had more then one stay this year. This all stems from the birth of my first child.

 

 

In Feb 07 I had an overnight stay because the doctor made me go in. I was not sure if I had a co-pay or not since it was just for monitoring. I waited until Mar or Apr. and I called the billing office to see if I owed anything. Since I didn't have a bill I gave them my ssn and when she pulled it up she said I didn't owe anything. Not to worry if I did I'd get a bill. So in May I had my baby and had another hospital stay. I waited and waited for bills from the hospital for my co-pay and nothing. I received statements from my insurance saying this is not a bill............and the hospital may bill you for this amount. Which they never did. I thought they were gonna wait until the end of the year since we probably were over our out of pocket. I've never had insurance or stayed in the hospital so I didn't know how it all worked.

 

When I saw this I couldn't call the collection agency since the phone # was not listed on my CR. (Which is a good thing from what I've read on this forum and elsewhere.) I called the original creditor, the hospital billing dept, to find out what happened. The person in the billing office was getting all huffy cause she said they'd sent at least 4 notices. Not only did they send my Feb visit over to collections but I guess they sent my May visit over just last week . And I owe an additonal $500 co-pay for my baby too since she was in the nicu ;she set up a payment plan for that. She said I could pay for my other 2 bills through the hospital because it was sent over to collections. So now I'm worried that the second bill sent to collection will soon be appearing on my CR too.

 

The reason I had not received any bills was the billing office had my home address correct but they were sending the bills to the wrong city/ zip code.I informed her I've never received any of the bills since they sent it to the wrong city/ zip. She was the one that provided me that information . Not only that but they had the wrong phone # and I guess that's why I never received collection calls, which I wish I had before this got on my CR. I told her their dept. was the only one that got my address wrong. I had received correspondes from the NICU at my home address, I even had a home nurse visit; I've even received phone calls from the nursing staff checking to see how my baby was doing. My baby's ssn came to the right address too.

 

So I guess after this she could not dispute that it was an error on their end not mine. She said she would call the CA for me and they would call me the same day, which they did not. She said that once I pay off the amount due they (the CA) would take it off my CR. I've heard it's a nightmare to get this done. I told her I didn't want a paid collection showed on there that I wanted it completely off since it no fault of mine. She said she would explain it to the CA and it would be "no problem". So I need to know what should I do now? I have the name of the person I spoke to from the hospital and date and time called. I kept notes of the jist of our conversation. I even did a yahoo address search (zillow too) on the address they "sent" my bills to and it's not even a valid address. Shouldn't they have gotten the bills back as undeliverable and proceeded from there? I'm just so upset and worried about all of this now. My credit score went from the 800s all the way down to the low 700s. We were planning to sell our house and buy a new one, now I don't know if we can with this with this on my CR. Please help ........thanks in advance for your advice.

[Why Chat]

You need to get something in writing from the hospital about the errors they have made. The best way to do this is to send them a letter, CMRR, that refers to the conversation you had , ( I am glad you got her name). Give the date and the reason for the call and repeat EVERYTHING that was discussed. State that this letter is to CONFIRM the information and advice provided by their employee (Ms. Huffy).

At the end of the letter request a FULL accounting of ALL charges, insurance payments, discounts and balances due.

 

At the same time, you need to send the medical dispute letter to any CRA that is reporting this account ( you MUST opt out FIRST and get any incorrect addresses OFF your reports)

http://whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html

 

You will need "real" reports directly from each CRA and you MIGHT consider putting a fraud alert on your reports because of the incorrect billing address, ( which MIGHT not be the OC's fault but a problem with ID theft)

 

Depending on what occurs, you may need to make ALL future payments to this OC by money order with the HIPAA letter insert "a".

http://whychat.5u.com/hipltr.html

[highdesert girl]

What is a CMRR? The address that they sent the bills too were incorrect because they had the wrong city/zip code. That address is not on my Experian report, I'll have to check the other 2. It's actually not a valid address at all. I guess the person who imputed my information in at billing put the correct house address but the wrong city/ zip code so I never got any bills. The also had the wrong phone # so I never received any calls. So I should not deal with the CA? right. And I need to send the hospital's billing dept a certified letter stating what the hospital employee told me. After I do that I sent out the HIPPA letter or before.

[Why Chat]

What is a CMRR? The address that they sent the bills too were incorrect because they had the wrong city/zip code. That address is not on my Experian report, I'll have to check the other 2. It's actually not a valid address at all. I guess the person who imputed my information in at billing put the correct house address but the wrong city/ zip code so I never got any bills. The also had the wrong phone # so I never received any calls. So I should not deal with the CA? right. And I need to send the hospital's billing dept a certified letter stating what the hospital employee told me. After I do that I sent out the HIPPA letter or before.

CMRR is certified mail return receipt.

 

Do not deal with the CA

 

Send out the medical dispute letter to any CRA where the account is reporting. You will need original credit reports from each CRA and NOT a 3rdparty credit monitoring system report. Send it as soon as possible AFTER you have opted out and removed any incorrect addresses from your reports.

 

I think there is a very real probability that your account was either mixed up with someone else, or you are a victim of ID theft.