CRA refuse to reinvestigate a dispute they have previously verified. It has since been pd to OC. Now what?

[flagal]

Did Pre-HIPPA letters w/ insert A.

TU removed right away. EX and EQF verified.

All med colls are pd in full (3 of them) to OC. All money prders have been cashed.

Sent the HIPPA letters as the next step to OC's and CRA's. No word yet from EQF but EX said they've been previously verified and I should contact the credit grantor who verified the info if I believe this is inaccurate, then they can add a statement of continued dispute, blah blah blah. I don't want a statement, I want it gone...no trace of it ever being there. What do I do next?

Thank you.

[bonbonXO]

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?s...=394330&hl=

OP it is very important to keep all information regarding your situation in one post.

Edited August 19, 2009 by bonbonXO

[flagal]

Don't see OP. Was probably early May. All the pertinent info is in latest post. Can answer any other questions regarding earlier actions but basically had 3 med cols. 2 from one OC, 1 from another. Pre-HIPPA w/ insert A and full payment. Followed up with HIPPA letters after money orders were cashed. Never rec'd any response from either OC. Recd responses as mentioned in above post from CRA's...TU removed, EX and EQF did not. Now I have proof of payment and there's no reason these need to stay on my report. I need them gone ASAP. Want to refi home. Would appreciate advice on next step. Have read posts suggesting filing complaints. Is that the next step? How do I do that?

Thanks. Advice is appreciated.

[Why Chat]

Don't see OP. Was probably early May. All the pertinent info is in latest post. Can answer any other questions regarding earlier actions but basically had 3 med cols. 2 from one OC, 1 from another. Pre-HIPPA w/ insert A and full payment. Followed up with HIPPA letters after money orders were cashed. Never rec'd any response from either OC. Recd responses as mentioned in above post from CRA's...TU removed, EX and EQF did not. Now I have proof of payment and there's no reason these need to stay on my report. I need them gone ASAP. Want to refi home. Would appreciate advice on next step. Have read posts suggesting filing complaints. Is that the next step? How do I do that?

Thanks. Advice is appreciated.

Have you opted out??

Have you sent the CRA's the dispute letter??

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

 

If so, and the accounts were verified, did you receive anything from the reporting CA's BEFORE you paid the OC with the HIPAA letter insert "a"??

 

If not, then the reporting CA probably had NO current relationship with the OC and you paid $$ without any chance of getting a deletion.

 

If there WERE a current relationship, and the reporting had CHANGED to a "paid" collection, you could have used the follow up letters to the OC, however that appears to not be the case.

 

If you have NOT disputed, do so NOW, ( follow ALL the instructions)

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

 

If you DID dispute, WITH THIS LETTER and the accounts were verified, then send the reporting CA this;

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

 

and follow up with another dispute to the CRA's that did NOT delete from your initial dispute this;

http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html#DISPUTE

 

I have the impression that you got into the middle of the HIPAA letter program from some other site that did not provide the correct full steps that need to be taken.

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

[flagal]

Here's what I did...

1. Sent this letter http://whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html but w/out the last paragraph "Please take notice that as of February 17, 2009 your Credit Reporting Agency falls within the purview of subtitle D of the ARRA , SEC. 13407(1) BREACH OF SECURITY.—The term ‘‘breach of security’’ means, with respect to unsecured PHR identifiable health information of an individual in a personal health record, acquisition of such information without the authorization of the individual.

You are therefore now subject to the jurisdiction of the OCR for HIPAA violations."

 

Not sure if the letter was revised since I sent it out in May or if I just didn't copy the whole thing initially.

 

2. TU removed, EX and EQF verified.

 

3. I paid OC's w/ restricted endorsement money orders and the HIPPA letter to original health care provider. The money orders were all cashed although I received no repsonse from either of them.

 

4. Sent FOLLOW UP TO "HIPAA" LETTER TO ORIGINAL CREDITOR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER, and the dispute letter to the CRA's (a copy of which I included with the letters to the OC's as per instructions).

 

5. Have all the green cards back, EX and EQF and both OC's. Here is what I received from EXP...

 

"We are responding to your request to verify items on your personal credit report. We have already investigated this information and the credit grantor has verified its accuracy. Please refer to the personal credit report you received for the name, phone number, and address of the credit grantor who verified this information. If you believe the item is innaccurate, then we can add a statement of continued dispute to your personal credit report at your request, or you may wish to contact the credit grantor directly to resolve your issue. If you have additional relevant in formation (anything ner that has occurred betwween you and the credit grantor....that shouild result in a change to the in formation appearing on your report, such as...a cancelled check or money order....you may mail it to us, etc..."

 

Everytime I check my and my husband's credit reports, CMC and MHFS (the CA's) have a KD (key derogatory)for the current month aand there's a note saying seriously past due, blah blah blah.

 

Did I follow the process correctly? I thought I did but it is a litle confusing. So what do I do now? I can't refi with these on our reports.

Oh..I also opted out and got rid of other errors on credit reports (address, wrong job, etc) for both of us

 

Thank you for your help, it is greatly appreciated.

Edited August 20, 2009 by flagal

[flagal]

Hi,

 

I received two letters addressed to husband from CA today.

 

"Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I have received your request to remove the listing on your credit report made by MedHealth Financial Services, Inc. After reviewing our records, I have determined that the listing made was appropriate.

This account was paid in full on August 10, 2009 and has been listed as paid in full with the three major credit reporting agencies.

Please call me should you need any further information.

 

Sincerely,"

 

I did not ever contact the CA. I did the HIPPA letter with insert A and full payment of both accounts. Then followed up with the letter to OC that included copies of the dispute letters to EXP and EQF.

My guess is that OC forwarded everything to CA, as I never did receive any response (besides the green cards) from the OC.

 

What should my next step be? Letter is likely a form letter, not signed. Also, says the account was reported paid to all 3 CRA's. This had already been deleted from TU after the first letter, so is it going to be put back on there?

I am so frustrated and at my wits end. Please help with the next step.

 

Thank very much.

[Why Chat]

Hi,

 

I received two letters addressed to husband from CA today.

 

"Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I have received your request to remove the listing on your credit report made by MedHealth Financial Services, Inc. After reviewing our records, I have determined that the listing made was appropriate.

This account was paid in full on August 10, 2009 and has been listed as paid in full with the three major credit reporting agencies.

Please call me should you need any further information.

 

Sincerely,"

 

I did not ever contact the CA. I did the HIPPA letter with insert A and full payment of both accounts. Then followed up with the letter to OC that included copies of the dispute letters to EXP and EQF.

My guess is that OC forwarded everything to CA, as I never did receive any response (besides the green cards) from the OC.

 

What should my next step be? Letter is likely a form letter, not signed. Also, says the account was reported paid to all 3 CRA's. This had already been deleted from TU after the first letter, so is it going to be put back on there?

I am so frustrated and at my wits end. Please help with the next step.

 

Thank very much.

OK, this may seem weird to you, but that letter from the CA is GOOD NEWS!!

 

Here is your next step.

 

Send the OC the HIPAA letter follow up as follows;

(Send to the HIPAA Compliance Dept. of the OC health provider with the following cover letter)

Cover Letter

Your Name

Address

 

HIPAA Compliance Office

OC Name

Address

 

Re: Letter of (date of orginal letter with payment insert "a")

Account #(original account #)

 

Dear Sir or Madam;

 

Enclosed please find a copy of the response from your agent (name of CA) demonstrating an ongoing business relationship on an account that was paid in full to you without any permission to relay that private information to the CA for reporting to a 3rd party Credit Reporting Agency.

 

Please note, I am providing you with an additional opportunity to have this account removed from (CA) and deleted from my credit reports completely if you have not already done so.

 

I have no desire to cause you unnecessary difficulty,however,this entry of my private health care information,on my credit report, for an account that no longer has ANY permitted business purpose waiver since there is NO payment due, has caused injury to my credit reputation,and has left me no choice but to proceed with the following:

 

I will wait 10 days and re-dispute,if the account has NOT been deleted in its entirety,I will take appropriate action to enforce my rights under the HIPAA, FCRA and FACTA rules, ARRA and (your State)'s Consumer Protection and Medical Privacy statutes. Copies of all correspondence from you or your agent will be used in any further actions, which will include a filed complaint with the OCR on your and your agent's violations of the privacy rules of the HIPAA.

 

Sincerely,

[flagal]

Hey, finally some GOOD news in this whole mess. .

I sent out the letter to OC CMRR re the two accounts.

 

The third account EXP is also saying they have already investigated, etc. and it is still showing up on EXP for my husband, and we haven't received a response yet from EQF. This account was paid with letter and insert A about a month before the other two. Sent the follow up letter same as for the other two accounts, on August 3 and included copies of the CRA dispute letters.

 

How long do I wait to hear from this OC? (Green card signed Aug 4)

 

How long do I wait to hear from EQF?

 

How do I check my and my husbands reports to see what has and hasn't been changed without paying everytime? We already pulled our free reports.

Husband has free subscription to EXP and can check his anytime. How do we check the rest of them?

 

Thank You.

[bonbonXO]

Hey, finally some GOOD news in this whole mess. .

I sent out the letter to OC CMRR re the two accounts.

 

The third account EXP is also saying they have already investigated, etc. and it is still showing up on EXP for my husband, and we haven't received a response yet from EQF. This account was paid with letter and insert A about a month before the other two. Sent the follow up letter same as for the other two accounts, on August 3 and included copies of the CRA dispute letters.

 

How long do I wait to hear from this OC? (Green card signed Aug 4)

 

How long do I wait to hear from EQF?

 

How do I check my and my husbands reports to see what has and hasn't been changed without paying everytime? We already pulled our free reports.

Husband has free subscription to EXP and can check his anytime. How do we check the rest of them?

try this: http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=242892

 

Thank You.

[bonbonXO]

HAVE YOU DONE THIS???

OK, this may seem weird to you, but that letter from the CA is GOOD NEWS!!

*******************************************************************************

Here is your next step.

 

Send the OC the HIPAA letter follow up as follows;

(Send to the HIPAA Compliance Dept. of the OC health provider with the following cover letter)

Cover Letter

Your Name

Address

 

HIPAA Compliance Office

OC Name

Address

 

Re: Letter of (date of orginal letter with payment insert "a")

Account #(original account #)

 

Dear Sir or Madam;

 

Enclosed please find a copy of the response from your agent (name of CA) demonstrating an ongoing business relationship on an account that was paid in full to you without any permission to relay that private information to the CA for reporting to a 3rd party Credit Reporting Agency.

 

Please note, I am providing you with an additional opportunity to have this account removed from (CA) and deleted from my credit reports completely if you have not already done so.

 

I have no desire to cause you unnecessary difficulty,however,this entry of my private health care information,on my credit report, for an account that no longer has ANY permitted business purpose waiver since there is NO payment due, has caused injury to my credit reputation,and has left me no choice but to proceed with the following:

 

I will wait 10 days and re-dispute,if the account has NOT been deleted in its entirety,I will take appropriate action to enforce my rights under the HIPAA, FCRA and FACTA rules, ARRA and (your State)'s Consumer Protection and Medical Privacy statutes. Copies of all correspondence from you or your agent will be used in any further actions, which will include a filed complaint with the OCR on your and your agent's violations of the privacy rules of the HIPAA.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

********************************************************************************

 

Edited September 1, 2009 by bonbonXO

[flagal]

Yep, I did that for the the 2 accounts I received the letter from the CA from saying they had reviewed my request to remove the inf...etc. eventho I had never contacted them. It was obvious that the OC forwarded that info.

This is a different account. As said above did the letter w/ insert A, then followed up w/ the second letter w/ copies of the disputes to CRA's. Have never received any response (excpet green cards) from OC and it is still on the credit reports.

 

As for the link to get free reports, I don't meet any of those qualifications. We have not applied for anything because I am trying to get this mess off our reports so we can refi.

 

An update on the first two accounts (where the OC forwarded the info to the CA and the CA sent me the letter)...I received the green card back today from OC. What do I do next?

 

Still tryin' to hang in there.

Thanks very much.

[flagal]

Just got home and there was a message from the patient services dept of the OC I sent the letter to w/ the copy of the CA letters showing there was a relationship and that the OC had provided the CA info and I would wait 10 days and then file a complaint, etc

 

The message said they were calling to talk to either me or my husband regarding our most recent letter to them.

Do I call them back? If so whjat do I say? If not, what do I do?

[flagal]

Update and need a next step.

 

Received reportsw in mail from EQF. 2 accounts are marked paid and staying. the other account is showing unpaid.

EQF and EXP still show all 3 accounts on dh (2 to MHFS and 1 to CMC) . Just the 2 to MHFS are showing on mine for both EQF and EXP.

 

The CMC account is still showing as unpaid. Was paid in June to OC w/ HIPPA and have sent F/U to OC and CRA's as directed on this site. No responsde, no changes.

 

The 2 for MHFS were also paid to OC. F/U sent to OC and CRA's. No change on CRA's, they just said verified and remains, contact provider, blah blah. Received letters regarding both accounts from CA saying they reviewed my request to remove the info from our reports and detremined they would not. They were marked paid. I never contacted the CA. The OC sent them the info. Per WhyChat's direction sent copies of those letters to OC w/ letter about how they provided info to third party, etc and I'd wait 10 days for them to remove. No remobval. No change. Ben more than 10 days since I received the green card back from the OC.

 

What do I do next please?

[bonbonXO]

send the OC (s) this http://whychat.5u.com/hipaaleg.html#courtesy

[flagal]

Sent that out to the 2 OC's today. How long do I wait now and then what do I do? I am not expecting to hear from either of them so how will I know if they have requested anything be changed?

When do I file a complaint?

Also, should I send anything to the CA's (MHFS and CMC)at all? Got a message from CMC yesterday. They are the ones still showing not paid on the reports.

[bonbonXO]

http://whychat.5u.com/hipaaleg.html#complaint

You must wait the full 10 business days after the OC receives the courtesy letter, Don't jump the gun on the complaint.

In my case when I sent the courtesy letter to the OC, I received CMRRR from the OC's HIPAA compliance officer, stating again they had not violated HIPAA but since the account was paid in full it would be deleted as a courtesy. They also included a copy the paperwork the CA sent the CRAs.The OC response was received 2 days after the courtesy letter was received.

 

Don't have any communication with the CA.

[flagal]

UPDATE

Received letter from one of the OC's today. Not on their letterhead, typed on a blank paper, signed by a patient services representative.

Letter states:

 

This letter is written as follow up to your recent letter addressed to the HIPPA Compliance Office at XXX Hospital. The above patient accounts were reported to the Credit Bureau by the collection agency, Med-Health Financial Services, Inc. The reporting of past due accounts is not a HIPPA violation. Your account was reviewed by the collection agency and it was determined that this listing was appropriate. Should you have any additional questions, lpease contact Med-Health Financial Services, Inc. at (phone #). Thank you for your understanding.

Regards,

signature

printed name

Patient Financial Services Representative

 

I have received the green card back from the other OC but no other response from them.

 

I have put so much time into this, paid these accounts (about 1400.00) and all the money on postage. All for nothing??? I am quite discouraged at the moment.

I will file the complaint but is that is going to have any affect on my and my husbands credit reports? If these stay on our reports we can't do anything financially.

What's next?

[flagal]

Help Please!!!

 

Please read my update post just above this one.

Do I file a complaint now?

Will that get this off our reports or are we stuck with it regardless of the complaint?

Is this unusual that they refuse to remove it and say it is an appropriate listing? I don't understand that part. I was under the impression what they did was illegal.

[Why Chat]

Help Please!!!

 

Please read my update post just above this one.

Do I file a complaint now?

Will that get this off our reports or are we stuck with it regardless of the complaint?

Is this unusual that they refuse to remove it and say it is an appropriate listing? I don't understand that part. I was under the impression what they did was illegal.

Have you checked your reports to see if the account is still there??

Have you received any response from the other OC??

 

I suggest you send a follow up to the letter you received, address it to the attention of the person who sent you the letter you quoted, send a copy addressed to the HIPAA Compliance Office of the OC, ( this may be the same person, but as it had no letterhead and was signed by a "Patient Financial Services" rep. it may not have reached the correct person). Make sure that you address the copy that goes to the HIPAA Compliance office to the actual mailing address of the OC and NOT to whatever address their billing department has, and include a copy of the letter from the "Patient Financial Services Representative".

( certified mail is OK without the RR extra postage)

Here is what you say;

Dear Ms. (Name) Patient Financial Services Representative;

 

Thank you for your response, I fully understand the HIPAA privacy rules on reporting of collections that are due and payable, however, this account has been paid in full to ( name of OC) on xx/xx/xxxx and therefore there is no longer any permitted business purpose under the HIPAA rules for any continued communication of ANY data to your agent ( name of CA)

 

Please note, I am providing you with an additional opportunity to have this account removed from (CA) and deleted in its entirety from my credit reports if you have not already done so.

 

I have no desire to cause you unnecessary difficulty,however,this entry of my private health care information,on my credit report, for an account that no longer has ANY permitted business purpose waiver since there is NO payment due, has caused injury to my credit reputation,and has left me no choice but to proceed with the following:

 

Upon my receipt of the FCRA and FACTA mandated reply from (CRA),if the account has NOT been deleted in its entirety,I will take appropriate action to enforce my rights under the HIPAA, FCRA and FACTA rules, ARRA and (your State)'s Consumer Protection and Medical Privacy statutes.

 

I will be proceeding with my filed complaint to the OCR within 10 days of your receipt of this letter, and will be using your response of xx/xx/xxxx as part of the documentation of your violations.

 

I am sending a copy of this letter and including a copy of your letter of xx/xx/xxxx to the HIPAA Compliance Office of (name of OC) as your reply indicates that my last letter of xx/xx/xxxx may have been misdirected to your office, as you have not indicated your authorization to respond on HIPAA compliance issues, nor did your letter provide any proper letterhead or indication that (name of OC) was aware of your improper response to a HIPAA complaint.

 

Sincerely,

[flagal]

I have not received any response (other than the green card) from the other OC.

The only report I can check for free is my husbands EXP since we were given a free subscription due to the Countrywide hacker issue a while back. On his EXP, The 2 sccounts related to the letter I posted above are still there, they show paid collection and dispoted. The other account is still showing as an unpaid collection. It is not even showing as disputed.

Is there a free way to check all the other reports (all 3 of mine and the other 2 of husband's)? We do not qualify for any of the free things listed on a post earlier in this thread.

 

Thank you so much for your help. I will send the above letter out today.

[flagal]

Update

 

I am getting calls from the one CA (CMC) that is still showing the account on the credit reorts as unpaid. No response whatsoever from the OC (besides the green cards) on any of the correspondence I have sent. Do I send a letter to the CA with the payment documentation or do I just go ahead and file a complaint against the OC at this point? (I followed the steps and paid this OC back in May with the HIPPA letter, and have sent all the follow up letters as directed from the info from Why Chat. The money order has been cashed qute a while ago).

 

What's next for this one?

Thanks!

[Why Chat]

Update

 

I am getting calls from the one CA (CMC) that is still showing the account on the credit reorts as unpaid. No response whatsoever from the OC (besides the green cards) on any of the correspondence I have sent. Do I send a letter to the CA with the payment documentation or do I just go ahead and file a complaint against the OC at this point? (I followed the steps and paid this OC back in May with the HIPPA letter, and have sent all the follow up letters as directed from the info from Why Chat. The money order has been cashed qute a while ago).

 

What's next for this one?

Thanks!

Send the CA this;

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

 

and then send any CRA where it is still reporting this:

http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html#DISPUTE

 

Send this to the CA's reporting as "paid"

http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html#PAID

 

And then send the CRA's this;

http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html#DISPUTE

[flagal]

UPDATE

 

Received a letter today from the OC who is maintaining the listing as "paid" on the collections for the 2 accounts with them is appropriate.

Quick background:

1.Paid OC w/ HIPPA letter.

2.Collection not removed from reports, but "paid" was added.

3.Letter to OC requesting removal or I would file complaint.

4.Received a letter for each account from the CA indicating they had looked over the posting and determined it was appropriate.

5.Letter to OC requesting removal and pointing out HIPPA violation in forwarding info to CA after there was no business reason to do so. Included copies of letters received from CA.

6.Received letter from OC, a patient services rep, on plain paper, maintaining listing was appropriate.

7.Letter to OC patient services rep and copy to HIPPA office of OC, including copy of patient services rep letter.

 

The following letter is in response to the letter (step 5 above)to OC indicating violation of HIPPA by forwarding sata when no reason existed to do so.

 

Letter received today from Corporate Complaince Investigations Consultant on letterhead from the OC.

 

Dear (me and husband)

 

I am writing in response to your letter addressed to the HIPPA Compliance office. The letter was routed to our office and received on Friday, September 25, 2009.

 

In receipt of your letter, I discussed your concerns with X, Manager of Patient Financial Services. After reviewing your accounts, the following facts are noted:

 

- The bills that were unpaid were related to services received in May and June of 2007.

 

- The insurance company processed your claims and the balance was applied towards your deductible.

 

-(OC) began billing you for this balance as of August 2007 via letters and follow up phone calls.

 

- Payment for the bills was received in August 2009.

 

- (CA) is a business Asociate of (OC), specifically authorized to perform collection activities on our behalf.

 

- Your accounts from May and June 2007 are now paid in full, and this has been reported as such and will be reflected on a future, personal, credit report.

 

You may contact me if you would like to discuss this further. If you have specific questions regarding your account status/collections, please direct those questions to x at (phone #).

 

Respectfully,

(signature)

Name

Corporate Compliance Inverstigations Consultant

 

What is my next step with this one? Don't know if I'll receive a response to the last letter I sent, (step 7 above), but it sounds like they are pretty confident in their position that the listing is appropriate. Are they just being obstinate because it took me so long to pay? Is the listing appropriate legally? Sounds to me l;ike they violated HIPPA when they forwarded data regading a paid account to their CA. Is that correct? I am not an expert in this field. If the next step is a complaint, what happens then? If the complaint is found to be unfounded (or whatever the term would be) could the OC come after me for any legal expensdes, etc?

[flagal]

Can anyone help me with what to do next? Please see above.

Thanks.

[Why Chat]

Can anyone help me with what to do next? Please see above.

Thanks.

Don't know if I'll receive a response to the last letter I sent, (step 7 above),

 

Have you received a response?? Is this for the account that is being reported as "paid"??

 

Had you sent the "paid DV" to the reporting CA?? and re-disputed to the CRA??

http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html#PAID

http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html#DISPUTE

If you have done all that then it is time for the Courtesy letter to the OC

http://whychat.5u.com/hipaaleg.html#courtesy

and if you have already done that, then file a complaint with the OCR.

http://whychat.5u.com/hipaaleg.html#complaint