49 replies to this topic

[muss08]

I have a couple questions before I begin the HIPPA process on 6 medical collections. First, I have about 1K to pay towards a total of $2600 in collections. I have already opted out and I sent out letters to have old names and addresses removed from my CRs today. I would like to eventually pay all the OCs but since I cannot pay them all now should I only dispute a few of the collections or should I still dispute all of them? It could be 9 months to 1 year before I can pay them off fully.
If I dispute all of them now will I still be able to proceed with the HIPPA process 9 months from now?
Here is a list of what I owe with each CA and the date of service (month/year):

American Collections
10/09 $80
10/09 $659 (this account I need to do further research into as I feel the OC incorrectly billed my insurance- i will be asking for an itemized bill from the OC and the EOMB from the insurance company)
05/11 $651 (again I need to speak to insurance about the EOMB here as well)

Global Credit
07/05 $128 (should I simply wait for this to come off since the 7 years is almost up?)
09/09 $803 (only OC that is a hospital)

American Credit Bureau
10/09 $303

SOL in Maryland is 3 years so should I wait until October to do this? All but one will be past SOL at that point. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The wealth of knowledge I've found on CB is unbelievable! Thank you.

[Why Chat]

I have a couple questions before I begin the HIPPA process on 6 medical collections. First, I have about 1K to pay towards a total of $2600 in collections. I have already opted out and I sent out letters to have old names and addresses removed from my CRs today. I would like to eventually pay all the OCs but since I cannot pay them all now should I only dispute a few of the collections or should I still dispute all of them? It could be 9 months to 1 year before I can pay them off fully.
If I dispute all of them now will I still be able to proceed with the HIPPA process 9 months from now? I doubt very much that you will have to pay ALL of these accounts. In any case, even IF they ALL prove to be valid collections being reported by a CA who is in a CURRENT business relationship with the OC, you have NO obligation to pay any of them. The 3 Year SOL for being sued is from the date of service, not the date the collection was turned over to the CA, and, in any case, it is doubtful that you would be sued for anything under $1,000 and it would have to be a lawsuit by the OC. You are safe to send the initial dispute letter to the CRAs http://whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html
Here is a list of what I owe with each CA and the date of service (month/year):

American Collections
10/09 $80
10/09 $659 (this account I need to do further research into as I feel the OC incorrectly billed my insurance- i will be asking for an itemized bill from the OC and the EOMB from the insurance company)
05/11 $651 (again I need to speak to insurance about the EOMB here as well)

Global Credit
07/05 $128 (should I simply wait for this to come off since the 7 years is almost up?)
09/09 $803 (only OC that is a hospital)

American Credit Bureau
10/09 $303

SOL in Maryland is 3 years so should I wait until October to do this? All but one will be past SOL at that point. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The wealth of knowledge I've found on CB is unbelievable! Thank you.

[muss08]

Thank you for the info why chat. Should I wait until I receive a response on deleting addresses and names or am I safe to send the initial disputes in the next couple days? Tomorrow I will work on getting all the necessary EOMBs from the insurance company. I'll post more when I have more info.

[Why Chat]

Thank you for the info why chat. Should I wait until I receive a response on deleting addresses and names or am I safe to send the initial disputes in the next couple days? Tomorrow I will work on getting all the necessary EOMBs from the insurance company. I'll post more when I have more info.

Since you are waiting on the EOMBs anyway, it is prudent to wait until old addresses are deleted.

[muss08]

Okay, so my wife just told me this which may or may not make us have to wait to take care of these medical collections. The two collections from Global Credit she disputed online with the CRAs last month and, of course, they were verified. Do I now need to wait a certain amount of time to send the initial dispute letters? Thanks!

[Why Chat]

Okay, so my wife just told me this which may or may not make us have to wait to take care of these medical collections. The two collections from Global Credit she disputed online with the CRAs last month and, of course, they were verified. Do I now need to wait a certain amount of time to send the initial dispute letters? Thanks!

YES wait 90 days from her response from the CRAs she disputed.

[muss08]

Okay, so my wife just told me this which may or may not make us have to wait to take care of these medical collections. The two collections from Global Credit she disputed online with the CRAs last month and, of course, they were verified. Do I now need to wait a certain amount of time to send the initial dispute letters? Thanks!

YES wait 90 days from her response from the CRAs she disputed.

Thanks Whychat. Guess I'll be resurrecting this thread in about 90 days lol

[muss08]

Time to resurrect this thread! Just wanted to give you a heads up WhyChat. 90 days is up this week from the response to my DWs online disputes so I'll be sending out the initial dispute letters. She is opted out and old addresses are deleted! I'll post back when I get responses. I just wanted to be on your radar screen

[Why Chat]

Time to resurrect this thread! Just wanted to give you a heads up WhyChat. 90 days is up this week from the response to my DWs online disputes so I'll be sending out the initial dispute letters. She is opted out and old addresses are deleted! I'll post back when I get responses. I just wanted to be on your radar screen

[muss08]

I have yet to send out the initial dispute letters for the collections accounts on my wife's reports as I have another question. My wife has two medical accounts that were sent to collections agencies for service last year. Neither of these have been reported to any of the CRAs yet. They are definitely legitimate debts. I have the EOMBs from the insurance company on them. How should I proceed? Should I pay the OC? Write the CA and ask for a letter stating if I pay they agree to not report to the CRAs? I'm getting sick of them calling the house and would like to get these bills paid, especially because they have not reported to the CRAs yet. Thanks

[Why Chat]

I have yet to send out the initial dispute letters for the collections accounts on my wife's reports as I have another question. My wife has two medical accounts that were sent to collections agencies for service last year. Neither of these have been reported to any of the CRAs yet. They are definitely legitimate debts. I have the EOMBs from the insurance company on them. How should I proceed? Should I pay the OC? Write the CA and ask for a letter stating if I pay they agree to not report to the CRAs? I'm getting sick of them calling the house and would like to get these bills paid, especially because they have not reported to the CRAs yet. Thanks

If you are SURE that they are valid, then pay the OC with the HIPAA letter insert "a".
http://www.whychat.5u.com/hipltr.html

Make sure you follow ALL the instructions.

IF the CA THEN reports the accounts as a "paid" collection, you will be able to send each CRA the follow up letters ( posted after insert "c") to get them off the reports.

[muss08]

After going over the two bills that are now with collections but have not been reported to the CRAs I found that 1 of the two is not legit. It is for the original amount before insurance. Original amount was 404.35 but the EOMB shows it repriced to 245.06. Date of service is July of 2011. This account is with CBE group. How should I proceed with this account?

[muss08]

One more wrinkle to this. The account with CBE is for services provided by emergency medical physicians (basically the doctors charge at a local ER). My wife owes for two service dates under one account number. I went to pay for her most recent service (which I thought has yet to be sent to collections) but it looks like it has already been sent to collections this month. I'm assuming CBE will get this one as well. This second service date is being billed correctly but the first is not (as stated above). Should I wait to hear from CBE about the money owed for this second date of service? Thanks

[Why Chat]

One more wrinkle to this. The account with CBE is for services provided by emergency medical physicians (basically the doctors charge at a local ER). My wife owes for two service dates under one account number. I went to pay for her most recent service (which I thought has yet to be sent to collections) but it looks like it has already been sent to collections this month. I'm assuming CBE will get this one as well. This second service date is being billed correctly but the first is not (as stated above). Should I wait to hear from CBE about the money owed for this second date of service? Thanks

If you have the original bill from the hospital that has NOT yet been turned over to a CA, then pay it WITHOUT the HIPAA letter by money order or bank check ( or cash ) If paying by money order or bank check put the endorsement on the back ( for deposit only account of ( name of hospital). If paying by cash get a cash receipt. If paying by credit card ON THIS ACCOUNT make sure it is charged directly to the OC. You can use these payment methods WITHOUT the HIPAA letter only IF the account has not been turned over to a CA.

If you think it is possible that this has also been turned over to a CA include BOTH amounts in the money order/bank check with the HIPAA letter, that is probably the safest way of doing it as there is only one account #.

Edited by Why Chat, 27 May 2012 - 01:25 PM.

[muss08]

Okay got it. Should I pay them what her EOMB says she owes since the amount for the first date of service is incorrect? Should I include a copy of the EOMB with the payment? Do I still use insert a?

[Why Chat]

Okay got it. Should I pay them what her EOMB says she owes since the amount for the first date of service is incorrect?YES Should I include a copy of the EOMB with the payment? YESDo I still use insert a?YES

[muss08]

One more wrinkle to this. The account with CBE is for services provided by emergency medical physicians (basically the doctors charge at a local ER). My wife owes for two service dates under one account number. I went to pay for her most recent service (which I thought has yet to be sent to collections) but it looks like it has already been sent to collections this month. I'm assuming CBE will get this one as well. This second service date is being billed correctly but the first is not (as stated above). Should I wait to hear from CBE about the money owed for this second date of service? Thanks

If you have the original bill from the hospital that has NOT yet been turned over to a CA, then pay it WITHOUT the HIPAA letter by money order or bank check ( or cash ) If paying by money order or bank check put the endorsement on the back ( for deposit only account of ( name of hospital). If paying by cash get a cash receipt. If paying by credit card ON THIS ACCOUNT make sure it is charged directly to the OC. You can use these payment methods WITHOUT the HIPAA letter only IF the account has not been turned over to a CA.

If you think it is possible that this has also been turned over to a CA include BOTH amounts in the money order/bank check with the HIPAA letter, that is probably the safest way of doing it as there is only one account #.

I was waiting on an EOMB to send with my payment but have a few questions for this specific count. When I send the cashier's check, EOMB, and letter with insert a, do I send it to the address listed on the original OC bill? If so, the address is a PO Box. Do I still send it CMRRR? Or should I send it to a corporate office? Also, on the cashiers check they could not fit our address on the check. It just has my wife's name and her OC account number. Is this good enough?

[Why Chat]

One more wrinkle to this. The account with CBE is for services provided by emergency medical physicians (basically the doctors charge at a local ER). My wife owes for two service dates under one account number. I went to pay for her most recent service (which I thought has yet to be sent to collections) but it looks like it has already been sent to collections this month. I'm assuming CBE will get this one as well. This second service date is being billed correctly but the first is not (as stated above). Should I wait to hear from CBE about the money owed for this second date of service? Thanks

If you have the original bill from the hospital that has NOT yet been turned over to a CA, then pay it WITHOUT the HIPAA letter by money order or bank check ( or cash ) If paying by money order or bank check put the endorsement on the back ( for deposit only account of ( name of hospital). If paying by cash get a cash receipt. If paying by credit card ON THIS ACCOUNT make sure it is charged directly to the OC. You can use these payment methods WITHOUT the HIPAA letter only IF the account has not been turned over to a CA.

If you think it is possible that this has also been turned over to a CA include BOTH amounts in the money order/bank check with the HIPAA letter, that is probably the safest way of doing it as there is only one account #.

I was waiting on an EOMB to send with my payment but have a few questions for this specific count. When I send the cashier's check, EOMB, and letter with insert a, do I send it to the address listed on the original OC bill? If so, the address is a PO Box. Do I still send it CMRRR? Yes, it is ONLY when sending mail to a CA at a PO Box address that you need to send it certified only,( or the INITIAL dispute letter to the CRAs) everyone else you must have PROOF that it was signed for Or should I send it to a corporate office? Also, on the cashiers check they could not fit our address on the check. It just has my wife's name and her OC account number. Is this good enough? Yes, since it is accompanied by the HIPAA letter that has her address

[muss08]

Okay WhyChat i sent out the two bank issued cashier's checks with the HIPPA letter with insert a. Just talked to the bank today and both checks were cashed 6/25. Like I said, CBE group has not reported anything on the CRs but my wife said they did call again yesterday. How should i handle CBE?
The other account was with NACS. NACS has reported the collection to Equifax but not the other two. Some more info about this NACS collection. I sent out the payment to the OC on 6/21. Got the green card back on 6/23. HOWEVER, on 6/23 I also got a new dunning letter from a law firm/CA about this account. So i'm not sure if NACS or the OC handed this over to this new law firm/CA. How should I handle this situation? Should i DV this new CA?

[Why Chat]

Okay WhyChat i sent out the two bank issued cashier's checks with the HIPPA letter with insert a. Just talked to the bank today and both checks were cashed 6/25. Like I said, CBE group has not reported anything on the CRs but my wife said they did call again yesterday. How should i handle CBE?
The other account was with NACS. NACS has reported the collection to Equifax but not the other two. Some more info about this NACS collection. I sent out the payment to the OC on 6/21. Got the green card back on 6/23. HOWEVER, on 6/23 I also got a new dunning letter from a law firm/CA about this account. So i'm not sure if NACS or the OC handed this over to this new law firm/CA. How should I handle this situation? Should i DV this new CA?

No, you need to dispute them first to the CRAs,( with the initial dispute letter
http://whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html
that is the ONLY sure way you can establish a CURRENT business relationship between the reporting CA and the OC. Lots of time the OC has written off a balance after insurance has paid and a data miner picks up the account information and sells it to a CA, or the billing Dept. accidently includes accounts with a 0 balance in a batch they have sent to a CA.If any of these accounts you are referring to have been PAID to the OC with the HIPAA letter insert "a" then instead of the initial dispute letter you need to go to the instructions in the HIPAA letter program that follow insert "c".

Edited by Why Chat, 28 June 2012 - 09:49 PM.

[muss08]

Okay. Both of these two accounts have been paid using the HIPPA letter with insert a. Cashiers Checks have been deposited. I will send the follow up letters to the CRAs and NACS since they are reporting on Equifax. However, CBE Group is the CA for the second account and they have not reported to the CRAs. They have called since the OC deposited the check. Do I just ignore them?

[Why Chat]

Okay. Both of these two accounts have been paid using the HIPPA letter with insert a. Cashiers Checks have been deposited. I will send the follow up letters to the CRAs and NACS since they are reporting on Equifax. However, CBE Group is the CA for the second account and they have not reported to the CRAs. They have called since the OC deposited the check. Do I just ignore them?

If they call again tell them that you are requesting all communication be in writing as per the requirements of the State and Feferal law.

Edited by Why Chat, 29 June 2012 - 11:18 AM.

[muss08]

Okay back to the account that was being handled by CBE group. As stated above I paid the OC via cashiers check with HIPPA letter insert A. The same day I recieved the green card back showing they received the check I got a new dunning letter from a different CA. This CA was Kevin B Wilson Law Offices. They tacked on attorneys fees of $196.61. This was on 6/23. Check was cashed by the OC on 6/25. Today (7/2) I received another letter from Kevin B Wilson Law Offices stating:

Our records reflect that a payment has been received on this account and the initial balance that was sent to our office has now been satisfied. However, we still show the balance above ($196.61) as being due and payable and we will not show this account paid in full until it has been satisfied. It represents the contractual attorney's fees that were added to the account when we were engaged to collect this account.


Neither CBE group or Kevin B Wilson Law Offices have reported this to any of the three CRAs so I am not sure where I should go from here. Your follow up letter wouldn't apply here because there is nothing being reported. How should I handle this?

[Why Chat]

Okay back to the account that was being handled by CBE group. As stated above I paid the OC via cashiers check with HIPPA letter insert A. The same day I recieved the green card back showing they received the check I got a new dunning letter from a different CA. This CA was Kevin B Wilson Law Offices. They tacked on attorneys fees of $196.61. This was on 6/23. Check was cashed by the OC on 6/25. Today (7/2) I received another letter from Kevin B Wilson Law Offices stating:

Our records reflect that a payment has been received on this account and the initial balance that was sent to our office has now been satisfied. However, we still show the balance above ($196.61) as being due and payable and we will not show this account paid in full until it has been satisfied. It represents the contractual attorney's fees that were added to the account when we were engaged to collect this account.


Neither CBE group or Kevin B Wilson Law Offices have reported this to any of the three CRAs so I am not sure where I should go from here. Your follow up letter wouldn't apply here because there is nothing being reported. How should I handle this?

Send THIS CA this:

Your Name
123 Your Street Address
Your City, ST 01234

ABC Collections
123 NotOnYourLife Ave
Chicago, IL
Date: _________ CMRR#____________
Re: Acct # XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is being sent to you in response to your attached letter.

This is not a refusal to pay, but a notice that your claim is disputed.

Under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA), I have the right to request validation of the debt you say I owe you. I am requesting proof that I am indeed the party you are asking to pay this debt, and there is some contractual obligation which is binding on me to pay this debt.

Please attach copies of:
Agreement with your client that grants you the authority to collect on this alleged debt,or proof of acquisition by purchase or assignment. and authorization under subtitle D of the ARRA ,SEC. 13401. APPLICATION OF SECURITY PROVISIONS AND PENALTIES TO BUSINESS ASSOCIATES OF COVERED ENTITIES;and 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. Please note that enforcement of penalties against you is covered under the penalty rules of the HITECH Act as issued 11/30/2009 and the penalty rules of the FCRA and FACTA including FACT Act changes final rules effective July 1, 2010.


Please also be advised that this letter is not only a formal dispute, but a request that you cease and desist any and all collection activities, including reporting of; or verifying of this account on my credit reports.

Your receipt of this letter will be considered as having granted consent to the taping of any and all telephone calls to me at my home or business by you or your agents or assigns

I require compliance with the terms and conditions of this letter within 30 days. or a complete withdrawal, in writing, of any claim.

In the event of noncompliance, I reserve the right to file charges and/or complaints with the OCR on your HIPAA violations and appropriate County, State & Federal authorities ,the BBB and State Bar associations for violations of the FDCPA, FCRA, and Federal and State statutes on fraudulent extortion and illegal collection activities on an account that was paid in full to the original creditor health care provider. I also hereby reserve my right to take private civil action against you to recover damages.

Sincerely,

Your Name(PRINT OR TYPE DO NOT SIGN)

[muss08]

Okay, so for the NACS account I sent the follow up letters to the OC and CRAs. Just got back the green card from the OC today. Nothing yet from the CRAs. Backdoored Equifax just now and the NACS collection is now being reported as paid. Anything I need to do about this or do I just wait for the normal dispute process to continue?