Another HIPPA letter process

[Kathy4NU]

I have read I think every hippa thread on here but none that have applied to my situation.

 

HAD $53,000 in medical bills owed to the same CA. They were successful in getting a judgment for said amount. I was not aware of this until nearly a year after the judgment was order. They were garnishing ex-husbands paychecks. I found out after the divorce when I pulled my credit reports. Immediately called CA and they gave me very limited information and said they weren't going to get involved in a nasty divorce (divorce was anything but nasty). Called original creditor (hospital) and found out that paperwork I sent to an external agency to handle cases of people asking for forgiveness of medical bills was not fully processed. Person at hospital asked me to fill out the paperwork again and submit it to her personally with 2 paycheck stubs and she would process it herself. 6 weeks later I get notice that they have forgiven $42,000 of the bill. Very unclear why they did not do the remaining. Wrote 2 letters to to hospital to find out why the remaining balance wasn't forgiven and I receive no response.

 

I call CA back to make payment arrangements find out new balance, talked them into taking off interest of forgiven amount etc. Did not agree to anything in writing and I did not actually pay them anything. Read all about HIPPA process on whychat website and contact hospital about making arrangements directly with them. Hit just the right person!!! He didn't understand why the other two bills weren't also forgiven. Says there is no set high limit but time period and I was within the same time period (bills all within a year for emergency surgery and cancer treatments). He said he would get back with me within a week. Calls me back 6 days later and says the final two are forgiven. He says he will be in contact with CA to let them know. A week later CA finally confirms this and says I owe $2400 in interest. Asked them if this is legal. Another week later they call back and confirm that I do not owe the interest and I do not owe anything else on this judgment. Took another 2 weeks to stop garnishment on exhusbands paycheck and file "satisfied" on judgment. Called OC back and asked if they would have CA remove derogs off credit report. They agree. (this guy is super duper).

 

This is where the problems start. They had a total of 7 collections plus the judgment on my credit report. They removed all but 2. I have disputed the lat 2 and they have not removed them but verified them. Called OC back and he again said he would instruct them to remove all of them. Again, they come back as verified.

 

On Friday I opted out and sent whychet letter to all TU, EX and EQ.

 

I waited until Friday to send them out because I also filed with the courts to have the judgment vacated. Court is set for Tuesday morning. I didn't want the credit bureaus contacting the CA before the court date. Gut tells me they will show up to protest having it vacated. I have all my documentation that I did not pay the judgment etc. I have been told from the clerk of the court that I "have a very nice and understanding judge to hear my case." Keeping my fingers crossed and praying hard. If it does get vacated than the only 2 negatives left on my reports are these paid collections.

 

From what I have read it appears TU will probably delete right away. It seems EX and EQ are not as cooperative.

 

What will my next step be? I really don't want to play hardball with the hospital as they were the super kind ones and forgave the bills. Prior to reading the whychat steps I probably goofed but disputed saying "Please provide proof that I paid these bills." They responded as verified but did not provide me any proof.

 

Sorry so long.

[Why Chat]

It is possible that your initial dispute letters will get the accounts deleted.

 

Is the judgment showing on your credit report??

 

If it is not, then it is showing on your x's credit report.

 

It is POSSIBLE that the accounts will be changed to "paid" collections, in which case you will have to send the CA the medical DV for accounts reporting as paid.

 

If the "paid" collections remain, then you CAN use the HIPAA letter program against the OC hospital to get the "paid" collections off your reports.

 

Please make sure you have opted out, and if your X needs to repair HIS reports, have him join the forum and follow the directions:

http://www.whychat.5u.com/GUIDEBOOK.html

[Kathy4NU]

It is possible that your initial dispute letters will get the accounts deleted.

 

Is the judgment showing on your credit report??

 

If it is not, then it is showing on your x's credit report.

 

It is POSSIBLE that the accounts will be changed to "paid" collections, in which case you will have to send the CA the medical DV for accounts reporting as paid.

 

If the "paid" collections remain, then you CAN use the HIPAA letter program against the OC hospital to get the "paid" collections off your reports.

 

Please make sure you have opted out, and if your X needs to repair HIS reports, have him join the forum and follow the directions:

http://www.whychat.5u.com/GUIDEBOOK.html

 

 

Yes, judgment is on credit reports. Tomorrow at 10:30am is my hearing to have it vacated. Hoping for the best.

 

When I first disputed with CRA because OC asked CA to remove they updated them to paid. (this was about a month ago) So as of now, I have 2 collection marked as paid on my credit reports and one judgment marked as satisfied on my credit report. All three reports are identical.

 

I sent first HIPPA letter to CRA on Friday. Hope that will take care of it. Am I correct in that if they come back as verified the next step is to send letter to CA? I really want to avoid sending anything to OC - hospital as they were super nice in forgiving them and they have asked for them to be deleted. I don't want to push them in a corner when they have done everything for me so far. it is the darn collection agency that is playing hard ball.

[Why Chat]

If your initial disputes are verified, then you need to send the reporting CA the medical DV for accounts reporting as paid:

 

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

 

http://www.whychat.5u.com/GUIDE%20HIPAA%20PROGRAM.html

[Kathy4NU]

Thus far...

 

TU: Deleted both medical bills. Deleted Judgment (yea, that report is almost spotless)

EX: Haven't heard from them. Cannot go the backdoor route to check on their website.

EQ: Haven't heard from them. Using the backdoor route both collections and the judgment says "Dispute in process"

 

Not sure why the judgment is taking so long to get delete. I faxed a copy of the judges signed order over to them.

 

I am most anxious for EX and EQ as these are the only baddies on both of these reports.

 

I hate waiting!!!!

[Kathy4NU]

EQ did not delete. They have verified. I have not received anything in the mail from them. Used back door approach to see they concluded their investigation and it says 'verified' on the account with date of 4/13

 

No word from EX yet.

 

Everything is deleted on TU.

 

 

I will wait to receive something in the mail from EQ. I will than send next letter to CA.

[Kathy4NU]

So I did something bold this morning. I called EQ and asked how they verified it. I stated that in my letter I was very clear that I wanted to know what doctor and what procedure etc and to send a letter through e-mail saying "verified" was not sufficient. I also explained that I faxed over a judges order that says all collections and judgments tied to this collection agency are vacated and the attorney said on record that he wanted everything associated with my name and this collection agency to be "dismissed with prejudice." That last one got the attention of the guy on the phone and I was immediatly transferred to a very nice lady. I explained the story to her again. She asked about the court order. I told her I faxed it over last Tuesday (which was same day as the court hearing AND the same day they received my HIPPA letter. She told me they didn't see the second part of the order and to please hold. She came back on the phone about 3 minutes later and gave me a confirmation number and said everything has now been deleted off my credit report!!

 

Whohooo!!! My EQ report is completely clean!!! I will probably be rebucketed and my scores drop a little but I am HaPpY!!!

 

EX is still showing the 2 medical bills. I have not heard from them at all. They did remove the judgment that was faxed to them.

 

TU removed the 2 medical bills when they received the HIPPA letter and they removed the judgment when I faxed it to them. I do have 2 baddies with them that will age off in July. For some reason EQ deleted them a couple weeks ago. They were never on EX. My experience with TU is they remove items at exactly 7 years and not a day early.

[Kathy4NU]

Heard back from EX today.

 

They said they have previously investigated this so they are not going to investigate it again.

 

Darn!

 

Now what?

 

EQ and TU have deleted.