Mark Avery

Thank you for your calm and reasoned response to my rant, I was out of line. Wow on being an 80+ year old, now I feel doubly bad that I let loose. I will send you my contact info via PM and I would be honored to de-typo your letters and work with you on an organizational structure. I can't do it before the end of the year, but January looks pretty good right now. Thanks again for responding in a more dignified manner than I did.

A - Thank you for the assistance you give so many people on this board. You have a cult-like well deserved reputation as the know all and end all for medical issues and you have helped hundreds, maybe thousands, of people. Even the MyFico official forums recommend your 5u.com letters, so you are indeed the expert. B - You gave me advice eight months ago and when I tried to get clarification it was not provided. The first line in your first response to me was "Do you have your EOB from your insurance??" That after my original post that started this thread stated, "I can't find a matching EOB and don't remember ever receiving any bills from the hospital." That tells me you didn't take the time to read my OP, therefore I felt justified in asking for clarification. Your website is the most horrible incomprehensible mis-mash with confusing directions and hundreds of typos. Effing forgive me for missing one portion of your advice and then - upon discovering my error (thanks bonbonXO) - asking what to do because I made an error. It feels really good on this end being called "Dumb" because I'm in a situation I don't understand. And my situation is somewhat unique since we never received a bill or an EOB, nobody can provide a bill or an EOB, yet the collection agency wants our money. Again, forgive me for being dumb and thinking that a unique situation might require a non-boilerplate solution. I am sincere when I state that I admire and respect your knowledge and I appreciate the time and energy you freely give here at Credit Matters. But your condescending and arrogant attitude towards me is not called for. But you tried and I'm sorry it didn't work. I will not ask for your assistance ever again.

I am sooooo confused at this point. Do I want to go back to Why Chat's 4-14 advice and start from this point again? Why Chat recommends two things. I did one (to the CA) but not the other (to the OC). - OR - Should I just walk into the hospital with the CA letter and ask for copies of invoices, statements, etc., etc. and try to figure out why nothing was sent to me at the time of the services?

I can no longer download EOBs, that particular insurance company stopped being our carrier at the end of 2008. I do, however, still have all the EOBs.

Two things to keep in mind: 1 - I've never seen an EOB and when I tried to download one from the insurance company website, there was nothing in that time from or anything that matched that amount. (We did have many EOB's around that time frame due to a diagnosis of cancer.) 2 - The CA tells me that the amount due was because I hadn't met my deductible, so how can that be considered balance billing?

No I did not. Not sure why either, but I didn't. That was a big OOPS-Do this now. Follow the special instructions Why Chat gave you for your situation. Do I send the whole letter and add the part B, or just the part B? And I'm guessing the special instructions you reference is the part about residual billing and one year? Remember, according to them this isn't residual billing. Two things - even if the CA reports it as a consumer dispute, that doesn't mean squat to my FICO score. Secondly, what they sent me this month is full of errors, what benefit is there to not pointing out their errors in hopes that it never gets onto my credit report?

No kidding. Here's a sentence in the letter that I didn't post - "We have reviewed the billing delay brought to our attention in your correspondence. Even though a delay in billing occurred when the next notice was not sent to you until 2009, this inconvenience does not release you from your financial obligation to pay for the services provided." Surely somewhere there's a law that says you can't never send a bill, then 18 months later send it to collections, then collections waits six months before replying to a dispute. No I did not. Not sure why either, but I didn't. We are purchasing a new house in three months. A collection would be an absolute killer at this point in time. My thinking is that if I reply and point out that they still have not verified then they can't put it on our credit reports. Remember, I never received an invoice, I never received an EOB and when I went online to pull the EOB, there is nothing on the insurance website that matches what they are claiming. Wouldn't I be better off pointing out all their errors and letting them know that if they do put it on my credit report I will then have basis for legal action? Remember, the collection agency is the OC - Central Financial Control is the in-house collection agency for Tenet. I plan on keeping everything on this issue for many, many years. It's easy, you just need to use (quote) and (/quote) as a wrap around the quoted text. But you have to use brackets, not parenthesis. Then be sure to preview before posting, especially if you've done a lot of quote breaking like I have.

Well - I received a reply from Central Financial Control. I received a letter yesterday that was dated 11-11-09 and postmarked 11-24-09. Dear Mr. Avery: Our office is in receipt of your dispute letter requesting debt validation. The above mentioned account results from services rendered by our client, Name of Hospital. On the date in question, an individual with your name, address, date of birth and Social Security number presented himself at our client's facility and received services. Per your primary insurance carrier presented at the time of service, $$$ was determined to be your patient responsibility. That sounds pretty boilerplate to me. The last paragraph of their letter is interesting: "As you have requested, this office will cease all written and telephone communication with you regarding your account with out client. This account now resides in our cease and desist unit." So here's the $million question - Does being in the "cease and desist unit" mean they will or they won't put this on my credit report? I just checked Experian, it's not there. I flunked the Equafax verification challenge, they've got to send me snail mail before I can check that report. The $2 million question - how do I respond to this letter? Thanks in advance, I was hoping I would never be posting in this topic again, but even though it took them seven months to respond they did get back to me.

Thanks bonbonXO. The letter did indeed have the verbiage "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." included. I just wondered if they are required to respond in 30 (60? 90?) days if they plan on not dropping the matter. I'll let the dogs slumber and hope I don't need to come back to this thread in a panic at a later date.

OK - it's been over two months since I sent the certified letter to Central Financial Control. Absolutely no response - not by mail, not by phone and nothing has shown up on the credit reports. Do I just let sleeping dogs lie? Do I go on offense and send another letter asking them why they didn't respond and show me the proof or send me a letter saying "We're Sorry."?

Is this true in all 50 states? And can someone define "residual charges" for me? I think it means anything left over after the insurance company pays their share, but I want to be sure. Anybody?

Is this true in all 50 states? And can someone define "residual charges" for me? I think it means anything left over after the insurance company pays their share, but I want to be sure.

Thanks for jumping in Why Chat! They tell me they will mail the EOB. My deductible (max annual out of pocket) was $2,500; this was/is the tipping point that took me over the top. Is this true in all 50 states?

The collection agency, Central Financial Control, is the collection arm of Tenant hospitals. Considering this is the very first time I've heard of this - remember, I never received an EOB or any bills - is it really wise to go to the hospital and admit ownership?

I've got a verbal on the EOB and they say they will mail me a copy. I'll do some rounding, but here are the figures: The total charges were $16,000. There was a $9,000 adjustment (negotiated discount) So - allowable charges were $7,000 The insurance company paid $6,000 $1,000 is owed by me since my deductible hadn't been met. So - it does not appear that this is a "balance billing" issue and it looks like maybe a legitimate balance due. If they had maybe sent me a bill back in 2007 when the medical procedures were performed, I could have easily paid it. But 1.5 years later and I'm one of the millions looking for work and we have no means to pay this at this time. And I cannot afford for this collection to hit my credit reports. Isn't there a law somewhere requiring them to send me bills in a timely fashion? Or is there a statute of limitations?