I had a small collections entry already in my file, which I didn't know of because I kept on moving addresses in college and the letters must have gotten lost somewhere. I only found out once I tried applying for a credit card and got denied. I was about to start a job too so I panicked a little because I was scared that it might impact my job. So I quickly just called them, paid the amount using my other visa and I thought I was done with that. I didn't know anything about pay to delete back then, and the amount was only $150 for a MRI scan!

I tried calling the collection agency about this to see if they would delete the entry for me, explained my situation about how it was just a small amount and if I knew about the collections entry then I would've paid right away. However, they told me that they have NO WAY to call the credit reporting agencies to delete, they just report. Is this true? Would writing a letter to them to explain my situation again help?

I'm about to buy a car and rent an apartment so I need to try to get this fixed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Opt out--You can make one phone call to 1-888-567-8688 [1-888-5-OPTOUT] to opt-out
Get old addresses deleted if possible
Send the CRA's this; ( follow the directions and use individual reports from each CRA with individual file #'s)
http://whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html

If the account is NOT deleted, but is verified by the CA then send the CA this;
http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html

and then redispute to the CRA's with this;
http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html#DISPUTE

Your $$ to the scum scam CA was $$ down a rathole, NEVER NEVER NEVER pay a CA a RED CENT They lie like a rug. In your case they didn't even have the decency to mark your account as a paid collection.

Thanks for the rather quick reply Why Chat. I've been on the boards for just a day just browsing and you seem to have quite the reputation here. But I don't wanna hide things here and wanna admit that I did ignore the collections letters because I sincerely thought it was just because the medical insurance hadn't kicked in yet or something. Because, case in point, I actual had a second collections entry in my file before but after I called the insurance company, they (some other medical clinic not related to this case) told me that they messed up and they then told their own CA to have the entry removed from my file. And this was for a collections entry of about $1500! So I just thought that this would be the same case. But when I finally called them, they really told me that THEY on the other hand, really did not get money from tne insurance because of my deductible blah blah blah, so I payed over the phone immediately by credit card like they told me to. My collections entry now does say 'Paid'. But after reading the boards and calling them, they told me that it was not possible for them to call the credit reporting agencies to have my entry deleted. I had never heard of pay for delete before as my credit history was never a problem before. Now I am just wondering if sending the letters you mentioned still be appropriate in my situation?

Also, I only looked at my Equifax report and only disputed with them regarding the legitimate fraudulent entry I had. Do all credit reporting agencies keep a consistent file? Or should I really have filed a dispute with ALL the credit reporting agencies ?

Thanks all. I really do appreciate it.

You need to opt out and get your old addresses deleted and get ALL your credit reports from all the CRA's to make sure you are getting everything possible cleaned up.

In the case of the account being shown as a "paid" collection, it is hurting your credit almost as much as an "unpaid" one. The CA you spoke to and paid may or may not have had a legitimate balance owing as the hospitals frequently discount the bills because they are under contract to the insurance companies to accept the discounted amount. The CA may have picked up a "balance" that wasn't really due, which is why they are not cooperating with you.

The only difference in my instructions to you would be this ( in red);

Thanks Why Chat. Should I still send them a letter to dispute the collection entry and ask for a validation even when I already paid collections and it was indeed a valid collections? If this is standard procedure to try to get the collections entry removed then I will start writing that letter.

There is no "standard" procedure in credit repair. Each person's situation is different. I try to tailor my advice to fit the information provided by the poster.

The basic problem in ALL credit repair is trying to determine if the REPORTING is accurate and if the reporting CA has/had the LEGAL right to report at all.

In your case, if the initial dispute letter does NOT get you a deletion of the "paid" account, then the DV requires them to produce MEDICAL RECORDS that prove their right to have reported it in the first place.

IF this was a valid medical claim, and IF the reporting CA was in contact with, and authorized by the OC to collect on the account, then the CA was a "business" associate and was ALSO covered under the HIPAA regulations.

So, in your case, IF your payment to the CA was correct, THEY are obligated under the HIPAA privacy rules to stop ANY reporting as once an account is paid there is no longer any permissible purpose to their reporting.

If they had NO authorization to report or collect, then they would be in violation of the FDCPA and FCRA and FACTA.
If they HAD authorization, their continued reporting is a HIPAA violation.

Thanks for the info WhyChat just an update: I have requested paper copies of my credit report from all 3 CRAs, then going through the opt out process first. If I use www.optoutprescreen.com, do I still need to make individually requests each CRA to delete my old addresses or does the website take care of that for me?