First, thank you to everyone who contributes to this forum! What an amazing collection of information but wow is it overwhelming!

DH and I are in the process of rebuilding our credit. I started reading and working on it with plans of applying for a mortgage this year. Now it is possible that dh will be getting demoted and taking a huge pay cut so I am trying to fix things as quickly as possible so his credit does not affect his job options. To be honest I'm bouncing between panic and shock right now and having a rough time so I need to focus and work on this as much as possible. I've read Psychdoc's seminars, triaged our reports, opted out, and have contacted them to remove addresses and fix personal information.

I've been reading about medical disputes for a few days now and my head is spinning. Is it right that I still send the CRA dispute letter even if it is a legit account that I am able to pay? Or can I start with the HIPPA letter with payment to the OC? I ask because I have several items I need to work on and I'm trying to find the most expedient way to deal with them.

Also, is the entire disput letter supposed to be handwritten or just the envelope and why? I used the search function to find that answer but had no luck.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Lora

I just realized I probably didn't give you enough info.

Account is for surgery 4/04. No statements from them until 1/07 because they had not received payment from insurance. (This is strange as our insurance paid all other related bills very promptly) I made an attempt to make payments but never received any statements or communication from them. Sent payments when I remembered (bad I know, I now have everything organized better). It showed up on credit report as a collection through Kansas Counselors. I contacted them by phone (didn't know what it was for) and was told they could not contact us because we live in WA. I have received nothing from original creditor since 1/07 and nothing at all from Kansas Counselors.

Hope that helps.

You do each step in the order Why Chat has spelled out. Why not take apiece of paper and outline it for yourself, so all the steps are clear to you. If you do that, you will see that paying is part of the process, it just isn't the first thing you do.

Thanks breeze. That's what I was wondering. I thought i read somewhere you should only have one dispute with the CRAs at one time. I was hoping to tackle several things at once. So hand write the dispute letter?

Opt out
http://whychat.5u.com/OPTOUTINST.HTML
Delete old addresses if possible if you have moved within the past 6-7 years.
If it is on your reports send this:( list only medical accounts and be careful to dispute them AS REPORTED for each CRA)
http://whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html

If any are NOT deleted,
Send the dunning CA this;
http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html
( One identical letter for each CRA they are reporting to in one CMRR envelope)

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

The most likely probability is that these are garbage scum scam ca/jdb's who obtained your data from a data miner because you have recently applied for a loan or mortgage.

If any CA responds with a full and accurate account of what you owe, and it matches your EOMB from your insurance and bills you have received from the OC and it is under 3-4 years since the date of service, then you can pay that OC with the HIPAA letter insert "a"
http://whychat.5u.com/hipltr.html

Thank you for the explaination of what is handwritten and why. That makes sense and I'll pick up a legal pad in the morning. I'm guessing this is a good practice for ALL correspondence with the CRA?

I have opted out and deleted old addresses (well, most of them, a couple seem to be sticky)

I think the CA was hired by the OC. When I called (to find out who/why/what) I then called the OC and was told to arrange payments with the CA. I didn't do that (thank goodness)!

Thank you again.

Maybe I'm misread something, but are all the letters supposed to be handwritten, or is typing them fine. just wanted to clarify.
thx
ron

Its been said here that if you handwrite your letters on blue lined legal paper " the yellow legal pad" you have better success because they cannot be scanned into the system. A actual person has to read and assign your dispute.

Typing them can have results too. But an autoscan system just makes it easier to come back with verifiable information.