I have 6 potentially negatives in my credit
1. central finl control, collection acct for 353.00, reported since 09/05
2.nco-medclr, paid in settlement for 101 to continue on report until oct2010
3.nco-medclr, paid in settlement for 35.00 to continue on report until oct2010
4.nco-medclr, paid in settlement for 27 to continue on report until oct2010
5.nco-medclr, collection acct for 39.00, reported since 09/06
6. verizon wireless, account charged off for 1056.00 reported since 2008. Now this one I called verizon many times to get it fixed because they were charging me for downloads of music i did not download. I would never download the type of music it showed on my statement and they were done at times I am usually asleep. They said they were valid downloads because they came from my phone, so I decided it was not fair and decided not to pay because they would not help me out

the first four are medical and the first one i really can't recall what it's for

I have opted out of credit offers, I still need to call for removing old addresses and names, I am still waiting for my other two reports from TU and Exp.

question- I have verified about collection agencies' state guidelines. Number one is from California which does not require a license or bond, but I live in Texas which does require a 10,000 bond. I tried to verify if central finl control had the bond, but it showed nothing, and I emailed my secretary of state for verification of bond, if any(still waiting for a reply). Well I am still wondering how this works if the CA is from a state that does not require a bond but collect in my bond-required state, which law must they abide by?

question- I want my credit clean and need help through this process because I am still lost even after spending a day and a half reading over posts. I don't quite understand if I should write to the CRA first and then send the validation letter to CA or is this process at the same time. And is validation done prior to asking for deletion if you pay amount? Please help and thanks in advance.

Hi, thanks for bringing it over here - it makes it easier for us here on the boards to kind of keep medical separate from general collections.

Obviously you have a handle on the first steps - opting out and deleting old addresses, good deal.

When you get that done, you're going to send the pre-hipaa to all three CRA's: http://whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html

This just ensures that the agencies have any right to be collecting and reporting a medical debt. Frequently, they fold immediately and delete, as they have no legal right to be reporting medical debt information about you - that's the teeth of the hipaa program. So you deal with the CRA first, then start to figure out your next steps if need be.

Wait.. just noticed that some of them are settlement amounts - who did you settle with? NCO? I'm not sure it matters yet - the pre-hipaa is probably still your first shot across the bow, so to speak, but it will matter for how you proceed.

Also, the state of TX insurance website has a searchable database to find out who's bonded to collect - if that isn't where you tried to find out about #1, if you can't find it by googling, I'll try to track it down for you.

Yes, the 2nd through 5th are paid and through NCO. I found out about the bond through the Texas secretary of state website which has a lookup feature to see if a particular agency has the bond. I looked it up, and they did not have any information on there which means they are violating my state's requirement for trying to collect a debt. Should I wait around for the state response and letter and then mail those along with the pre-hippa one, too? Yesterday I called experian and got some addresses deleted and I am still waiting for my other two report so I could call as well. How will you keep in contact with me? Do I have to keep finding my post? or is their a quicker way of finding out who responded to my post?

I forgot to state that #4 say account legally paid in full for less than full balance

I'd just bookmark this post so you can go back to it when necessary. Also, if you reply and click "Enable email notification of replies" you'll get an email shot out to you if anyone replies here - I'll do the same so I keep up to date, as well.

For the moment what I'd do is search this forum for "paid collection agency" (the search won't pick up abbreviations less than 3 letters, btw) or something similar and keep an eye out for WhyChat's replies - WhyChat is, as I'm sure you've gathered, the Big Dog over here.

But what I'm thinking is wait until you get all of your reports, and from there, whatever addy's deleted that you can, and then send the pre-hipaa I linked to earlier.

After that I believe you'll use this: http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html#PAID - but you you need to dispute with the pre-hipaa to the CRA's first.

For right now, keep the state bond information tucked away as future ammo if necessary.

You need to opt out
http://whychat.5u.com/OPTOUTINST.HTML
You need to try to delete old addresses

You need to send the medical dispute letter to the CRA's where ANY medical account is reporting, paid or unpaid, known or unknown.
http://whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html

IF the medical accounts are NOT deleted, you can THEN try the medical DV letter for CA's reporting as paid.
http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html#PAID
You need to WAIT until your medical disputes are finalized before dealing with the Verizon account

Once the medical disputes are cleared away you can use this to dispute the Verizon account
http://whychat.5u.com/initdispltrsol.html

Unless you are being sued, the status of Tx registration or licensing of the CA is moot.

You will only be able to use a part of the HIPAA letter program as you paid a scum scam CA $$ down a rathole instead of paying the OC.

thanks, i will keep updating to make sure i am doing all this correctly. still waiting for my other two reports so i can delete old addresses with them.

Ok, so I sent the medical dispute to all three cra's. I have received two letters from experian and transunion. Transunion just sent me a letter with all of the addresses and names of the company's that have my collection accounts and to contact them and nothing else. Experian just sent me a letter saying if I question the results of the investigation i have to contact data furnisher directly and to refer to my credit report for the name, address, and phone number of the source that verified the information. So now I am still waiting for equifax.
So I now I will start writing my letters to the collection agencies.

That letter from Exp seems to be what they send when something's in dispute now, believe it or not. This is a good time to go to experian.com and look for the "review report again" link at the bottom of the page. Then you can enter a report # and see, in real time, if the items are under dispute.

Weirdness from TU, I guess I'd probably also check the backdoor for them: http://disclosure.transunion.com

Remember, the CRA's have either 30 or 45 days to complete their investigation, and frequently, Exp. in particular will take every single day!

I got results of the investigation. I got almost all collection deleted except for the one for 353.oo which I will write to. After I get some results from this collection, I will start on my verizon account.

Ok, I have received a reply from all 3 cra's. Transunion and Experian deleted all except the $353 collection acct and equifax did not delete none of the two collection accts. I had with them. I was wondering whether to use the same link whychat provided above for co that were not deleted since my accounts that remain are not a collection account that show as paid.

If they are reporting as a balance due, you send them this;
http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html