Here's where I stand:

I have 3 derogatory accounts on my credit reports.

One is a disputed medical bill which I never paid because the amount was ludicrous and after many letters phone calls etc I was unable to get it reduced so decided not to pay. It is for $2500. It is beyond the statute of limitations but of course shows as an unpaid collection. Oddly enough it shows one payment of $10.00 on the account (I had another account I did pay off at the same medical provider I don't know if they inadvertently applied a payment to this account?)

The other 2 accounts are paid collections. One is quite old (reported 03/04) for $185.00 and the other is an account I just paid in 04/09 off for $242.

The only CRA that these accounts show up on are Experian so I have been targeting my efforts at them.

My questions:

1) I have disputed with Experian the unpaid collection and the paid collections -they verified them. Since I know I haven't made a payment on the unpaid collection do I have a hope of getting it removed by requesting verification of the balance? How would I go about it - I don't dispute that I owe this bill, it's just the amount is incorrect.

2) For the paid collections: I can't recall how I handled the oldest one but I know for the most recent one I never paid the CA anything. I made all remittances to the OP. I wasn't even aware that it actually had gone to collections -it only showed up on my CR AFTER the account was paid in full (my 02/09 credit report did not show this item on it). I wrote pre-hippa letter to CRA (they verified the accounts), so I then wrote to the CA requesting validation of the accounts. That was over a month ago and I have received no response. So now I send a letter to the CRA with copy of letter to CA and proof of delivery requesting them to remove the debt as the CA has not responded?

Thanks I'm a newbie like many-rapidly learning.

Carolyn

For item # 2 - I should clarify that though I have just found this wonderful site today the letters I wrote were almost verbatim to whychats letters. So since the CA hasn't responded I write the letter to the CRA requesting removal and if that fails then what?? Is my only recourse legal action? Or do I take the nice guy approach then....and nicely ask the CA to remove the derogatory accounts (yeah as if that will happen).

Have you opted out??
http://whychat.5u.com/OPTOUTINST.HTML
Have you deleted ( if possible) old addresses if you have moved within the past 6 years??

You need to concentrate on one type of dispute at a time, i.e. do not try to dispute addresses and account disputes within a few weeks of each other. Do not dispute a medical account and a non medical account until one is cleared up, it adds 15 days to your dispute time and will get NEITHER deleted.

You say the accounts you referred to are JUST on your Experian reports?? Is that because you disputed them and they were deleted by TU and Eq??

If so, and your dispute to Ex on your medical account was verified-- at what point did you contact the reporting CA??

Since you are posting in the medical forum, I will try to help you with the medical account, and then help you with the other AFTER the medical account is off your report.

Should I also venture a try at getting the unpaid collection removed? I haven't started on that one yet - I was wondering if the fact that the CA is reporting I made a payment can be used to help me? I have never paid anything on this account. Should I write to them asking them to verify the original amount and current amount and then if they reply that it is verified alert them to the fact that I have never made a payment and that obviously the information is wrong?

Thanks a bunch for your time and dedication to this board.

You should dispute ALL your medical accounts, paid or unpaid at thhe same time in the same dispute letter.

There are different follow up letters for the ones reporting as paid and the ones reporting a balance due.

As to the "phantom" $10. payment--this is an old trick of the garbage CA/JDB's to re-age the reporting.

As to checking your Eq and TU reports, you really should do all 3 at the same time as any follow up letters would just have to be duplicated if you find that the same accounts are on the other CRA reports too.

Gotcha - I was wondering since I"m at the follow up letter with the paid collections and haven't done anything with the unpaid one -can I put the first dispute letter for the unpaid in the same envelope as the follow up letter or should I send them separately?

NO NO NO!!

Get the ones deleted first that you have already disputed BEFORE sending in ANY new dispute to the ONE CRA you are disputing..

I received a form letter from experian today in response to follow up letter sent last week.

It reads "we are responding to your request to verify items on your personal credit report. We have already investigated this information and the credit grantor has verified its accuracy...."

I don't believe the "follow-up" is asking for verification is it? What is the next move. Somewhere in this notice it says if you have new information to send it them. I was wondering: For one of these accounts I paid every payment to the original creditor- If I send them this information will that substantiate my dispute to have that account removed? I have yet to received a reply from my letter to the CA.

What is the next step -this isn't the answer I would expect for the "follow-up" letter.

Wait another week or so and check your report. It is waaaay too soon to have received a full response, the CRA's send out automated responses to add to the allowable time they have.

When you recheck your report, see if it is being shown as in dispute.

If it is ONLY reporting on Experian, and it has not been deleted ( after another few weeks) and is NOT showing as having been disputed or being under investigation, then you can file an FTC complaint and send them a copy with a cover letter.
http://whychat.5u.com/hipaaftccomp.html

You are a true good samaritan!

I thought it was rather quick...I'll wait and check.

Still no response from CA...will wait the 30 days (the waiting is the hardest part I plan on waiting the 30 days before I do anything further but I wanted to chart my course of action.

I was rereading the most recent entry for one of the paid collections:

It reads: Collection as of Apr 2009, Reported since April 2009

This account was paid in full of March 2009. My last payment to the OC was made in March 2009 - and in fact I have a check from April that was returned to me as I made one EXTRA payment on the account (they didn't cash it and sent a letter saying I had no unpaid accounts-unfortunately I don't believe I kept that letter I bet I could use it now! ).

If Experian doesn't remove this paid collection could I use the above information to get it removed? They do state in their correspondence that if you have any further evidence to support your dispute to send it...

Just wondering and planning my next strategy...