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Hello everyone, I have been reading the forums for quite awhile, but this is my first post. Thanks so much to all of you veterans who have educated me in the initial steps to cleaning up my credit! After doing my homework, I have opted out with all three CRA's and am now working on removing my old addresses from my credit reports. With TransUnion and Equifax, I have already sent out letters. However, I hear that Experian is a real beast in this department. While I will try not to request deletion of all of my old addresses with these guys, I have somewhat of a "unique" question about 2 former addresses on my credit report... Ok, here's the deal. I lived at a sober living apartment for 8 mos. I have no clue how the credit bureaus got a hold of this address, as all of my mail went to my sister's address in another state, and she in turn mailed it to me. I was however, required to get an ID with the DMV in the state I was residing during this time, and the address of the sober living apartment was on that ID. So I am assuming this is how they got it. My question is this-Can I have Experian (and the other 2 CRA's for that matter if they will not cooperate) remove this address due to HIPAA? Seems to be a Privacy issue somehow. I look at it as a long term treatment facility, and I don't see how they can be able to keep it on my CRA if I request it to be taken off. And frankly, I don't feel comfortable about it being on there if a potential employer pulled my credit. Then again, maybe I have no clue what I am talking about either. Second, my sister's address that all of my mail at the time went to is also listed. Can I just address that as ":Never lived there"? I never did live with her so it's not lying. Hope someone can help with this, and thanks again so much for all of the helpful posts.Hope I didn't go on for too long.

This particular problem happened before I knew of the HiPAA program. I have since learned of the HIPAA program and used it for other medical collections and it worked perfectly. Thank you. However, this particular issue started completely out of order and prior to learning HiPAA. I called my current medical insurance issuer to pay for something about two months ago. They advised me that two previous accounts were sent to collections. We went over everything, I recalled the services and paid them over the phone. She said that they would have the collection agency pull the records and delete the trade lines. I said ok. They have since sent me copies of the records and paid receipts for both accounts. The collection agency deleted both accounts from Transunion without me doing anything, one account from Experian and one account from Equifax. I disputed Exquifax online which resulted in one being deleted and the other came back verified. Experian deleted the one because I disputed online but the system wouldn't let me dispute the other one again so I decided to wait to do so by mail because I had another active dispute going with them. Since Transunion deleted without me initiating a dispute, I believe that was done because my insurance carrier told them to do it. I know they contacted them because after I paid them over the phone and verified that no payment information would be shared with the CA, she put me on hold to call the CA to tell them to delete. She even quoted HIPAA saying that they have the CA delete all account information after the hospital is paid because it would be a violation. My credit card statement reads the hospital as payee, it was an electronic payment and the receipts from the hospital billing records list payment made to and received and processed by hospital. So now with the CA going rogue it seems with leaving one account and verifying one with another bureau, what should I do?

So, I am following the Why Chat HIPAA Letter Program. I sent the "COLLECTION AGENCY VALIDATION/DISPUTE/CEASE AND DESIST" letter yesterday. The letter contained no personal identifiable information other than my name and account number. I did not sign the letter, and I sent it via fax from a free online faxing service. Today I received a letter in response in my mail. It says: "In response to your fax received 3/12/13, enclosed is validation of the debt." Enclosed I found 4 billing statements with all of my personal information on it. I can see billing cpt codes, treatments, insurance information, ect... My question is: I did not release this information, I did not sign a request, nor did I provide anything to verify my identity. Is this considered a violation of the HIPAA regulations? If so, what do I do now??? Thank you in advance for your help! --b