I was in the ER back in 10/10/07. my insurance and the hospital had some kind of confusion which cause the bill payment to delay over a year. until today it was still not taken care of.

the hospital forward the bill to a collection agency, and start asking me for money. i called and fax, and fax and called all the information they need millions of times. some how it feels like i never get a result.

so after this long time period, the collection company made a move, and now i have a collection on my credit history. is there a way to fight it? or have them take that back?

or does anyone know a lawyer can help me get this solved?

thank you very much

Stephen

 

Should be able to fight it somehow if it in fact was an error on their half.

 

i hope you have evidence that shows you attempted to resolve the issue for proof

 

i fax them my information many many times. and they should have call record i think. i even mailed them my insurnace info many times too. but i don't know how can i proof that.

 

Collection companies suck...the biggest problem is that they have no interest (or sometimes even power) to resolve your situation, only collect your money. That's how they get paid, they get a percentage cut of the money you supposedly owe to the originator. Oftentimes, they have no other power but to either a) take your money or b) report you to credit agencies. As far as I know, only the collection originator (i.e. hospital) has the power to pull/reverse collection efforts. However, if it has went on your credit report, only the collection company or the credit agency can reverse that. Sorry, if this is confusing, but these situations blow big time.

In your case, I would suggest contacting all of the parties in question (hospital, insurance, collection agency) and try to resolve this one more time. Obviously keep detailed track of all the communications. Afterward, contact all of the credit agencies that have that collection on your report and dispute it. If you have proper documentation you can prove the collection effort to be erroneous and hopefully get it removed, but do not expect the process to be quick. I am sure there are consumer organizations that can help you with those efforts, but I am drawing a blank. I will see what i can find out for you in the morning.

Other things to note on collection agencies; they often do not play by the rules. I have heard of instances of them referring cases to credit bureaus even though they received payments, refiling cases to bureaus after they go off your record after 7 years, and refuse to exercise partial settlement options.

Good luck!