Responsibility

[Mdeanes1992]

State of Oklahoma

My wife and I are currently in the process of buying a home. A year ago she went in to the hospital. We received the bill by mail and we paid the hospital bill. When our lender checked our credit he noticed that my wife had a collection of $33 & $409.00 which was sent to collections. It appears that there was another bill we had not received. We never received a bill, or a phone call or even knew that we had an additional bill. Had we known we would’ve paid it immediately. When we called the collection agency, they told us who the bill was from (which was Diagnostic Imaging). We called that company this morning, to find out why the bill was never sent to us, or why we were never contacted. They claimed that they had been given the address without our apartment number. They also claimed they were given an incorrect phone number. However, if that was the case, how did the hospital send their bill to us but the imaging lab did not? They told us they would not provide us a letter stating that the bill should not have gone to collections because they failed to get the correct information from the hospital. They claimed that it was not their responsibility. Insurance, nor the hospital, nor anyone else notified us which caused my wife’s credit score to drop. Which in turn caused us to not be able to proceed with our loan. Who is at fault and is there any legal action we can take?

 

[justalayman]

both sides can throw mud all day long but in the end, especially given your intent to purchase a house, you will lose. You really cannot prove their claim so in the end, bottom line, there was an unpaid bill.


I would suggest seeking a pay for delete agreement. You did owe the money so there is no argument to not pay it. For whatever reason it is where it is so the best result is the collector gets paid and the negative trade line on your report gets removed. If you get them pissed off you can pretty much forget about them pulling it though. They will have to mark it paid but can just leave it there where it will set for 7 years from the date of delinquency.

 

[Mdeanes1992]

...

Paying it isn't my concern at all, I've actually already paid it. The issue is getting it deleted from credit entirely rather than showing as a paid collection. Otherwise we are looking at a few years for her credit to raise back up. Had it been something that we knew about and didn't pay, yes absolutely i would say we deserve for it to be on her credit. However if we had no idea about the bill, how could We pay it? Ultimately because of diagnostic imaging's failure to communicate with us, we are paying the price.

 

[justalayman]

well , by being a responsible person you lost any leverage you had. You can ask for a deletion. They have no obligation to accommodate your request.

Ultimately because of diagnostic imaging's failure to communicate with us, we are paying the price.

their failure to communicate? How do you know their claims aren't true?

They claimed that they had been given the address without our apartment number. They also claimed they were given an incorrect phone number. However, if that was the case, how did the hospital send their bill to us but the imaging lab did not?

because the hospital apparently had the correct address. Never heard of clerical error? Of course they could be lying just as well. Given you won't be able to prove any of it, you are where you are.

 

[Zigner]

Frankly, I find it surprising that two old, small amounts like this for a medical related condition are a barrier to you obtaining a loan. I've been involved in a handful of mortgage transactions such as this, and small numbers like this weren't ever a problem.