Collection Removal

[Murdock_719]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?WV

I recently noticed that my credit card interest rate rose quite a bit, when I asked the company about it they said it was because of a negitive mark on my credit report. I got a copy of my credit report yesterday and found that in November 2004 my dentist had sent a bill to the credit collections company.

I have been receiving bills from my dentist and the financial lady kept telling me not to worry about it that she would rebill the insurance because it should have been a covered expense. She never informed me that it had been turned over to a credit company (with interest even though she also said that would be removed).

I never received any sort of bill from the credit collection company. Today I called them and wanted to pay it off so it could be removed from my credit report and they said that they would not remove it because I did not pay it within 40 days of receiving their billing statement. When I told them I had never received a statement (I would have contested the charges) they said that was not their problem and that they mailed it in November 2004. They said to call the post office and complain if I hadn't received it. I asked for proof that they even sent it and they said they cannot provide any.

Is there anything I can do or am I stuck with this negitive mark on my credit?

 

[Veronica1228]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?WV

I recently noticed that my credit card interest rate rose quite a bit, when I asked the company about it they said it was because of a negitive mark on my credit report. I got a copy of my credit report yesterday and found that in November 2004 my dentist had sent a bill to the credit collections company.

I have been receiving bills from my dentist and the financial lady kept telling me not to worry about it that she would rebill the insurance because it should have been a covered expense. She never informed me that it had been turned over to a credit company (with interest even though she also said that would be removed).

I never received any sort of bill from the credit collection company. Today I called them and wanted to pay it off so it could be removed from my credit report and they said that they would not remove it because I did not pay it within 40 days of receiving their billing statement. When I told them I had never received a statement (I would have contested the charges) they said that was not their problem and that they mailed it in November 2004. They said to call the post office and complain if I hadn't received it. I asked for proof that they even sent it and they said they cannot provide any.

Is there anything I can do or am I stuck with this negitive mark on my credit?

The only thing you can try to do is to dispute the item with the CB. I don't think this will do much good since the dentist will be able to validate the debt. The best thing to do is to try and work it out with them.

 

[Murdock_719]

The best thing to do is to try and work it out with them.

I paid the debt off today so I wouldn't have to deal with it (I realize that it was a legitimate debt, even if the dentist didn't go about turning it in an honest manner). I just thought that since I was never informed that I owed the collection company they should be willing to accept the payment and remove it from my record.

The only thing you can try to do is to dispute the item with the CB

The collection company said they could mark it as disputed but I'm not sure what that means. I am not trying to weasel out of payment I just don't want it on my record since I was willing to pay it in the first place. The dentist told me not to because she would rebill the insurance. Had I known that she had turned it over to credit collectors I would have asked her to drop the interest (as promised) but would have paid it even if she refused.

 

[Veronica1228]

I paid the debt off today so I wouldn't have to deal with it (I realize that it was a legitimate debt, even if the dentist didn't go about turning it in an honest manner). I just thought that since I was never informed that I owed the collection company they should be willing to accept the payment and remove it from my record.



The collection company said they could mark it as disputed but I'm not sure what that means. I am not trying to weasel out of payment I just don't want it on my record since I was willing to pay it in the first place. The dentist told me not to because she would rebill the insurance. Had I known that she had turned it over to credit collectors I would have asked her to drop the interest (as promised) but would have paid it even if she refused.

I agree that this was crappy of the dentist to do since you were only following her advice. Talk to her, not the collection company, and see if she would be willing to help.

 

[TigerD]

Always Always negotiate things like item deletion in advance. Some companies won't remove under any condition, but many will.

DC

PS For the people who are going to write that you should get this in writing in advance of making the payment, forget about it. If you can't trust the CA to keep its word, the letter isn't going to make any difference.