Expert: Regan Shinski - 12/1/2010

Question
My wife recently discovered a collection action on her credit report. Her scored had
consistently been over 760 for years until this mystery charge very recently appeared.
When we contacted the collection agency, they could only say that it was an obstetrics
charge, but couldn't/wouldn't provide any further details despite repeated demands.
My wife contacted her OB/GYN, the hospital where she gave birth, our pediatrician,
and our insurance company, but none of the parties had an unpaid balance of any
kind. And none of the parties had a record of referring any unpaid balances to a
collection agency either. My question for you is what actions can we take to address
this issue? Prior to checking her credit report, there has never a time when we had
received any invoices from the hospital, doctors, or insurance company regarding
unpaid balances being past due.

Answer
Hello Kevin:

This can be a long process, so you may need to ask me a follow-up question down the line.  There are many steps you can take.  They are too detailed to go into detail in this first reply and you have be able to adjust your actions depending on their response.

However, the first step is to send a letter to the credit bureaus disputing the account.  Just a simple letter saying you don't recognize the account should suffice.  They will contact the creditor and respond back to you in about 30 days.  Often, this will do it, especially on older accounts.

At the same time, you can send a certified letter to the collection agency directly asking for validation under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  It is common for them to NOT respond or not respond properly, but this is the first administrative step to developing a case down the line to delete the account.

Depending on what happens, will determine how you proceed from there.

Good luck, I hope this helps.

Regan

www.ficofighter.com