credit question ??

[desertPOS]

So I'm asking here because I'm really not sure what to do at this point as far as my credit is concerned. Sorry, but I'm going to start from the beginning:

In December of last year (06) I had to get 8 stitches in my hand on my personal time, not at work. I had just been hired full time/salaried a couple months prior, but had already filled out all of the paper work etc. for medical/dental/etc. and had a medical insurance card and was supposed to be covered. ANYWAY, went to get stitches and they couldn't look up my insurance info, so they said they'd bill me and I can work it out with insurance later. Fine. Got the stitches, called my insurance company when the bill came in, and turns out they are not the primary provider, Pacificare is, so I'm referred to them. Call Pacificare and they have no record of me whatsoever, so I go to the accounting guy at work - turns out the first company I called was supposed to forward my info to Pacificare but never did, so SOMEBODY screwed up, but I wasn't enrolled in any kind of medical coverage for the first few months (which I sort of feel is part of my salary that was withheld for a couple months, but that's a different story). So my company agrees to pay the bill in full for me. They end up paying late or not the full amount or SOMETHING, but somehow the bill is sent off to a collections agency and I start getting calls. So a few months ago I wake up to a call on a weekday after I thought it was all taken care of, and there is still about $250 owed. As soon as I got to work I went straight to the accounting guy and gave him all the account information, who I talked to, and the phone number, then hound him all day until he sends me a confirmation # that it's paid. A week later I called in and verified with the collections agency that it's paid and the account is closed, and am informed that it will not show as an open account on my credit report after 3 to 5 weeks. Great. So here's where I'm stuck: My credit has fallen 85 points since this thing appeared on my credit report, and is the only negative item on there. I just checked my report again tonight, and it's fallen another 3 points and the account still says it's open:

Account Name: NCO FIN/99
Account Number: XXXXXXXXX
Acct Type: Collection Department / Agency / Attorney
Acct Status: Closed
Monthly Payment:
Date Open: 1/1/2007
Balance: $247.00
Terms: 1 Month
High Balance:
Limit:
Past Due: $247.00
Payment Status: Seriously past due date / assigned to attorney, collection agency, or credit grantor's internal collection department
Comments:

So at this point I'm not sure what I should do. On one hand I feel my company owes me big-time for this happening in the first place, but I'm not sure what I can or should do about it. Especially since I can't really assign a dollar value to this whole problem. And on the other hand I just really want to fix this before my credit is completely shot from something stupid like this. I had good credit a year ago, and now is borderline fair and is way below average. The only other thing I can think of that may make my credit score fall in the last year is an auto loan I took out for a Chevy pickup about 6 mos. ago. I've never paid late or missed a payment, but I assume maybe I'm getting dinged for 'using more of my credit?' So sorry for the long post, I don't really know how to say all that any shorter. I just want to fix this! If any of you have any opinions, I would greatly appreciate hearing them, or any advice any of you may have in how I can get some of this resolved. Thanks so much!

[desertPOS]

anyone?

[Blind Driver]

If you knew the company was going to reimburse you, you should have made sure the bill was paid. Then the company could have made you a check.

How long did it take to go to a collection agency? Didn't the hospy call you for their money a few times first?

[desertPOS]

no, hospital never called me. I didn't pay the bill myself and then get reimbursed because the total for the stitches was over a grand. In retrospect it would have been better to pay the last $250 and get reimbursed for that, but I figured I'll just have them pay it same day.

[Phonedoc]

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showforum=39


That should answer any questions you can think of.

[nissancrawler]

Go get a free credit report from one of the three companies, and you can file a dispute there. I did it (can't remember which company) and had my credit resolved within a week.

It was a similar situation to yours, "late" on payment. My college lost a student loan, I didn't notice. The gov't audited them, found out, made them pay immediately. The school then makes me repay them, which is fine. The problem was I only had 5 days to pay the bill from when their letter was postmarked. I could only pay by mail, it took 3 days to get there, so I couldn't possibly pay the bill on time. I didn't think much of it, they never said anything. I did a credit report, and found 11 hits from my college for late payment. I reported it to experian, I believe, told them why, a week later I had it fixed.

[resqme]

I have a credit service, www.truecredit.com. Costs $15 a month. THey have caught several things like this for me in the past two years since I have had it. Other services come with it (look at all three agencies whenver you want, watch your credit score, etc). It is well worth it.

I had a similar situation and through truecredit filed a dispute (like nissancrawler) and had it resoved very quickly.

Something to think about.

[Rat~Man]

http://creditinfocenter.com/


I've been disputing some incorrect and old info off my report. Very helpful site.