A dispute on credit score?
Corrent score is 656 (experian)
Answer:
The only effective way to do this is contact the credit bureaus. They in turn notify the creditor/collection agency of the dispute and attempt to verify your statements as true. Unfortunately only the creditor can has the last say. Although, the creditor has a responsibility to you to notifiy you when an account is past due. You have a responsibility to follow up. There is also a time limit that has to be met before they can turn into a collection. It's unlikely they would have let those bills sit that long w/o attempting to contact you. They will have maintained a file or record of what they mailed you, what day it was sent, and to what address. They will have and should provide you with this information and you can explain why that was not adequate.
According to common law, it is the debtor's obligation to seek out the creditor.
Just because you thought the insurance company took care of it doesn't excuse you from the obligation nor the repercussions of not paying them.
I doubt very much whether you can successfully dispute this as they are right. It was up to you to ensure that the insurance company paid it and you didn't.
I wish the answer was better but that's the way it goes.
Unfortunately, insurance is a contract between you and the insurance company. Doctors don't have to accept any particular insurance plan. Pay the bill, then get the insurance company to pay you. Just because the insurance company didn't pay (as it sounds like they should have) doesn't mean this can be removed from your credit report.
The credit agencies can't do anything about it, unless it was they that made the error.
Otherwise, they can only report what was reported to them. To clear anything up that reflects badly on your report, you have to go to the original creditor. In your case, the docror, or the hospital.
They will have to tell you what needs to be done, if anything CAN be done. I have to tell you this: If the account went to a collections agencies, it may be too late to do anything about it. Here's the problem. Nothing goes to collections until attempts have been made to collect from you. Even the collection agency must have tried to collect, because that is the only way they get paid.
If you ignored these bills, during the time the account went through all this process, then the fault (and the debt) was still yours. All those bills that you were getting should have been the warning you needed to know the insurance company was not paying. You can blame whoever you want, but the financial responsibility was still yours.
I'll bet you even signed something at the doctor's office or hospital that makes you ultimately responsible for any medical bills the insurance did not cover. That form is pretty standard. You may have to get the insurance company involved in clearing up your credit record.
Good luck on getting this fixed.
Go to creditboards.com they have a very helpful advice and chat forum.
You would have to try to dispute it through the credit reporting agencies. One thing you can do is add a statement to your credit report explaining what the circumstances are regarding the collection accounts. I believe you have to do this with each bureau individually. That way, lenders will have the full story when making a credit decision.
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