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Thread: Disputing credit/asking for verification

  1. #1
    Kaylinn
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    Default Disputing credit/asking for verification

    I'm reading on how to dispute your credit report by asking for verification of the debt. If you aren't provided verification in 30 days, you can legally have the item removed.
    Can anyone give me some good sites for more info on this, how it works, if it's legit, and what to do?

    Just start sending out letters to everyone saying please verify this debt?
    This works for medical bills as well?
    And does anyone know any programs that will help you pay medical collections, if you were uninsured and unemployeed?

    I'm gonna start cleaning up my credit....My score is low 500's, mostly due to medical collections, and 2 car repos. ( 1 of thoes repos is an actual dispute. Car was NOT repoed. It blew up and I left it on the road and told them to come get it since they refused to fix it.)

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    Featured Member xbloodydewdropx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Disputing credit/asking for verification

    http://www.creditboards.com in the "credit" forum. this place will explain the many different facets of what you're asking.
    "Seeing the landscape at this superficial level only captures its boring uniformity, not allowing you to immerse yourself in the spirit of the place; for that you must stop at least several days."

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    God/dess FrustratedBunny's Avatar
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    Default Re: Disputing credit/asking for verification

    I just got my credit reports from myfico.com and have done three disputes. Still waiting to see if it helped. I'll have to check out the creditboards though.

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    God/dess cinammonkisses's Avatar
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    Default Re: Disputing credit/asking for verification

    Quote Originally Posted by FrustratedBunny View Post
    I just got my credit reports from myfico.com and have done three disputes. Still waiting to see if it helped. I'll have to check out the creditboards though.
    FYI: It's much better to send your disputes off in the mail through Certified Mail Return Receipt instead of through the online methods.

    That way, in case you need to sue (yes it happens) You have created a papertrail.

    http://www.creditboards.com is the only site you'll need to help you answer your credit repair questions!







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  5. #5
    PhillyDancer1982
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    Default Re: Disputing credit/asking for verification

    Quote Originally Posted by Kaylinn View Post
    I'm reading on how to dispute your credit report by asking for verification of the debt. If you aren't provided verification in 30 days, you can legally have the item removed.
    Can anyone give me some good sites for more info on this, how it works, if it's legit, and what to do?
    Creditboards.com is a GREAT site that can answer your credit-related questions in way more detail. They also have a section devoted to form letters that you can use for disputing items on your credit report. These form letters are very professionally written and cite all kinds of technicalities and credit reporting regulations.

    Do a search on Creditboards.com OR Google for something called the "1-2 punch." It will describe it in more detail, and contain form letters for how to do this. Let me explain the beauty behind the 1-2 punch:
    1.) You send a dispute letter to the collections agency or creditor, claiming that you do not owe the debt and requesting full documentation proving that the debt belongs to you. Send this certified mail so you have proof that they received it.
    2.) Wait for your green card(the receipt that they sign when they receive the certified mail from you) to arrive in your mailbox. Now you are sure that the collections agency/creditor has received and acknowledged your dispute letter. For the next 30days, the collections agency must investigate and prove that the account is yours. They are also obligated under law to not speak about your account to anyone until it is investigated.
    3.) Once you receive the green card, immediately send out a dispute letter to each of the 3 credit bureaus(similar to the letter you sent to the collections agency/creditor). Send this letter certified mail also.
    4.) When the credit bureau receives your dispute letter, they will be obligated to investigate the matter. They investigate the matter by contacting the collections agency/creditor to obtain proof or verification of the debt. But here's the really cool part: Remember when I said before that the collections agency is obligated to stay hush about your debt for the next 30 days or until it is verified? Therefore, the collections agency will not be able to verify the debt for the credit bureaus...and then the credit bureaus will be obligated to remove it from your credit report!


    Quote Originally Posted by Kaylinn View Post
    Just start sending out letters to everyone saying please verify this debt? This works for medical bills as well?
    Yes, it definitely works for medical bills.

    Just beware, however, that if you have a huge medical bill(a debt of >$2000) that is unpaid, trying to dispute the bill may only aggravate the collections agency and instigate them to sue you for the full amount in civil court. If they do this, it will result in further injury to your credit score, via note of a public judgment. A judgment stays on your credit for ~7yrs, but possibly longer, depending on state and if it gets paid or not.

    If the medical collections come back "verified" after the dispute, or the collections agency uses your dispute as reason to "sue" you, then try to negotiate with them. Negotiate that you will only pay the bill if they delete the bad note from your credit report. Most collections agencies care more about getting their money than bad notes, anyway. You have a better chance of "deletion upon payment" if:
    a) the collection is 2+ years old(studies show that an old collections account is less likely to get paid than a new, recent one)
    b) you pay the full amount or close to it(at least 80% of the account balance)

    Quote Originally Posted by Kaylinn View Post
    And does anyone know any programs that will help you pay medical collections, if you were uninsured and unemployeed?
    You should contact the hospital's billing department. Most hospitals, especially the larger ones, have a program where they give out "charity write-offs" for people that made an annual income of up to 2X the state poverty level(basically you qualify if you've made $19,000/yr or less). It is important to call, be ASSERTIVE, and to fill out a form specifying your income, identity, job, etc. Also, call the hospital to follow-up on this. A lot of the hospital billing departments tend to be very disorganized and make mistakes. Sometimes they will write off a portion(or all) of your bill, but never notify you, so that's why it's good to check in with them if you don't hear back.

    I went this route a few years ago. Literally only a week or so after I was dropped from my parents' health insurance plan, I was coerced and peer pressured into going to the hospital ER for what turned out (as I'd predicted) to be a bunch of nothing. That "bunch of nothing" resulted in a bill for $3500! Not only that, but my snooping mother (illegaly) opened up my hospital bill, got angry about it, and used that as the "final straw" for kicking me out of the house. So now I was unemployed, uninsured, in debt, and bumming at my friend's house. I was angry and the last thing I wanted to do was to pay such an absurd bill, so I called up the hospital and that's when they told me about the charity write-off.

    All they sent me was a very simple one-page form to fill out. I basically wrote that I was unemployed, making a mere $60/week cash from tutoring 3hrs/week, that I was bumming off someone for a place to live, and that my debts and living expenses outweighed the little $240/month I was making. I didn't have to attach any documentation. They requested paystubs, but I didn't have any. By the time that the form started to get processed, I was dancing and making good money...but because this was cash, I did not dare speak of this money(besides, at the time of the hospitalization, I WAS impoverished!).

    Four months later I hadn't heard back from the hospital and I started getting collection calls related to the bill, which made me panic. But when I called the hospital, I found out that the entire bill had been 100% written off, and that the collection calls were an honest mistake.

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    God/dess cinammonkisses's Avatar
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    Default Re: Disputing credit/asking for verification

    Quote Originally Posted by PhillyDancer1982 View Post
    Yes, it definitely works for medical bills.
    Actually, no it doesn't. There is a completely different dispute/verification process you go through when disputing medical bills. You have to write a HIPPAA letter.

    WhyChat: (also a credit board guru) has a website that discusses in detail how to handle medical issues that are affecting your credit. HTH http://whychat.5u.com/hipltr.html







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    God/dess FrustratedBunny's Avatar
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    Default Re: Disputing credit/asking for verification

    two of the disputes I made with Experian through myfico I got replies from. One of them they didn't change and it is wrong. Saying I made late payments in 2006 on an account that was discharged in chapter 7 in 2004.

    Creditboards looks like it'll be a great place to learn about credit. I used to go to artofcredit and they disappeared.

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    Veteran Member TheLioness's Avatar
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    Default Re: Disputing credit/asking for verification

    Kaylinn I had some medical collections on my report a while back. I paid them directly to the original creditor and she contacted the collections agency and told them it was a billing mistake and asked them to remove it from my credit report, which they did. It just took some sucking up to the cashier at the hospital but once she called them it only took 2 days to be removed. FYI, I sent a letter to her boss telling him how helpful she had been and how lucky they are to have her as an employee. The employees are on some kind of points program where they get raises, trips, etc. based on how good a worker they are. Once I did that she would do anything I asked. You may want to try something like that if all else fails.

    To anyone who knows the answer, I do have a couple of older paid medical collections that I would like to get rid of but they keep disputing them. My score as of last week was 732. Should I even bother trying to remove them or just let them fall off in time?

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    Veteran Member StuartL's Avatar
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    Default Re: Disputing credit/asking for verification

    I was reading about this a few days ago. I am building a site about identity theft and a book by frank W Abagnale called Stealing Your Life covers this subject in plenty of detail. I can highly recommend it to you.

    Good luck with this.

    Stuart

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