Hello,
I have been reading on the HIPPA process and think I have a handle on it. But I am not entirely sure. If anyone familiar with the process wants to provide guidance where I might be wrong that would be great.
I have a collection from a CA on my Equifax credit report. The status is "Paid" with a zero amount owed. This was paid to the OC, not the CA. The DOFD is 07/2009. It was Paid 1/19/10 but first reported to the CRA on 2/1/10. Basically insurance and hospital billing screwed everything up and it took me ages to get everything fixed.
I just want to get this removed from my credit reports.
Here is what I have done:
1. Opted out.
2. Verified addresses (I haven't moved, so no need to remove the old ones).
Here is what I will do next:
1. Send a verification letter to the CRA via certified mail -
2. Send to the OC via certified mail with return receipt this letter with B-1 insert - This was paid years ago, so do I still need to include proof of payment in the letter I send?
At this point I DO not send anything to the CA, correct? Since I paid the OC I do NOT do this step and part of the process
My next steps would be to wait for the OC to respond. If they say they will have it removed, I do nothing and just wait, process completed. Correct?
If they respond in some fashion that they cannot remove or anything other then a deletion from the CRA, then I think I do this.
3. Send to the CRA a reinvestigation request letter from -
4. Once I get a return receipt send via certified mail with return receipt to the OC HIPPA Compliance Department a copy of my reinvestigation request to the CRA and the cover letter from the bottom of
At that point if its still not removed, I should file the appropriate complaints listed. Again, because I have never paid the CA, I should not be communicating to the CA at all. Right?
In all likelyhood your initial dispute to the CRAs will get you a deletion, if not then the medical DV and follow up dispute to the CRAs will probably achieve it.
You are not in a position to send anything to the OC at this point as there is no way that they can change their notification of the paid status to the CA and since you did not use the HIPAA letter insert "a" to pay them, you have no leverage.