I've got a good one for you
Just ran my credit reports and found a collection on there. I was surprised - I am very away aware of when bills are due. It was very ambiguous on Equifax - no name of CRA (it was numbers and letters), no original creditor, no explanation really. On TransUnion it at least showed me who the CRA is (Americollect) and the OC (a local hospital). I immediately determined that this is an unpaid bill for medial copays for my wife. I am sure they are for her. That begs the question - why are they on my CR? Our health insurance is in her name, so she would have been the guarantor. Anyways, I also did not receive a call or letter from the CRA on this - I'm sure of that. I admit that I may have overlooked the original bill from the hospital because there was so much coming from them at the time and I was just trying to keep everything straight because sometimes the copays were tacked on with other charges and copays and sometimes they were seperate bills - very confusing.
So... where do I go from here? Seeing as how this is on my report at the moment, do I dispute with the CRAs that this is in fact my wife's debt, or do I start the HIPAA process as it is right now, or both? I may also be able to pay the bill with the hospital online if I can determine the account number. Unfortunately, it's different for each transaction with them and it's masked on the CR and I can't locate any bills that match this amount. Obviously I would have rather just paid the $76 than having to deal with it this way had I known about it. My wife has some old baddies on her report, but mine is clean except for this and some high util that I'm working on. We need my score to apply for a mortgage and we're intending to do that sometime next year. Any input you can provide is very much appreciated!