[jenuno01]

Ok so I’m freaking out here and would like some advice/help. Last year I had surgery and thought that it was going to be covered by my insurance. Well it was covered but not entirely. I kept on getting bill after bill after bill… so then I called my insurance and was able to dispute some of the payments. Then I called my original provider and they noted how a lot of the charges on my account were wrong and assured me that everything was taken care of. Well, today I just got a Summons for debt agency suing me! I mean, I’ll pay the freeken $600 that they’re asking for, but does that affect my future as a CPA?! I’ve always had very good credit and this just sucks! I don’t even know what to do? Who do I call?! Any help is appreciated!

Class of 2012

[Anonymous]

I think I can provide some useful advice. I used to work at a debt acquisition company in college. It's not exactly the same as a debt collector because a debt collector collects on behalf of another party while the company that I worked for actually purchased the debt from a 3rd party (banks, catalog companies, hospitals, etc.). They have the same general laws though.

First off, you need to determine if you legally owe the debt. If you think you do, then that's fine and you can skip to the next paragraph. If you're not sure you do, you have a legal right to have the debt collector validate the debt within a statutory time period, usually around 30 days. What this means is that they have to send you via mail evidence that you do indeed owe the debt and they're not just doing this to get extra cash. This responsibility is completely on them and when I worked for my company, people asked for this all the time and we had to supply it.

Next, once you decide to either pay it or not pay it, you also have a legal right to know if they are reporting it to any credit bureaus. They'll tell you either way. If they are and you want to dispute it, you have to let them know in writing and they'll usually suspend it from your credit report until it's resolved. If they don't, you won't have anything to worry about until it's resolved by either you paying it or them throwing it out.

Lastly, once you pay it or it gets thrown out, you also have a right to get it completely deleted from your credit history if it was ever on there to begin with. Getting it deleted is different than having it marked paid. Getting it deleted means someone checking your credit history will not even see that it was ever there. Make sure you insist on this and you can usually demand a letter as evidence of this.

Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'm sure you'll be fine. Also, if they ever cross any lines in terms of anything that can be deemed harassment, you'll be set with a nice lawsuit 🙂

Just a quick disclaimer, I'm not a lawyer or a CPA so any of this advice is just for your own personal knowledge and shouldn't be relied on for any legal matters. If you want actual legal advice, your best bet is to contact a licensed professional. I don't want to get sued 🙂

[jenuno01]

@Entourage wow thanks!!! Just a few questions:

1. I checked my credit report and it is in fact already listed on there! Did they have to legally notify before putting it on my credit report?

2. Once I pay it (I decided just to bite the bullet and get it over with), how do I get it off my credit report? Do I need to demand the collection agency to do that?

Class of 2012

[jenuno01]

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Class of 2012

[MeaDebitum]

In my experience, they probably won't remove it. You can dispute it, but its a hit and miss situation because they aren't obligated to remove it. Also, note that you have 3 credit reports: experian, equifax, and transunion. So, one may remove it, but the other two might not.

[Anonymous]

jenuno01 – Unfortunately they do not need to legally notify you that they are reporting on your credit report. They are allowed to do it without contacting you first and that is why you might want to have them validate the debt.

Also, once you pay it, I'm not sure if you have a legal right or not to have it removed. I do not believe so but usually if you ask specifically for it to be deleted, they'll do it for you as it's easy for them to do. You might use that as a bargaining chip too and say you'll only pay it if it gets removed (regardless of what you plan on doing). Good luck!

[Author]

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