On my last post, I had already written so much that I thought it would be good to address the follow up letters you need to send when you get a supposed validation response for a medical collection in another blog post. Collectors, whether standard alleged debts or medical, have to comply with the FDCPA and also the laws that many states have that mirror the FDCPA. But, medical collectors also have to comply with HIPAA. That is the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act.
First of all, when you demand validation from a collector for an alleged medical debt, you really should be altering your letter a bit. Medical providers have to comply with very strict HIPAA regulations. HIPAA governs the privacy of medical information. Failure to comply with, or committing violations of HIPAA, come with stiff penalties and even jail time. This set of laws isn't playing around. When you demand validation for medical collections, you need to use HIPAA to your advantage.
Medical collections are most of the time actions of 3rd party collectors. It is very uncommon to have collections from the actual medical provider. They are in the business of medical stuff, not collections. They have billing and accounts receivable departments, but they usually turn accounts that are not paid for in 30 - 90 days over to a collection company immediately after that time has passed. That is wonderful for you.
I'm not saying you shouldn't be taking care of your medical bills, but really, who has that kind of money laying around? If you don't have insurance or you do but they are slow to take care of their part, it affects your credit, and they don't give you time to make payment arrangements usually. No, they let the 3rd party collection companies do that. Well, you know how I feel about 3rd party collectors - you don't owe them a dime!
I hate 3rd party collectors, and the 3rd party medical collectors really turn my stomach. Here's why. I'm in real estate. You have a property that you listed or you have a buyer that finally got his offer accepted and you're on the final stretch in escrow. The buyer has been approved for a loan, credit is fine, no collections that have to be paid, then...out of nowhere, on the final credit pull by the lender prior to funding...OH CRAP!!!! There's a brand new medical collection that is super old, reporting on the credit report and its screwing up the score and it has to be paid and removed or this deal goes south!
YES, THAT'S WHAT THESE BLOOD SUCKERS DO! They monitor or ping, or somehow find out someone is buying a house and they know that people will pay even old, time barred debts so that they can finally buy their house. These 3rd party collectors are unscrupulous, low life, law breaking, scum of the earth pricks that will do ANYTHING for money! Okay, you get the idea, I really can't stand them!
Let's take a look at the types of responses you may get from medical collectors. The first one, and the main one I like, is the letter that straight out says they are discontinuing collection efforts and sending it back to the original creditor. That is such a beautiful thing to see. Sometimes they will even state in the letter that they are removing all entries of it from your credit reports. You will still need to send a dispute letter to the bureaus to make sure that they take it off. If it doesn't come off, send another dispute to the bureaus with a copy of the letter that the collector sent you stating that they are removing it. That should definitely make it go away.
The next type of response is very similar to other types of collections. They say they have investigated and they are reporting correctly. That is NOT validation! That is HEARSAY! Sometimes when they address their response, they call it your request for "Verification." You did NOT ask them for Verification, you asked them for Validation. Validation is forwarding copies of the actual proof of the alleged debt and alleged account. Verification is being willing to testify under oath that they have the documents on hand, know everything that has ever transpired on the alleged account, and testifying that everything that is reported is 100% accurate. Your follow up letter tells them what I just said. Hold them to it, call them on it (in writing, not on the phone), and never acknowledge the alleged debt or alleged account. It is their job to prove it.
The next type of response is also very similar to other types of collections. They may respond just like the previous example, but they include a printed statement from the original creditor. Sometimes it will be a copy of your signature agreeing to be responsible. Sometimes you can tell that they copy/pasted the signature. That is still not validation. That is a paper saying that you agree to be responsible for the services, but it is not a contract between you and them. Where is that? Where is the full accounting? Where is the contract showing that they have been given the right to collect on the alleged debt from the original creditor? They don't send those because they don't have it. And if they give the full accounting, well, you've got them on HIPAA violations really strongly.
The next type of response is my second favorite response. It is the one where they send a full accounting from the medical provider. It has medical procedures, medications, supplies, you name it. It has HIPAA violation written all over it! You see, that is your information that is supposed to be very private. They are never supposed to come in contact with that kind of paperwork. This is the one where your response letter really gets to go after them and ream them good. Here's some of the stuff I tell them when I see those:
ARRA is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which gave stimulus monies to the health care industries for IT resources. HITECH is Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health. HITECH is Title XIII of ARRA. They have a lot to do with health and medical information being maintained and communicated through technological means. Think - filing and maintaining these very sensitive files online or on computers.
Now, another thing I look for in their responses, is if they have dates of the original bills or services. Many times, you will find that they are outside the Statute of Limitations for your state. You can hit them with that as well.
One thing I ALWAYS include in my responses to the 3rd party medical collector, is the fact that since they are 3rd party, they have no rights to collect anything from the alleged debtor since there is no way they can prove they were on any original contract. I always hit them with 73 AmJur, 2nd, Section 90. They have no right to "subrogate" (substitute) themselves into a contract, whether it is by purchase, assignment, transfer, or trade. If they "bought" the debt, they did it on their own behalf, not at the request of any alleged debtor, and therefore are a "stranger to the transaction" (voluntary payee).
One of the final things I put in the letters to these vultures that clearly violate HIPAA, is that if they refuse to delete all information they furnished to any and all credit bureaus, and they do not destroy any information about any alleged account they claim to have with me, to prevent them from pursuing any more collection activity against me, and that should they sell, assign, transfer or trade the alleged account to some other entity to attempt collection, I will file a formal complaint to the DHHS OCR against them. (Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights).
Let's take a look at the types of responses you may get from medical collectors. The first one, and the main one I like, is the letter that straight out says they are discontinuing collection efforts and sending it back to the original creditor. That is such a beautiful thing to see. Sometimes they will even state in the letter that they are removing all entries of it from your credit reports. You will still need to send a dispute letter to the bureaus to make sure that they take it off. If it doesn't come off, send another dispute to the bureaus with a copy of the letter that the collector sent you stating that they are removing it. That should definitely make it go away.
The next type of response is very similar to other types of collections. They say they have investigated and they are reporting correctly. That is NOT validation! That is HEARSAY! Sometimes when they address their response, they call it your request for "Verification." You did NOT ask them for Verification, you asked them for Validation. Validation is forwarding copies of the actual proof of the alleged debt and alleged account. Verification is being willing to testify under oath that they have the documents on hand, know everything that has ever transpired on the alleged account, and testifying that everything that is reported is 100% accurate. Your follow up letter tells them what I just said. Hold them to it, call them on it (in writing, not on the phone), and never acknowledge the alleged debt or alleged account. It is their job to prove it.
The next type of response is also very similar to other types of collections. They may respond just like the previous example, but they include a printed statement from the original creditor. Sometimes it will be a copy of your signature agreeing to be responsible. Sometimes you can tell that they copy/pasted the signature. That is still not validation. That is a paper saying that you agree to be responsible for the services, but it is not a contract between you and them. Where is that? Where is the full accounting? Where is the contract showing that they have been given the right to collect on the alleged debt from the original creditor? They don't send those because they don't have it. And if they give the full accounting, well, you've got them on HIPAA violations really strongly.
The next type of response is my second favorite response. It is the one where they send a full accounting from the medical provider. It has medical procedures, medications, supplies, you name it. It has HIPAA violation written all over it! You see, that is your information that is supposed to be very private. They are never supposed to come in contact with that kind of paperwork. This is the one where your response letter really gets to go after them and ream them good. Here's some of the stuff I tell them when I see those:
- They committed a Level 3 HIPAA violation that comes with not just financial penalties but can also get them up to 10 years of jail time. A Level 3 HIPAA violation is "an offense committed with the intent to sell, transfer, or use individually identifiable health information for commercial advantage, gain or malicious harm.
- They are in violation of Subtitle D of ARRA Sec. 13401 (Application of Security Provisions and Penalties to Business Associates of Covered Entities)
- They are in violation of Subtitle D of ARRA Section 13407(1) - (Breach of Security).
- The last 2 can hold them liable for penalties under the HITECH Act.
- They will be in clear violation of HIPAA (..."no permissible business purpose in divulging protected health information to anyone on an account") should they ever inquire, report, update or verify anything on the credit report
ARRA is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which gave stimulus monies to the health care industries for IT resources. HITECH is Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health. HITECH is Title XIII of ARRA. They have a lot to do with health and medical information being maintained and communicated through technological means. Think - filing and maintaining these very sensitive files online or on computers.
Now, another thing I look for in their responses, is if they have dates of the original bills or services. Many times, you will find that they are outside the Statute of Limitations for your state. You can hit them with that as well.
One thing I ALWAYS include in my responses to the 3rd party medical collector, is the fact that since they are 3rd party, they have no rights to collect anything from the alleged debtor since there is no way they can prove they were on any original contract. I always hit them with 73 AmJur, 2nd, Section 90. They have no right to "subrogate" (substitute) themselves into a contract, whether it is by purchase, assignment, transfer, or trade. If they "bought" the debt, they did it on their own behalf, not at the request of any alleged debtor, and therefore are a "stranger to the transaction" (voluntary payee).
One of the final things I put in the letters to these vultures that clearly violate HIPAA, is that if they refuse to delete all information they furnished to any and all credit bureaus, and they do not destroy any information about any alleged account they claim to have with me, to prevent them from pursuing any more collection activity against me, and that should they sell, assign, transfer or trade the alleged account to some other entity to attempt collection, I will file a formal complaint to the DHHS OCR against them. (Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights).
I like to hit them hard, throw the law at them and give a call to action - to get rid of it, get it off the credit report and never pull this with me again or allow some other 3rd party scumbag to attempt to mess with me either. You can do the same. Use the laws you find to go after them. Put the laws in their face. Its a game. Defense is always important, but its your offense that wins the game! Be strong. Be knowledgeable. Don't be intimidated!
I love credit repair. I love writing. I love helping people. I love winning! If you don't love writing, don't like research, don't look forward to repairing your credit on your own, but you want to fight, you want a chance to win the credit repair game, please call or email me. My contact info is up at the top on the right side. I would like to help you!
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If you have found this blog helpful to you, please consider donating as a sign of your appreciation for information I have freely given to you. The "Donate" button is on the right side bar. Thank you for your generosity.
