Collections/Credit Report Question

[sooner82]

So I got a call from a collections agency. Apparently a year old bill from an anesthesiologist's office of about $150 from my sons birth had gone unpaid because it was being sent to our old address and we had no idea we had the debt. It was sent to collections in May, which makes me wonder they were just now calling me. I'll pay it off once I get the bill in mail this week, so I was just wondering will this go on my wifes (or even my) credit report and affect it negatively? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to credit score rules. TIA.

[dukelampard]

Originally Posted by sooner82

So I got a call from a collections agency. Apparently a year old bill from an anesthesiologist's office of about $150 from my sons birth had gone unpaid because it was being sent to our old address and we had no idea we had the debt. It was sent to collections in May, which makes me wonder they were just now calling me. I'll pay it off once I get the bill in mail this week, so I was just wondering will this go on my wifes (or even my) credit report and affect it negatively? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to credit score rules. TIA.

Yes to the bolded. Have you looked at your credit reports lately? You should get a copy of all 3 main credit reports (Equifax, Experian, Transunion) and see if the $150 debt shows up on there. If it doesn't, fine. If it does, you should try to negotiate with the collection agency and the anesthesiologit's office to have it removed for the reason you mentioned above. No guarantee that they would just do it, but you should try anyway.

[Guard Duck]

How does one get these three reports? Just go to the sites?

[Elston Gunn]

If you can pull it off, get written agreement from the collection agency that your credit won't be negatively effected BEFORE paying the bill. There's a good chance it hasn't hit you CR yet but will later. Good luck.

[Salzmann]

You can get free reports once a year from annualcreditreport.com. The sites may divert you with links to paid services such as credit scores and monitoring, but I've been able to get the free ones.

Two thoughts if it does hit your report: there are ways to dispute it (see the discussion boards on creditboards.com) and eventually it falls off your history. A small item like that that's been paid in full shouldn't affect your life unless you're trying to get a mortgage soon.

[sooner82]

Thanks. I'll definitely check my credit report and see whats shows up. I last checked about a year ago when I was going through the mortgage process. The collections lady seemed more interested in getting me to pay the bill and deflected any questions I had about my credit report. She was pretty annoyed that I asked for her to first mail me the bill before I gave a random person who called me on the phone my credit card info.

[cubedbee]

www.annualcreditreport.com is the official government site. You can get any of your 3 credit reports for free once a year from the site. You cannot get your credit score for free from this, or any, site. This site will still try to get you to buy your credit score after they've given you your free credit report.

[Mr. Micro]

Originally Posted by Elston Gunn

If you can pull it off, get written agreement from the collection agency that your credit won't be negatively effected BEFORE paying the bill. There's a good chance it hasn't hit you CR yet but will later. Good luck.

Most of the time the collections agency isn't expecting payment in full. So you call them up and offer to pay in full if they will remove this completely from your credit. If they are willing, make sure you get it in writing before you do anything.

If this doesn't work then once all of this hits your credit report you can dispute it. You are not disputing the validity of the debt just that they sent it to an incorrect address and never notified you.

If you fight, you can probably get this off your credit report. Otherwise it will stay for 7 years. It probably won't affect much either way if the rest of your credit is great and you pay it off.

[Mr. Micro]

Don't pay anything over the phone and don't give them electronic access to your checking account. Mail them a check certified mail.