Finally cracked 720 after 14 months of fixing an old medical bill error

I had a random medical bill from 2019 show up on my credit report and it dropped me to like 640. I disputed it three times with Experian and they kept saying it was valid even though I had proof of payment. Turns out the collection agency never updated their records after I paid. It took me calling the hospital billing department in Cleveland directly to get them to fax a letter to the credit bureau. That whole process dragged on for 14 months before the score finally updated. I checked myFICO this morning and saw 724 and honestly I almost dropped my coffee. Has anyone else had to fight a medical bill that was already paid?

2 comments

2 Comments

daniel5111mo ago

That 724 is a huge milestone man congrats. I had a similar nightmare with a $180 ER copay from 2017 that showed up as unpaid on TransUnion. The hospital swore they had proof I paid cash at the desk but the collection agency kept saying they never got the money. What finally worked for me was filing a complaint with the CFPB online. I attached my bank statement showing the debit from that day and a screenshot of the hospital's own receipt they emailed me. The CFPB forced the collection agency to respond within 15 days and they finally deleted the whole account. I also learned to always get a signed receipt when you pay anything at a hospital desk.

matthewp521mo ago

Lmao the CFPB is a lifesaver for stuff like that @daniel511. I had a similar thing with a dentist bill from 2019 that somehow turned into a collections mess even though I had a receipt in my email. Took them three weeks to sort it out but it got wiped clean. Still annoying that we gotta be detectives just to prove we paid for stuff we already paid for lol.