Medical Bills Leading Source of Credit Report Errors
The Orlando Sentinel has the story of a Florida woman who spent 15 years battling false errors on her credit report. Eventually, she won a $3 million judgment against Equifax, one of the main credit scoring bureaus.
It seems the reportedly company mixed up Angela P. Williams’ information with another woman’s actions. This caused Williams years of difficulty in obtaining credit and reasonable interest rates even though her actual credit history was good.
The same could happen to you, and it seems that medical bills are a prime source for credit report errors. From the Sentinel:
Among the most common errors: false reports of unpaid medical bills. Those usually show up when a hospital or clinic has failed to process a claim properly or did not notify the credit bureaus when a bill was paid.
If you made other arrangements to pay for a bill, or were granted a new payment, your credit report may show errors if the hospital’s billing department didn’t get the news in time and alerted a collection agency.
Unfortunately, while the error may belong to someone else, it’s up to you to monitor your report and make sure it contains accurate information.
What you can do:
- After you receive a medical bill, be in close contact with your insurance company representative and the health care provider to ensure your payment plan is understood clearly.
- If you’re making alternate arrangements to pay your medical bills – such as a payment plan, assistance or barter – make sure the billing office of your health care provider is aware of these plans and the timetable. If they think you’re late, even if you paid, they could alert a collection agency.
- Take advantage of your free annual credit report from the government at http://www.annualcreditreport.com Beware of sites that charge high fees for access to your credit information.