Three Year Old Collection - Health Insurance

[kaybay]

In February 2007 I went to the ER when I was in college at Auburn University. I received a bill from my insurance company for $200 (the charges without the insurance were approximately $1000). Almost three years later, I go to check my credit report and see a $998 charge from a collections agency. Apparently, my insurance company never received a transcript at the time (which was sent) saying that I was a full-time student at the time of ER visit. They also told me that they were sending the bills to the wrong address. I did move, but never once receives any notification whatsoever about this account. The insurance company informed me that all I needed to do was send them my transcript, which I did last week.

In the mean time, a credit card and a personal loan called to inform me of APR increases, and that the rate on my loan would now be variable. Not to mention that but my credit score dropped by 100 points.

I called the collections agency and they said that nothing has been paid yet. I called the insurance company and they are saying that they can't even look at the account without my dad's social security #, since I was under his plan during the incident.

I don't know what to do, but I am considering taking legal action to restore my credit report and get reparations for rate increases. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jharris352]

You don't really have a case to take legal action. You owe some amount of money even if it isn't 900+ dollars. The 100-200 collection would do the same to your credit score. I would concentrate on getting the insurance to pay their part and pay off the collection.

 

[kaybay]

What if my credit score is affected because of a mistake with the Insurance company. I did not really owe them the $998 to begin with because I was a full time student at the time of the incident and sent them a transcript. I even paid $200 from a bill received from the insurance company, which would imply that I was covered in full (they covered 80%). Furthermore, I was not notified early enough to keep this from going on my credit report, in fact I wasn't notified at all. My credit is affected as a direct result of some kind of error on their part. Does that make sense? Thanks for your help

 

[jharris352]

I would solve the problem with the insurance company and then dispute the reporting.

 

[kaybay]

Issue

Hi, I really appreciate your advice, so I hope this doesn't sound argumentative. However, what do I do about the credit card companies raising my APR? They won't reverse it even if my credit is restored. That seems a little unfair. I don't see why they shouldn't give me something to make up for the extra money I am going to have to pay over the course of a loan because of the insurance company's mistake. Do you know what I mean?