Credit score/debt collection

[hannah6788]

I had to make a trip to the emergency room last year and I never received a bill for it only letters from my insurance showing what was being covered. I just checked my credit score and it dropped and said that the medical bill went to collections. I'm angry and confused because I feel like the hospital should've sent a second notice or something making sure I got the bill. Now that it's in collections I have no idea how to make payments on it or who to even reach out to

[Woodendummy]

Get the Credit Karma app and register for credit Karma. It’ll give you a snap shot of your credit report and all the contact info for any creditors or collections on your report.

[hunchback33-]

You may want to proceed with caution regarding Credit Karma.  Credit Karma customer services refuses to deactivate fraudulent accounts.  As Intuit intends to acquire Credit Karma, it would be helpful to know how Intuit will address these fraud and privacy issues as Credit Karma refuses to deactivate fraudulent accounts.

[ghostlyone]

You can call the hospital's billing department. I had this same thing happen to me. I was a passenger in a wreck and the driver's insurance just didn't cover anything and no one said anything. Months and months go by and I figure out it's in collections and no one said said a thing to me. 

The end result: Ultimately, it's your fault for not paying your bill, so you can't get the blemish erased from your report even though the circumstances are ridiculous (I tried). The billing department told me how to pay it, so it was changed on my credit report to at least say "paid" next to it, which is better, but still not great. Then, yeah, waited 7 years or however long for it to finally disappear.

So, sorry about your bad luck, but I think this just must be something hospitals are terrible at.