Disputed 22 old medical bills in one weekend and got 18 removed

I had 22 medical collections from 2018-2019 dragging my score down to 540. I sent dispute letters to all three bureaus saying the accounts were past the 7 year reporting window. Equifax and TransUnion removed 18 of them within 30 days. Experian kept pushing back so I filed a CFPB complaint and they folded too. My score jumped 82 points. Has anyone gotten Experian to budge on old medical debt without waiting them out?

4 comments

4 Comments

fiona_carr269d ago

Yeah so you basically found the cheat code, good for you. I had a similar thing happen with a few old gym membership bills from like 2017 that I forgot about. They hit my report right when I was applying for a car loan and it was such a pain. Experian is definitely the most stubborn of the three, no question about that. I ended up just waiting them out because I didn't know about the CFPB route back then, but your story makes me want to go dig up the ones that are still hanging on.

bailey.jennifer9d ago

OH man, I FEEL you on that! I had a similar mess with an old cell phone bill from like 2016 that I completely forgot about. It showed up right when I was trying to refinance my shop's truck and it was a nightmare. Experian was THE WORST about it, they kept saying it was valid even though I had proof I paid it off years ago. I finally went the CFPB route last year for a different one and it actually worked like a charm. You should TOTALLY go dig those up, it's worth the hassle to get that weight off your report.

sammartinez9d ago

Did you try just filing a dispute directly with the credit bureau's online system first? For me, TransUnion cleared an old utility bill in less than two weeks after I uploaded a payment receipt. Might be worth a shot before you go through the bigger CFPB process, especially if the bill is already pretty old.

linda_reed9d ago

Hey @fiona_carr26, did you ever try filing a dispute for those old gym bills after they already fell off your report? I had one from like 2015 that kept popping up and I just sent in a letter with my bank statements showing the payments and it finally got wiped clean. It's wild how long some of these companies will keep trying to ding you even after you've paid stuff off.