Found a weird trick for disputing old medical collections

I had a $450 medical collection from 2018 that was tanking my score. I tried the standard dispute letters and got nowhere for 3 months. Then I read somewhere that medical collections under $500 sometimes get removed if you ask the original provider to recall it first. I called the billing office, paid them the $450 directly, and asked them to pull it back from the collector. It took about 2 weeks but it vanished from all 3 bureaus. Has anyone else had luck with this approach or did I just get lucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

lucasw844d ago

That $500 thing is real and I wish more people knew about it. It's like how when you get a parking ticket in some cities, you can pay it directly to the city and skip the collection fee if you catch it fast enough. Same logic applies here. The system is built on people not knowing the small loopholes. It reminds me of how stores will price match if you just ask, but most folks never bother because they assume the answer is no. You found the crack in the wall, man. Most people just accept the first no and move on.

susan814d agoRising Star

Yeah but who's actually going to check if the city takes payments directly without getting hit with extra fees?

olivermason4d ago

Check the city's official website for direct payment options, because that's the ONLY place you'll get the real info. Not all cities make it easy, but if they have a portal or an in-person office, you can often pay without the third-party upcharge. Just be quick about it, those "convenience fees" usually kick in after a few days if you wait.