Consumer complaint received 2019-04-04
Company: Account Resolution Corporation
State: MO
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Written notification about debt
Sub-issue: Didn't receive enough information to verify debt

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a call from Account Resolution Corporation, seeking collection on a debt from XX/XX/XXXX. I told them I believed that was in error, as I had paid XXXX XXXX ( the hospital involved ) for a service from that month. I then attempted to contact XXXX XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX confirmed I had a {$0.00} balance, but referred me to XXXX XXXX, where they suspected the bill may be from ( they couldn't verify any balance from XXXX XXXX   ) On XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX XXXX at ( XXXX ) XXXX, and XXXX confirmed I had an outstanding balance of {$490.00} that had been forwarded to collections. I told her I had never received a bill, or any form of contact whatsoever, and never knew I had a balance with XXXX XXXX at all, or even that they billed separately from the hospital. Her response was that I had been sent three bills which had been " returned to sender, '' and that I should've " told them I changed addresses. '' I told her I hadn't changed addresses in years, much less since the procedure, and that they must have a wrong address on file. Her only response was that I could pick up a statement in person. I asked her if, by paying the bill, it would be retrieved from the collection agency and not reported as a collection attempt, and she said " we will try. '' Later on XX/XX/XXXX I went to their offices, retrieved a bill, and mailed a check to the address provided. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, the collection attempt appeared on my credit report. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, the payment appeared on my credit report as if I had paid the collection agency. This was false, I paid XXXX XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX I called XXXX XXXX again. This time, XXXX, the representative, gave me the address they had mailed my bills to : XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX. I have never lived at that address, and it isn't even a valid address. I didn't give them that address, and I'm sure it was a clerical error on their part. He also told me that XXXX had " put the collection on a 30 day hold '' on XX/XX/XXXX. When I told him I hadn't given them that address, and that it hadn't been 30 days since the hold, he referred me to his supervisor, XXXX. I left a message in XXXX 's voicemail. 

On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, XXXX returned my message. She confirmed that my payment to XXXX XXXX for the outstanding balance had posted internally on XX/XX/XXXX. She said that the collection attempt would be removed from my credit report within " 60 to 90 days. '' When I asked her again, she confirmed that the record of the collection effort should " disappear '' at that time. 

This timeframe seems long, when the record shouldn't have went to the collection agency in the first place. XXXX XXXX mis-recorded my address, sent bills to that incorrect address, and when the bills returned to sender, they never called my phone number on file. Then, when I found out through a collection agency that the bill even existed, and paid it in exchange for the collection attempt being removed, it was reported on my credit report anyway, and now I'm being told to trust them, they'll remove it in 60 to 90 days. I need confirmation that this will actually happen.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation