Consumer complaint received 2018-11-28
Company: Community Health Investment Company, LLC.
State: MD
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received out-patient services at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, XXXX. The remaining balance of my bill ( after insurance payments & adjustments ) for the services, was {$360.00}. I received the first bill from the hospital and the payment due date was XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I made a {$50.00} payment ( confirmation # XXXX ). After making the payment, I received a letter from the hospital stating that the " payment did not qualify for monthly installments ''. I called to set up a formal AUTOMATIC debit payment of {$26.00} per month to be debited the FIRST of each month. Every single payment has been honored by my bank upon representation with the exception of the XX/XX/XXXX payment. I realized in XXXX that the debit card that I used to set up the automatic payment had expired. Therefore, I initiated a call to pay the {$26.00} ( confirmation # XXXX ). Beginning with the XXXX payment, the {$26.00} resumed automatically ( confirmation # XXXX ). 

My complaint centers around collection notices that are sent to me each month. I contacted the hospital and was informed that all accounts are sent to a monitoring/collection agency when they are NOT paid in full upon receipt of the bill. 

The hospital said that I should not be receiving collection notices ( XXXX XXXX XXXX , XXXX, XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX  XXXX ) and that they are not the ones sending the notices. I contacted the collection company and was informed that collection notices were sent to me because the wrong payment date was in the computer system and the date was now corrected. The company also informed me that though I was in receipt of collection notices, they had not reported my account to the credit bureau. When I asked why I was receiving collection notices, no one could provide a reasonable reply. Is this a new wave? Sending collection notices to consumers who are paying on time? My last attempt to resolved the issue was XX/XX/XXXX. 

In an effort to resolve the above issue, on XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted a complaint to the XXXX XXXX  XXXX  XXXX   XXXX ( complaint # XXXX ), XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, VA because I was a resident of XXXX. I am now a resident of XXXX. 

The XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX  ) forwarded a copy of my complaint to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX  sent me a letter stating that " XXXX  has made multiple attempts to contact the business, but has not received a response. Our policy in this case is to close the complaint as No response, which will be reflected in the business 's XXXX Reliability Report. '' Last week I received another collection notice. I contacted the agency on XX/XX/XXXX. The representative said that in XX/XX/XXXX my account was being " monitored '' and that perhaps ( her assumption ) because the XX/XX/XXXX payment was late by 5 days, and the account is considered " old '', it was sent to " collections ''. The representative also said that as long as I continue to pay my account on time, no reports will be filed with the credit bureau. 

I find it difficult to image that a company looking at the overall payment history of an account would send it to collections because it is 5 days late. I further reiterate that I initiated a call to the collection company in XXXX to ensure that my payment was received. 

With the exception of the XX/XX/XXXX payment, following are the automatic payments of {$26.00} made to Account Number XXXX with XXXX XXXX  XXXX , XXXX, all of which have been honored by banking institution. As a consumer I have not missed any payments nor have I ignored my responsibility. 

Following are the XXXX payments : XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX. 

As resolution I am respectfully requesting that all collection notices cease and that a letter be sent to me stating that no reports have been made to any credit reporting agency. I furthermore request to know if the conduct of collection agencies is now to send collection notices to consumers who are paying on time. 

As a consumer, I consider the collection notices being sent to me by XXXX XXXX  XXXX as abusive and an unfair business practice, because my account is being paid on time and as agreed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation