Consumer complaint received 2022-02-20
Company: TRANSWORLD SYSTEMS INC
State: DC
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was paid

Complaint:
In the summer of 2019, I was travelling to XXXX XXXX for a work conference ( at the time, I was a career employee at the Office of Management and Budget ). While I was in XXXX XXXX, I had to have an emergency XXXX - necessitating several different medical/emergency response entities to help address my issue ( i.e. XXXX emergency doctor to diagnose, private EMT company to transport me from emergency doctor to actual hospital, hospital stay, surgery, etc. ). 

All told, at the end of my predicament, I received nearly {$90000.00} in medical bills. However, because this was an emergency, my insurer ( XXXX XXXX XXXX said they would cover all of the expenses, even though I was out of network. 

As I began receiving all of the bills, I alerted XXXX and asked that each be paid and that they work directly with the individual entities to resolve the costs. Because XXXX is a network provider and many of the billing companies had headquarters elsewhere than Nevada, it was often incumbent upon me to help make sure the right regional network claims department for XXXX was connected to the appropriate billing entity. 

All told, XXXX did a pretty good job and followed through on their commitment to cover all of my emergency expense. However, there was XXXX company- despite repeated calls to work with XXXX- who chose not to. I do not know the reason, but XXXX XXXX XXXX failed to be properly reimbursed by XXXX, so they gave their outstanding bill ( {$1300.00} out of the more than {$90000.00} for my full treatment ) over to XXXX XXXX as a debt to be collected by me personally. 

Within a short period, XXXX began contacting me about the debt, to which I explained that this was to be paid by my insurer. They refused to contact XXXX ( as they were a debt collector, not XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and insisted that I pay the debt. Because my wife and I were looking to potentially by a new house at that time ( not to mention, the fact that I was above XXXX on all my credit reports ), I swiftly paid the balance so as to get the collection off my books. 

I am someone who has always had sterling credit. All credits cards paid in full and on time, my wife and I had been homeowners for several years by then and paid our mortgage on time and in full, etc. This incredulous, unhelpful action by XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX has now been a stain on my credit for nearly XXXX years. 

I retained to services of a credit repaid firm ( XXXX XXXX ) to help address the situation. Initially, their help was justified- they were able to file letters with both XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX to remove the collection from my credit reports. XXXX was able to remove the collection and has returned my credit score on their report to near my previous peak. However, no such action has been taken by XXXX or XXXX. I can not get a straight answer from the law firm, from the collection agency, or the credit companies as to why XXXX of them can look at my very clear case ( and perfect credit history ) and remove this ridiculous, unnecessary, and wrongfully applied collection to my credit history.. but the other XXXX can not. 

XXXX XXXX seems to be out of options to rectify this situation ( so I am cancelling their work on my behalf ), but I still have this abhorrent blot on my credit score which made it more expensive for my wife and I to buy our new home last year and still XXXX my credit scores. I fear that I will have years of negative impacts on my credit score and financial well being if this is not resolved. 

I feel abused by this system. I have always had sterling credit, I had an insurer to covered nearly {$90000.00} in emergency hospital bills, and now - because of this collection- it looks like someone who pays all of their other bills on time - and has for nearly XXXX decades- somehow was so irresponsible and broke that they couldn't pay a {$1300.00} medical bill? This just makes no sense and the credit system is making is unnecessarily difficult to resolve this ridiculous situation. 

I know my issue is not the most onerous or challenging for the Bureau. However, I do not feel that the system is operating fairly, rationally, or responsibly. I would very much like to get this erroneous and wholly unnecessary collection wiped off my credit reports and I need you help. 

Thank you very much for your time and attention to this matter. I stand ready to provide any additional information or documents that might help you resolves this situation on my behalf. I appreciate your assistance.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation