Consumer complaint received 2022-07-22
Company: WAKEFIELD & ASSOCIATES, INC.
State: FL
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 had a medical emergency that started in the ER of one hospital where I was diagnosed and transferred by ambulance to a different hospital for XXXX to save my life. The ensuing bills ran into hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I have made sure that I always carry reasonably good medical insurance because one of my kids has XXXX XXXX  and has had his own battery of life saving operations since infancy. 

Some time after I returned home, a representative, from the hospital that performed the bulk of the procedures, got in touch with us because the medical claims started being declined by our insurance company. My wife, having too much experience dealing with insurance industry bureaucracy, got in touch with our insurance provider and was able to get an explanation from them. They stated that the claims were submitted against the XXXX policy that we'd replaced three days prior to my ER visit. They blamed COVID-19 legislature for further confusing the problem because it had extended the grace period for insurance plan premiums. Unbeknownst to us, during that extended grace period, we could have reinstated the previous policy if we'd determined it better fit our new and unexpected medical situation. Nonetheless, the suggested solution was simple enough. They requested that the claims be resubmitted with the new policy number. My wife passed this information along to the hospital and any of their subcontractors who contacted us separately. With that, the reprocessed claims started getting paid. 

Life went on and eventually we moved and started looking at real estate in our new community. In XX/XX/XXXX, five different collections items appeared on my credit report from the same collections agency for what I assume were three subcontractors from that one incident. What's worse, it showed that we'd agreed to five payment plans and we were late on all of them. Overnight, my credit score dropped over 100 points. Once again, my wife looked into it and eventually found that two of those five items were part of the initial claims that had been declined due to the outdated policy number. I confirmed with the insurance company that they would still process the medical claims if they're resubmitted. With this information in hand, I called the collections agency at the number that was listed in my credit report. They said they'd be able to reprocess all their claims, including the three that I told them I couldn't find records for. I shared the correct policy information with them. 

I was told that it would take four to five weeks to reprocess. We put house hunting on hold as I'd periodically check the insurance website to see if I could get an update on these incoming claims and their status. A month after talking to the collections agency, my first letter from them arrived. It stated that my insurance company just wasn't paying so I should go ahead and pay the bills myself. Just in case the insurance company website wasn't showing me these claims, I got in touch with the insurance company and confirmed that the reason I couldn't see those five reprocessed claims is that no such activity was taking place. 

After contacting the collections agency in good faith and putting my home purchasing plans on hold for over a month, I feel like I'm just a soft target for them to convert purchased debt into profits. I can't help but notice that the choice in how these medical collections are being reported seem to have been calculated to exact maximum negative impact on my credit. With that accomplished, they seem to just be trying to drag this along so that I reach the point where I find it easier to just pay them off. I have complained to the three credit bureaus through their online dispute websites. However, they don't appear to care since these collections items aren't the clear result of identity theft.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation