Consumer complaint received 2016-09-01
Company: Gragil Associates, Inc.
State: NH
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)
Issue: Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not mine

Complaint:
I disputed a bill received from a Hospital for services that were not performed. After contacting XXXX, the hospital initially responded ; the billing would be reviewed - but did not engage in any further communications before releasing the debt to a collections agent { Gragil and Associates, XXXX, The Hospital, " XXXX '' admittedly releases a monthly network generated list to Gragil and Associates, XXXX a debt collector. I contacted XXXX to discuss the status of the account and XXXX representatives explained the account was " written-off. '' According to Federal Law, an account reported to the IRS as a business write off balance can no longer be collected. XXXX parties assume or otherwise buy " write-off '' or " Bad-Debt '' aggressively pursuing collections of any portion of the balance. This account was written off as bad debt noncollectable before the dispute process of the amount billed was ever completed. Since that time ( over 2 years ago ) I have not been contacted or responded by XXXX to finalize the billing dispute. What occurred however was that I received a letter from Gragil and Associates, XXXX, I responded to Gragil WITHIN 30 DAYS that the billed amount was in dispute with LRGH. Gragil made no further attempt to confirm the balance or validity of billing or the claim of a debt owed before reporting it to XXXX, XXXX and XXXX. Repeated correspondences with Gragil have been disregarded. As of this date, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, Gragil upholds they are within their right to report the debt as a collections account, disputed or otherwise, until the debt is paid in full. Gragil refuses to review the dispute and refuses to remove the account from their monthly bureau reporting. I contact Gragil via phone today to demand again the account be withdrawn from their reporting until the dispute with XXXX was finalized. On behalf of Gragil and Associates, XXXX, representative XXXX XXXX states, All we have to do is report the collections account as " disputed '' ( which she acknowledges - means absolutely nothing in regard to a FICO score ) and went on to say " unless the debt is paid in full to our company, it will stay on your credit report as a collections account FOREVER! '' Managers for Gragil and Associates, XXXX were unavailable at the time - supposedly. XXXX XXXX of Gragil and Associates, XXXX. went on further to add, " since you requested we only contact you in writing, after our last letter to you in XXXX XXXX, we closed your account. It will just stay on your credit report until you pay it. '' I have written letters and have directly disputed this collections account on my credit report through the " Direct Dispute '' process link of XXXX and XXXX websites. Both disputes returned a simple finding of the following : This account was confirmed to be yours. Documentations of the investigation process from XXXX shows the dispute process of a collections account is merely confirmed by confirming a persons name, address, SS # and that an claim is being reported by a collections agency. The fact that a claim was initially disputed or that the billing was initially erroneous makes no difference. The effect of such claims of an erroneous collections account is SIGNIFICANT. These kinds of practices are a sham and must be addressed!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation