Consumer complaint received 2017-03-19
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: GA
Product: Credit reporting
Issue: Credit reporting company's investigation
Sub-issue: Problem with statement of dispute

Complaint:
I submitted a dispute with Equifax reguarding XXXX collection accounts listed under XXXX. The information being reported is a past due medical account that was resubmited to the insurance provider XXXX to correct the billing. When I submittd my dispute there was no statement that would better explain my dispute. The XXXX medical bills were previously resubmitted for payment adjustments to XXXX and the balances were readjusted. Instead of XXXX sending us notice of this the new billing statements they were sent directly to XXXX and placed in collections. I reviewed my credit report and observed that they were listed on my credit report as a collection account but we never received the corrected balances. My husband contatcted XXXX on my behalf on XX/XX/XXXX at approximately XXXX and spoke woth representative XXXX XXXX My husband inquired about the billing at which time XXXX stated that the medical bills were sold to XXXX and if I made a payment to XXXX they would not accept any payment on these balances because the accounts were charged off. When I asked to speak with a manager to verify this she put me on hold and when she came back to the phone XXXX stated that she spoke with the department whi handles these account and they confirmed that the account was sold to them. When I aksed for the phone number to that department she provided me the contact information for XXXX. XXXX stated that XXXX informed her that the account was purcahsed from XXXX. I then contacted XXXX and spoke with a XXXX ( # XX/XX/XXXX ) at XXXX to confirm who legally owned this account and who was the legal data furnisher on my credit report. She stated that XXXX was the legal owner of the account and that XXXX authorizes them to post delinquent information on there behalf. When I informed XXXX XXXX reecently spoke with a representative and they stated that the account was sold to them, XXXX denied this and stated that they work for XXXX. I informed XXXX that I was going to file a dispute to request some validation and documents pertaiing to this account. at whch time she told me that XXXX was not going to provide me anything regarding this account at which time my husband ended the call with XXXX. My husband then contacted XXXX again and spoke with a manager. The manager requested the account number on the bills which was provided to her and she quickly stated that she could not find any of the bills or balances. When I begin to ask if XXXX purchased the account she quickly stated that XXXX does not sell accounts they only send them to collection in an attempt to get payment. She also told me that XXXX does post deliqnuent remarks on credit reports. When I asked if XXXX was authorized to do she did nit know. I was informed by XXXX that if any delinquent marks are listed on the credit report then XXXX would be the data furnisher and not XXXX. 
XXXX has done this in the past and the collections account was removed. This took place on XX/XX/XXXX with a similar collections account. They are not the authorized data furnisher as they are a third party contracted to only attempt to collect the past due debt. As of XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX the account has been disputed with Wellstar billing and a review is being conducted on all three account balances. XXXX stated that it will take approximately 7 to 10 business days to review the accounts. In the meantime XXXX has provided me with a Financial Assitance Applicaiton to process so they will not return back to collections. Also to add that these accounts were sent to collection at 120 days. Federal state that we have 180 days before accounts collections.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation