If Medicredit has shown up on your credit report, this article will explain how to deal with this collection agency and how to remove Medicredit from your credit report.
Is Medicredit A Collection Agency?
Medicredit Corporation is a collection agency owned by The Outsource Group.
Medicredit, Inc., like most collection agencies, buys debts from your original creditors and then collects on the debt to turn a profit. As its name implies, Medicredit buys old medical debt from hospitals and clinics.
It’s possible for collection agencies to get inaccurate information. Maybe you’ve paid this debt already. Or maybe the debt was someone else’s to begin with.
It’s also possible you legitimately owe the money Medicredit wants to collect from you.
Whatever the case, we’ll show you how to get this debt collector off your case with as little hassle and expense as possible.
How To Remove Medicredit From Your Credit Report
Debt collection confuses and intimidates a lot of people. All the phone calls, letters, and emails can make you feel harassed even when the debt collection agency follows the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Your first step will be to stay calm and take control of the process.
- Communicate in Writing
- Write a Debt Validation Letter
- Negotiate a Payoff
1. Communicate via Writing Only
The week you hear from Medicredit, Inc., or see it on your credit report, write the agency a letter requesting all future communication be done via mail. Too many people get into trouble by dealing with collection agencies over the phone.
Collection agencies say one thing over the phone but often don’t remember what they said later. So get everything in writing with Medicredit or any other collection agency.
When you have all your correspondence in writing, you’ll have a paper trail. If the agents forget an agreement you hammered out, you can jog their memory by producing a copy of the agreement.
2. Write a Debt Validation Letter
Now it’s time to write a letter — a debt validation letter to be specific. A debt validation letter requests Medicredit verify the debt, which they’ve reported to the credit bureaus, is actually yours.
The FDCPA gives this right to you as a United States citizen. Medicredit will have 30 days to respond with documentation showing the debt is yours.
Check out our sample debt validation letter template to get started.
You have only 30 days from the time Medicredit first contacts you to mail your debt validation letter. If the 30 days has passed, your debt validation letter might go unanswered because Medicredit, Inc., isn’t required by law to provide documentation after the first 30 days.
If a Medicredit collection account has appeared on your credit report by mistake, this step should take care of the problem. If Medicredit can’t prove the debt is yours, it will have to remove the account from your credit report, and your credit score should soon be on the mend.
If this is the case, get a copy of your credit report after 30 days to make sure the negative items have been removed.
But if the debt really is yours, and Medicredit validates it as such, you’ll have to move on to the next step.
3. Negotiate a Payoff
If the debt is yours and you want to remove the account from your credit report, your next step should be to negotiate a payoff.
You aren’t totally without power in this negotiation. When Medicredit, Inc., bought your debt, it paid pennies, or perhaps nickels, on the dollar. So any amount you pay in addition to Medicredit’s purchase price becomes money in their pocket.
So you could offer to pay a third or a half of the actual debt, and Medicredit will consider your offer.
In order to make this work, though, you have to ask for something else in return: Before you make any payments, ask Medicredit to agree to remove its negative items with all three credit reporting bureaus. Make your payment contingent upon Medicredit agreeing to this stipulation.
And, as we said above, do all of this negotiating in writing. If Medicredit agrees to these terms in writing, send a check for the agreed-upon amount.
Then, to make sure everything went OK, check back in 30 days to make sure the derogatory entry has indeed been removed from your credit report.
If after 30 days, the negative entry is still on your credit report, write them another letter that demands they remove the collection from your credit report.
Produce your letter that contains the agreement and make sure you reference the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Don’t Want to Deal With Medicredit Yourself?
Credit repair companies can do everything we discussed above for you so you don’t have to deal with all the details — in exchange, of course, for a monthly fee.
Hiring a pro can save you time and hassle. We recommend Credit Saint if you’d like to hire some help.
On average, consumers who hire a professional credit repair company like Credit Saint spend about $500 over three or four months to fix their credit.
These services don’t do anything you couldn’t do yourself. But they save you time, and they usually get results more quickly.
Credit Saint can help you remove negative items on your credit reports.
Contact Information for Medicredit, Inc.
Here is the up-to-date contact information for Medicredit Corporation:
- Mailing Address: 111 Corporate Office Drive, Suite 200, Earth City, Missouri 63045-1506
- Website: www.medicreditcorp.com
- Phone number: 800-888-2238
Medicredit FAQs
We get a variety of questions about debt collection agencies. Here are some of the most frequently asked:
Can Medicredit Sue Me?
Yes, Medicredit could sue you in district court, asking a judge to force you to pay the debt. Unless your debt is substantial enough to justify the legal expenses of a lawsuit, Medicredit probably will not sue you.
If the statute of limitations has expired on the debt, you could get the case dismissed easily. Statutes vary from state to state with some as short as three years.
However, the debt would continue to harm your credit score even after the statute expired.
How Long Will Medicredit Stay on My Credit Report?
Medicredit could stay on your credit report for up to seven years.
Unpaid medical bills, especially when they’ve gone into collections, can harm your credit score and make getting loans and credit cards more complicated.
The higher your score, the more you have to lose by letting a Medicredit collections account linger in your credit history.
Is Medicredit a Scam?
No, this is a legitimate debt collection agency with its headquarters along the Missouri River northwest of St. Louis.
If you’re hearing from Medicredit, chances are you have old medical bills and your original debtor has sold your debt to this agency.
Of course, Medicredit may also have bad information which makes validating the debt an important step.
Is Medicredit Graded by the BBB?
Medicredit has an A+ grade from the Better Business Bureau. The BBB gives the agency good marks for responding to customer complaints even when its responses are disputing customers’ claims.
How Can I Complain About Medicredit?
You can search for the company on the BBB’s Website or you can complain to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which is part of the Federal Trade Commission.
If you believe your consumer rights are being violated, contact the CFPB along with the Better Business Bureau.
