How to Dispute Medical Bills on My Credit Report

© 2009, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Reader Question: I have a medical bill on my credit report from when I was 17 years old. Is there a way to dispute that?

I don't know how long ago 17 was for you, but for the sake of education I'll assume that was more than seven years ago. In that case, yes ... there is a way to dispute the medical bills that are still on your credit report.

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), negative information such as overdue medical bills must be removed from your credit file after seven years. So if it has been longer than that, but the negative information remains on your report, you are well within your rights to dispute the negative item. Here's how to go about it.

Disputing Medical Bills After 7 Years

First, you need to identify the company that produced the credit report in question -- unless, of course, the error occurs on all three of your credit reports. Then you would dispute the error through with that particular reporting agency, and you would provide whatever supporting documentation was needed. You can do this online through the company's website, by mailing a letter to them, or by doing both. I recommend starting with the online approach, simply because it's faster and easier for you.

Here's a hypothetical example of how I would go about doing this, if I was in your situation. Let's assume that I obtain my free reports (in accordance with the FCRA that gives me free access), and I find an error on one of them. It's an unpaid medical bill from when I was 20 years old. Because I'm now in my mid 30s (more or less), I can see that this negative item is clearly more than seven years old. As a result, it should no longer be on my credit report.

So here's what I do...

1. First, I check all three of my reports to determine which ones have the unpaid medical bills. I learn that only one report has the outdated item on it, and it's the one produced by TransUnion. Now I know who to contact in order to dispute the medical bill entry.
2. I visit the company's website (TransUnion.com in this hypothetical scenario), and I look for the link / menu item that says "Disputes." When I click the link, I'm given several options on how I want to proceed. I can do it online, by phone, or by sending a dispute letter by mail.
   
3. I choose the online method, so I click the corresponding link. Because it's my first time visiting the website and disputing a credit report entry, I am asked for my personal information -- name, address, etc.
   
4. From here, I just follow the instructions and provide the necessary information. Eventually, I am asked to describe the item in question. I explain that the unpaid medical bills are more than seven years old, so in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act they must be removed from my report. I give whatever dates or other information is necessary to support my claim.
5. Because I've chosen to dispute the item online through the company's website, I will be able to log in to my account and check the status of my dispute later on. This is one of the benefits of starting this process online.
   

After this, it's simply a case of staying on top of the issue until the negative item is corrected / removed from the report. If the unpaid medical bills actually showed on all three of my credit reports, I would go through this process on the websites of all three reporting agencies -- Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. Sure, it's a pain in the neck. But it's also important, because it has a direct impact on my credit score.

I hope that helps you out. Good luck.

Related article: How do overdue medical bills affect my credit score?