<prompt> Human: Got a call from collections that I owed the hospital money, called hospital and they confirmed it was for my rape kit just the rape kit I had no additional care and that they sent it to collections. It was back from February 2016. I never received a single bill from the hospital notifying me of this, I only knew I owed money via the collection agency this past week. How do I protect my credit until I get this all sorted out?So far I have sent a validation of debt letter via certified mail, and I am awaiting response. Im scared, because I have good credit and I dont think it should be jeopardized because of this. Below is a link to another post I made to legal advice that goes through more back ground information: link to legaladvice postAny advice on any other steps that need to be taken? This was sent to collections, because the hospital made an error with the information that was sent to the state. They are refusing to take it out of collections although rape victims are not to pay Colorado. I will be calling the financial department again tomorrow mid-day, any advice on what I should say to get them? This whole situation is traumatic because I dont want to have to reveal to my parents what happened to me, along with collections calling me. Any advice will be helpful.  <response>: I would suggest contacting the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault andor the organization that serves your area. Dont call the hotline, but the main number and see if they have an advocate or hospital liaison that may be able to help. These groups often do trainings in hospitals and may have an established relationship or at the very least be able to get you to the right person. The problem you are going to run into is collections has a bill, it probably doesnt say what for so the hospital is going to need to fix it. I also suggest hospital legal as the way to go. 