Old People Help Me- Do unpaid medical bills put a big dent in your credit...

This is true. It can be expensive for a hospital or any other entity to send their accounts to collections so they want to avoid doing so. If they can see you are trying, you may avoid being sent to collections but they can still do it.

A lot of hospitals now offer discounted rates if paid in full and you can actually wheel and deal now too. When I was in my auto accident last year, the insurance company sent me my settlement plus the fees to pay off all medical bills. I went to pay off the hospital and because I paid within 21 days of notification of the bill I was given 5% off which was about $240.

 

Shouldn't you focus on paying off your debt before worrying about buying a new car?

 

If you do negotiate a lower price with the hospital or doctor or lab, you need to get a "paid in full" receipt. This is case they forward the balance to a debt collector or eff with your credit.

 

AFAIK, You get a paid in full if you do it with the hospital. If you do it with the collections, it will show you had a settlement, but it won't be that much of a hit on your credit.

 

err... I mean vs. not paying at all.

 

Don't pay the bill. Ignore all calls/letters from the hospital.

Pretty soon, everyone in this country is going to have such ****ty credit that credit scores won't really matter anymore.

 

You shouldn't give out misinformation, especially something that can really hurt someone financially. Not paying the minimum balance on a balance will very frequently lead to late penalties and then eventually collections.

I had a car loan through a major bank. I missed couple payments, and to my surprise they never tacked on a single penny of late fee's. Once I realized this, I found myself always paying these guys late. It would be a little foolish for me to make a broad statement that all lenders did this.

 

eh? whut?

 

I haven't read the whole thread, so I might be repeating information, but they can ruin your credit by sending the debt to collections.

About 1-2 years ago, my wife had 4 major surgeries in about a 16 mo span. I had a good HMO, but I still had several thousand of out of pocket expenses. I make payment arrangements with all of the providers and made damn sure I paid every month. Most medicals companies will work with you and not send to collections as long as you work out a payment plan (no matter how little a month you can pay) and make a payment every month.

Heck, I had a $450 bill for medical equipment or something like that. I agreed to pay $30/mo for 15 mos. They said "no problem!". I think I have 2 payments left, which is silly considering I can easily pay off the rest w/o stress right now. But hey, I am following the plan.

 

I'm not talking about a car loan. I'm talking specifically about hospital bills. If you were dumb enough to not pay your car loan then you got what you deserve. When you have a hospital bill, there is no minimum payment, just a balance of what you owe. So I'll preface what I say now with, FROM MY EXPERIENCE, WHICH IS EXTENSIVE, if you make an effort to pay the bill down on a regular basis, you know, like monthly, and you pay them more than zero, you know, like $5 or $10, they will not send your account to collections.

I AM NOT SAYING THAT YOU CAN DO THIS WITH ALL OF YOUR BILLS. PAY ALL OF YOUR BILLS ON TIME. DON'T BE A DUMB **** AND ONLY PAY $5 A MONTH TO YOUR CAR PAYMENT AND NOT EXPECT TO GET YOUR RIDE JACKED.

 

Hahahahaha. Now that's funny.

 

Medical collections impact your credit the least out of all possible collections from what I've seen.

Now if your trying to get a car or house theyre going to want to see a relative clean history for the past 6 months. So it wont impact your credit score a whole lot it can still effect you getting a loan since your recent history will not be clean.

I'm a real estate agent not a loan officer but have been told numerous times by several loan officers that medical collections do not impact a credit score......

 

They can be. During my visit, I paid the cashier about $200 bucks, the amount of the bill she gave me, and i asked if that was all or if i'd have to pay more later. She said yes that's it...and then i get an $800 bill later. Kind of expected it, but she should have just told me. I dont think she didnt know.

 

The problem is that this was your original statement:

"If you pay anything to the bills they cannot send it to collections. Even if it is like $5 a month."

This is simply not true. Had you not been questioned about it, it would have remained extremely bad advice.

 

Pay $20 per month, for the hospital/doctor/labs/imaging etc.

 

I really figured that most of you were smarter than that and would understand what I was saying. I apologize for having that much faith in your intelligence. I'll remember otherwise next time.

 

O if I pay $5 on my mortgage they won't foreclose? That's awesome. I could then sublease it and profit $$$$

 

You are correct just don't miss months, If you skip to often then they quit working with you and send it to collections.

My credit union told me they give very little attention to medical collection reports unless there is a lot of them.

Some people need to leave "old people comments alone" we will come and get you. The gators can always use another tender young person snack!

 

So what you're saying is that I can pay $5/month on my mortgage and the bank will never foreclose?

I'm just not sure about that.