Medical Bill Sold To Collection Agency
REM #F723
By Ilyce R. Glink
Summary: A reader missed paying a medical bill that has now gone to collections. Ilyce explains that this will lower her credit score and encourages her to get on a payment plan.
Q: I've missed the deadline for paying a big medical bill. A couple of weeks
ago, I was informed that the debt has gone into collections.
How much more time do I have before the debt starts affecting my credit? And, what if you recently started building credit for yourself? Will it still affect you dramatically?
A: By the time a bill goes to a collection agency, it has already begun to affect
your credit.
Late payments have a severe impact on your credit score, but once a collections
agency has informed the credit reporting bureaus that it is pursuing this debt,
your credit score falls further.
Sometimes, hospitals and medical offices will have a claims or collections department
to handle recent bills that are late in being paid. If this is the case, you
should contact them now and make some sort of payment arrangement.
Even if you can only pay a few dollars each month, getting on a payment plan
will help your credit history and score.
Because you have just started to build your credit history, having a big bill
go to a collections agency can dramatically lower your score. You want to do
what you can to keep your score as high as possible, so you'll have more financial
and loan options and opportunities.
NOTE: This column is distributed by Real Estate Matters Syndicate, PO Box 366, Glencoe, Illinois, 60022. This column may not be resold, reprinted, resyndicated or redistributed without written permission from the publisher.
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