Summary: Like other unpaid bills, medical bills sent to collections can destroy your credit. By the time a bill goes to a collection agency, it has already begun to affect your credit. Avoid lowering your credit score by setting up a payment plan as soon as possible.
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.
We have over 5000 articles on Real Estate Advice, Personal Finance Advice and Consumer Advice on our site. We encourage you to look at these articles. As always, if you have a comment on our articles, please post your comment below. We thank you for coming to ThinkGlink.com.
If you'd like to help us out, you can contribute to our site and keep the site free of charge. Thanks.
© Ilyce R. Glink. All rights reserved. This content may not be used, distributed, syndicated, compiled or excerpted in any medium or form without written authorization from Think Glink, Inc. For information on syndicating ThinkGlink.com please contact us.
Related Articles
- Home Buying Tips and Financial Reso...
- How to Improve Your Credit Score an...
- How Long Does Bankruptcy Stay On Yo...
- Foreclosure Affects Credit But Home...
- Credit Card Debts Can Be Sold To De...
- Home Loan Financing And Credit Score
- Credit Report: Rebuilding Good Cred...
- Late Credit Card Payments Means Bad...
- Build Credit Using Credit Cards, No...
- Bad Credit: Pay Off Debt And Get Cr...
Related Blog Entries
- Ilyce Glink Show Notes - November 1...
- Credit Score - Is Your FICO Score R...
- Ilyce Glink Show Notes - September ...
- Economists Predict Recession End So...
- Are You Using Your 401k to Pay For ...
- Updates At ThinkGlink.com
- Credit Card Company Calls Debtor's ...
- Your Credit Card Terms May Change A...
- The Emotional Spender And Extreme S...
- More Americans File For Bankruptcy ...









Comments
No comments have been posted.