Medical bills and collections?

Question

I have incured several medical bills totaling 2,300.
After recieving the bills i immediately forwarded letters and checks offering small monthly payments up to 25.00 per month but no less than 15.00 per month . Will they still report it to collections and ruin my credit? I also offered to work with them to pay my bill and do not have all of the money due. I also included in the letters my home phone number. My credit has very much improved and I do not want to ruin it. Will they send the bills to collectiion? Or will they work with me?

Answer 1

You didn't say whether or not they agreed to work with you, but as long as you are making the attempt to clear your debt and paying something each month, it shouldn't affect your credit.

Answer 2

Yes they can continue with collection activies and actions including credit reporting.
Thats not a very large amount, you should be able to get a loan thru a local bank or finance company. Or at the very least, go over your budget and make adjustments so you can make more reasonable payment plans.

Answer 3

They can and will still adjust your amount to collections. You have to call the facility and set up an APPROVED payment plan. The common misconception is that "they can't send me to collections if I pay 'something'..." which is totally incorrect. I personally have sent hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of claims to collections. One report I did was 100 pages long with long lists of accounts to be adjusted to collections. Not only will you pay your bill, but you will be paying collections fees on that!

DON'T FEAR! Call your facility's financial department. They have lots of options for you to help you pay your bill and save your credit. They can do a financial evaluation to see if you qualify for charity or refer you to a loan company. I have found more often, that people CAN pay their medical bills, they just don't think it's as important to pay the person who SAVED their lives or livelyhood as it is to keep paying their expensive cell phone bill.

I mean, you can't go into the grocery store and get a bunch of stuff and say, "sorry, I can't afford to pay you right now" Hospitals and doctors more than understand you need pay in smaller chunks that $2k, but think about how long it's going to take to pay off a $2k bill @ $25 bucks a month...you need to be realistic.

Answer 4

Chances are they will work with you.
I have never heard of a medical facility sending a debt to a collection agency unless they receive no payment for a few months.
I incurred nearly $5k in debt, and the hospitals and specialists were are willing to work with me on a payment plan suited to what was easier for me.
I hope they are willing to work with you as well!

Answer 5

you are able to call the sequence employer and ask in the event that they reported your delinquency to any of the three credit agencies (Equifax, TransUnion, and ???). for the reason which you paid it right now there's a great opportunity they hadn't gotten around to it yet.

Answer 6

In most states, if they accept the payments you make, they are accepting your payment plan.