• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

National Debt Relief

National Debt Relief - A+ BBB Accredited Business - Get Relief From Credit Card Debt, Medical Bills And Unsecured Loans

Talk to a debt counselor toll free:

800-300-9550

Get Relief From Credit Card Debt

Medical Bills and Unsecured Loans

  • Apply Now
    • Qualifications
    • Is This Right For Me?
  • Proven Results
    • Debt Relief Benefits
    • Credit Card Debt Relief
  • Debt Relief
  • Credit Card Debt Relief
  • Debt Consolidation
  • Login
HomeBlog Debt ReliefHow Medical Debts Will Affect Your Credit Score
Video Transcript

Free Debt Consolidation Quote

By clicking "Get Free Quote", you agree that the phone number you are providing may be used to contact you by National Debt Relief (including autodialed and prerecorded calls, as well as text/SMS messages). Msg. and data rates apply, and your consent to such contact is not required for purchase.
  • National Debt Relief, LLC BBB Business Review
  • McAfee SECURE sites help keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams

How Medical Debts Will Affect Your Credit Score

August 24, 2013 by National Debt Relief

Woman stressing over debtsIf an avalanche of medical bills has hit you, we can empathize. As you may have read, healthcare costs continue to rise dramatically and with no end in sight. It’s possible that Obamacare will help slow down the increase but it may be several years before we know this one way or another. In the meantime if you’ve been slammed by medical bills, you may be wondering the effect it will have on your credit report.

No affect at all

If there’s any good news to being hit by big medical bills it’s that it won’t have any effect on your credit score or credit report. Healthcare providers usually don’t report their uncollected bills to credit bureaus. That’s the good news. The bad news is that these debts are still on their books. As a result, the financial officers in hospitals sometimes clean things up by selling those debts to collection companies. The really bad news is that these professional collectors will not only hound you indefinitely, they will report your debts to the credit bureaus. Plus, they have a knack for calling you just before you apply for a mortgage or some other kind of loan or when you’ve applied for a job – so you know that your credit report will be reviewed.

Have you seen your credit report recently?

The only sure way you can know what’s happened with those medical debts is to check your credit report. You actually have three credit reports, one each from the three credit-reporting bureaus – Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. They are required by law to give you a copy of your credit report free once a year. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of contacting each of the credit reporting bureaus for your credit report, you can go to the website www.annualcreditreport.com and get all three of them simultaneously. Again, this will be free – at least once a year.

What to look for

When you get your credit reports you should review them carefully looking for the following negative items.

  • Charge-offs
  • Debt collections
  • Bankruptcies
  • Foreclosures
  • Tax liens
  • Lawsuits or judgments

If you find one or more of these items you can bet that it’s having a negative effect on your credit score. This is assuming that they are not errors. If you find negative items that you believe are not yours, it’s critical that you dispute them. All three of the credit-reporting bureaus have online forms where you can dispute items. You will need to have documentation backing up your claim. The credit bureau is then required by law to contact the company that supplied the information and ask it to be validated. If that company is unable to validate the debt or if it doesn’t respond to the credit bureau within 30 days, the bureau must remove the item from your file. As you might imagine, this could have a very positive effect on your credit score.

The ultimate answer

Of course, the ultimate answer to medical bills is to pay them. This will not only keep them from going to collection but do you really want to owe money to a provider that you may need again in the future? Let’s suppose that you owe $1500 for a colonoscopy. You’ll probably need another one in five years. Do you want to go back to that gastroenterologist owing him or her $1500?

Seven long years

Did you know that negative information will stay in your credit report for seven years from the time of your delinquency? But that’s not the important fact. The important one is that if you make a payment on an old debt, it could restart the clock. In other words, it could have been five years since that debt was sent to collection but if you make a payment on it, you could be liable for more years.

What  you need to do

There are several things you should do if you’re faced with a mountain of medical debts.

Check the statute of limitations in your state. Every state has a statute of limitations on debts. This can be as few as five years or as many as 10. In any event, you should check with your state’s attorney general’s office to see what is the statute of limitations where you live. If you have some really old medical bills, the statute of limitations may have expired so that a collection agency could no longer sue you.
Try to negotiate a settlement – if the statute of limitations has not passed, you should contact the hospital, clinic or doctor that provided your services and try to negotiate a settlement. Your medical provider will probably be very interested in settling with you if the statute of limitations has passed.
Get any agreement in writing. If you are able to negotiate a settlement, be sure you get everything in writing before you make any payments.
Keep your proof of payment and settlement agreement just in case a debt collector contacts you.

Your other options Bankruptcy

If you can’t pay those medical bills and the provider won’t settle with you, you do have some options. For example, you could pay off the debt with a credit card(s), which would allow you spread out your payments over a number of years. Second, you might be able to find a foundation that would give you a grant to pay off those bills. Finally, you could declare bankruptcy, which unfortunately is what many American’s have done. In fact, medical bills are now the leading cause of bankruptcies here in the U.S. If you’re facing such a mountain of medical bills that bankruptcy seems like it might be a good option, watch this video.

Do you qualify for debt consolidation?

National Debt Relief
National Debt Relief

National Debt Relief is one of the largest and best-rated debt settlement companies in the country. In addition to providing excellent, 5-star services to our clients, we also focus on educating consumers across America on how to best manage their money. Our posts cover topics around personal finance, saving tips, and much more. We’ve served thousands of clients, settled over $1 billion in consumer debt, and our services have been featured on sites like NerdWallet, Mashable, HuffPost, and Glamour.

Follow National Debt Relief: Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin

Primary Sidebar

Consolidate Your Debt!
Find out how NDR could help.
  • Get one low monthly payment
  • Avoid bankruptcy
  • Get out of debt in 24-48 months
Get Your Free evaluation
Free Debt Consolidation Quote
By clicking "Get Free Quote", you agree that the phone number you are providing may be used to contact you by National Debt Relief (including autodialed and prerecorded calls, as well as text/SMS messages). Msg. and data rates apply, and your consent to such contact is not required for purchase.
 Trusted By Our Clients

"..."

Moderate National Debt Relief Caller: Misty Transcribed WE 3/28/2021 Misty: The call, it may be recorded. Can you tell me do you recall how you heard about NDR? KYLE: I googled it, and then it went to Better Business Bureau or whatever it's called. And you guys have the highest rating. Misty: Which service did they actually provide for you? KYLE: So, basically, I enrolled all my credit cards into the program. And I stopped paying. And then, the lawyers reached out to the company's lawyers. And they've been settling, stuff like that. Misty: How would you describe your interaction that you had with your representative that you worked with on getting everything squared away? KYLE: Oh, it was excellent. Misty: Do you feel that the door of communication is still open if you have any questions or concerns? KYLE: Yes. Yes, I actually have been meaning to call you guys, too. [Laughs] I just haven't had time, but yeah. Misty: How did NDR work with you on your payment plan? Do you feel that they're flexible if you need to change the date? KYLE: Yeah. Yeah, if I ever had to. I don't need to, but I know that if I ever had to, I can just call them. Misty: What are your thoughts on the cost in relation to the quality of service you've received from them? KYLE: I'd say 10 out of 10. Misty: How has working with NDR impacted your life so far? KYLE: It's helped out a lot. I was really underwater with bills, and now I can breathe. And I managed it a whole lot better. Misty: Have you actually finished the program or are you still working through it? KYLE: Still working through it. I got one more card to settle. Misty: But we're making progress though, right? KYLE: Absolutely. Yeah, I think one of my cards was 17,000. They settled it for 6,000. That was pretty cool. Misty: Are there any other comments or even any suggestions on how they might improve their service for you? KYLE: Well, what I was gonna call them about was just as far as the payments that I make, and is there an actual date as to when it stops at 43 months, or if that was an estimated date? So, I guess I should have gotten more clarification in the beginning. But that's kind of what I had questions about. Misty: Well, that brings us to the star rating, which is 1 to 5. So, how would you rate your experience with NDR at this time, and 1 would be very dissatisfied, 5 is that you would recommend them to a friend at this time? KYLE: A 5. Misty: What would you say to that friend who asked you about it, just maybe one or two things you might tell them before they decide who they're going with? KYLE: That your credit is gonna take a hit, but it's gonna bounce back, and you'd be fine. Misty: Would it be okay if we shared your feedback on ConsumerAffairs.com for others to read it or in a similar point in their life where they're like, “I'm not sure who I need to go with,” but they can read reviews of people that have started the process with NDR? KYLE: Yeah. Is it gonna have my first and last name on the review? Misty: No, sir. Only first name, and we do not publish any contact information. KYLE: Okay. Yeah, that’s fine. Misty: I have kylecunningham1873@gmail.com. KYLE: Yes, ma'am.

Trustpilot star rating Trustpilot star rating Trustpilot star rating Trustpilot star rating Trustpilot star rating

Kyle Cunningham
ConsumerAffairs Reviews

Latest Debt Relief Posts

  • 5 Ways To Get Rid Of Your Debt This New Year
  • How A Minimalist Lifestyle Can Help You To Become Debt Free
  • Learn How To Send A Cease and Desist Letter To Creditors
  • Getting Out Of Debt: The Truth About Debt Reduction In 2018
  • How Bethenny Frankel went from Debt to Success (and a Skinny Girl Empire)
National Debt Relief, LLC BBB Business Review AFCC Top Ten Reviews Gold Top Consumer Reviews Consumers Advocate Trust Pilot
Company
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Blog
  • Careers
  • Corporate
  • Privacy Policies
  • Terms Of Site
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap
Products
  • Debt Relief
  • Credit Card Debt Relief
  • Debt Consolidation
  • Debt Settlement
  • Calculators
  • FAQs
Debt Resources
  • Credit Card Debt
  • Bad Credit
  • Medical Debt
  • Personal Loan Debt
  • Unemployment
  • Divorce Debt
  • Retiree Debt
  • Veteran Debt
  • Business Debt
  • Personal Finance
Follow Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

© 2021, National Debt Relief, All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer
Disclaimer
Disclaimer