I have a 360 medical bill from being sent to the psych ward against my will . I don’t have money to pay it . It’s gonna sent to collections … what will happen ?
What happened when medical debt going to collections ?
byu/Ok_Vanilla5661 inpersonalfinance
Posted by Ok_Vanilla5661
4 Comments
Collections will contact you asking for payment.
I just googled it and it says that under $500 will not affect your credit score if that’s what you’re worried about. I’d look into it a bit yourself as well though.
Your debt is typically sold at a reduced cost to a debt collection agency.
That agency will often times pursue payment for that debt and will likely reduce the amount paid by a decent amount that still allows them to profit off the debt they purchased.
Depending on the amount, it may impact your credit score. Which could in turn impact things like your ability to finance a car or rent property.
Sometimes they’ll sue for a larger amount and you can structure payment plans.
After a certain period of time that debt “falls off” your credit report.
The wisest thing to do in order to head off debt collectors is to deal with them directly. There’s no way around it. However… It doesn’t mean you have to come up with all of the money at one time. Their job is to get as much out of you in a commitment as possible, your job is to not leave yourself penniless in the bargain. So when they call you looking for a payment, ask for a payment plan. When they start throwing numbers at you like $50 a month or $45 a month take a minute like you’re looking at all of your paperwork and all of your stuff and then say something like I can do $10 a month but I can promise that every month. At that point you’ve made a commitment and they have to leave you alone. If you can only offer $5 a month but you go on an auto pay program they have to leave you alone. It’s the law.