Thread: need advice regarding bills/creditors

Well 2005 was not a good year for my physical health. I was in and out of doctor's offices for most of the last part of the year. I am now starting to receive bills for all of the visits, testing and anything else they can throw at me. I do have insurance but, it doesn't cover everything. I am making monthly payments on all of this.

My question is, can they turn me over to collections because I am not paying the bills in full? Will this affect my credit rating? So on top of my illness, I am worried about my finances.. totally sucks.

Plus I called LabCorp today. They handled some of my testing. Anyways, instead of setting up an account under my name and telling me how much my total for everything is, every test they send out an invoice. So I have received 5 "invoices" which I will have to make payments to. I called and asked "Can we just lump this all together into one so I can make payments to just one account instead of 5 invoices each month?" of course the response I got was "No" So instead of sending 1 check I will have to send out 5 for each invoice. Total waste of time and paper.

Then the lady proceeds to ask me if I was going to make a payment today on one of the invoices. I told her "No" I was just calling today to verify some information. She said "Well if you don't pay these off withing 60 days you will be receiving collection letters" I told her "Your little lab processing company is just the tip of my medical bill iceberg. I have my gyno, my endocrinologist, ultrasounds, and others." "You will get a payment when I get paid." then she went on about the collections. I said "Do what you have to do, and I will do what I have to do." I don't like being intimadated.

I would really like some advice, can they (they being doctors, ultrasound place and stinky LabCorp) do anything to me if I am making the monthly payments? Thanks for all of the help!!

I would say most doctors would allow you to make a payment schedule. I had to pay nearly $400 to my daughter's dr. last fall and I made monthly payments up until January. I never got turned over for collections. I won't say that they can't, especially if an account is severely overdue. However, chances are they won't as long as they are receiving something.

As for the Lab that won't accept one check, what does it matter if they are all being sent to the same address? I would write one check and put each one of the Invoice #s in the memo field. Either that or attach a note with each of them and how much you wanted credited to each invoice.

They can send you to collections, but it doesn't count against your credit score. It shows up on your credit report, but isn't supposed to effect how a lender views your credit.

almost everything now adays goes against your credit INCLUDING medical bills cause it did my mom in law and me and others I know even if you are paying.utility companies also.if youve ever gotten a shut off notice or a late notice from a utility company THAT goes against your credit.so yes that can be sent to creditors and go against your credit.and lenders can use that against you.trust me I know.anything over 30 days late usually goes on your credit report.all you do is if you get a collection letter write the collection agency a letter stating your hardship and why you have problems paying.and try to set up a payment arrangment if you can and if they will take it.usually if you write a letter they will work with ya.also Id try to get that spin down thingy or take ALL medical bills that arent paid to your welfare/ health and human resources office tell them you need a medical card cause you cannot afford to pay them.having insurance tho might screw ya in the long run. Id look into another insurance if possible.but try anything you can doesnt hurt.

Originally Posted by aneisu

They can send you to collections, but it doesn't count against your credit score. It shows up on your credit report, but isn't supposed to effect how a lender views your credit.

FALSE! An unpaid bill is an unpaid bill, a collection account is a collection account.


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