DH will kill me....let a bill go to collections

[Melaine]

I do not do the bills, for good reason. Not something I am good at. However, DH has decided I should be responsible for my hospital bills (probably since the baby was all my idea). Anyway, I apparently haven't paid since august! I thought DH and I had a conversation about him calling to catch is up but apparently not. And they sent a last notice a couple days after my last payment but I never got a statement reflecting my most recent charge and they didn't call me or send a second bill just sent it to collections. I am hoping since the bill is in my name it I will go on my credit score, not DH's....is that right? It was totally just an oversight and I blame my lack of sleep, sanity and health for why that along with other things like a social life, hobbies, or healthy diets, have fallen through the cracks. The person I spoke to at the hospital was very unsympathetic.

[Momit]

Yikes! I don't know too much about this, but I believe it will be just your credit report if it's under your SSN. DH's credit score was a tiny bit lower than mine because of a parking ticket we got and forgot about, but the car was registered under his name and somehow the ticket got tied to him but not me.

It seems that credit reports work in terms of 30 days late, 60 days late etc. with an increasingly severe hit to your score as the bill gets later and later in the collections process - probably a good idea to call the collection agency and get it paid ASAP. Maybe they can even have it removed from your credit report, or not file it with the agencies in the first place, if you catch it right away.

[lovin2shop]

I've had to argue a ridiculous number of medical bills with my insurance company this year, and have received multiple notices from "collections" companies, but none of them have appeared on my credit report yet. One of my doctor's offices admitted that it isn't really a collections company, they just make it look this way to scare people into paying. I'm certain that they do send them over to collections eventually, but they have to give up a big percentage of the payment, so it usually takes them a long while before doing so. I would check to see if this is the case before worrying too much!

[westwoodmom04]

Pay as soon as possible if you haven't already and then ask them to retract anything they've sent to the credit rating agencies.

[3isEnough]

So sorry to hear that, what a pain!

1. Pull your and DH's credit reports at freecreditreport.com (free for each of you 1/year) and check what's on them.
2. Apparently the creditor (hospital) can't "retract" something sent to the credit rating agencies unless it was an error, so I suggest contacting the hospital and telling them you'll immediately pay in full on the express condition that they advise the credit agencies you were reported in error. If they agree then put it in writing and send it to them so you have proof they agreed to remove it.

I had something similar happen about 5 years ago with a dental bill, somehow it was never sent to me but instead sent directly to collections. I only learned about it when I was trying to refi my house and my credit was checked. The mortgage company wouldn't allow the refi with this one bad debt on my record, even though the debt was $50 and my DH and I could easily afford our home given our incomes. I was really surprised how much impact a little $50 debt could have. So I contacted the dentist's office, who was pretty darn shady, and told them I'd pay them immediately if they would notify the credit agencies it was an error. They agreed, I sent them a letter basically saying "I give you authorization to charge my credit card in the amount of $X on the express condition that you promptly notify the credit agencies...blah blah". Of course, I later learned they failed to retract it, so I contacted them and they refused to correct it. That is, until I reminded them of our written agreement and stated that they only had authorization to charge me if they did their part, and therefore their charge was unauthorized and illegal. They promptly took care of the retraction.

[sariana]

I think the site you want is annualcreditreport.com. That is the truly free one endorsed by the government.

[waitingforgrace]

First be sure who you owe the money to. Is is actually to the hospital/doctor or to the collections agency? Honestly, less than 6 months would be pretty quick for them to send it to a true collections agency. If you can call the doctor/hospital and pay it in a lump sum see if they will waive the late fee and take payment. If they have already sent it to a collection agency, get in touch with them and try to pay, but I personally would not pay the full amount knowing that they only pay pennies on the dollar for the amounts owed. I would negotiate something lower to the collection agency and pay it off in a lump sum (if feasible).

[3isEnough]

I think the site you want is annualcreditreport.com. That is the truly free one endorsed by the government.

Oh yeah you're right, thanks for correcting me! I've actually been meaning to pull mine the last few days and have had "free credit report" on the brain, but I should have checked the url before providing it to OP.

[sariana]

Oh yeah you're right, thanks for correcting me! I've actually been meaning to pull mine the last few days and have had "free credit report" on the brain, but I should have checked the url before providing it to OP.

I actually got interrupted while typing my previous post and didn't mean to be so abrupt.

It's really annoying that other companies use names so similar to the "official" site and that the official one is kind of awkward.

I also intended to mention that only the report is free. There still is a charge to get an actual score (number).

[Melaine]

Thanks everyone. I am waiting for a call back from a supervisor. The problem is, we can't afford to just pay the bill outright, it is 6k for DS's birth.

[trales]

We had this happen with a dermatologist bill last year. It was a total oversight on our part, we thought we had successfully argued with the insurance, DH thought I had paid the office, I thought he was doing it. We got the letter from the collections agency. I called the derm, talked to billing and we were able to take care of it all over the phone. Never heard from the collections people again.

[egoldber]

Honestly, medical billing is soooo confusing and the cycle with insurance is sooooooo slow, it's almost routine for us to pay a bill many, many months after we first get it.

[elektra]

Honestly, medical billing is soooo confusing and the cycle with insurance is sooooooo slow, it's almost routine for us to pay a bill many, many months after we first get it.

:yeahthat:

[elektra]

$6k seems really high to me too. You may not even owe that much. I would also be calling the insurance company before paying anyway!

[Melaine]

$6k seems really high to me too. You may not even owe that much. I would also be calling the insurance company before paying anyway!

Unfortunately, our insurance is that bad and I had several hospitalizations for early labor so the the amount is correct. I have already called the hospital and insurance company and we were only $500 over the income limit for qualifying for medicaid. We actually now qualify since the limits went up this year, but it doesn't apply retroactively that far.

[Claki]

DH claims medical debt doesn't ding your credit score.


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[Still-in-Shock]

It's very easy for me to see how you could overlook a bill while taking care of a newborn. Do what you need to do, but don't beat yourself up, and don't take any guff from your DH! It doesn't matter whose idea the baby was, your DC is here and his needs come first!

[mommylamb]

Wow, that does seem to be a lot! Does the bill have this all itemized for you? Make sure you know what your deductible, co-insurance and maximum yearly payment are for your insurance. Is this the only bill you've received?

[BabyBearsMom]

Did you have a c section? I paid about that much for my c with Dd1 even though we have excellent insurance. So it doesn't sound that far off to me.

[Melaine]

Yep, c section. And our deductible was $26,000 at the time. Now it is "better" at $10,000.

[3isEnough]

DH claims medical debt doesn't ding your credit score. [/URL]

Unfortunately that's not accurate. You can read more here http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit/will-unpaid-medical-bills-hurt-credit.aspx, which in part states that "Any collections item, medical or not, can lower a person's FICO credit score by as much as 100 points."

Even a small collections item can hurt a lot.