Do medical bills count against your credit?

I've considered myself to have "bad credit" because I have a hefty amount of unpaid medical bills. But Ive heard people say that it doeant factor into credit? 99% of my debt is medical bills that werent covered during the time I didnt have medi-cal (state insurance). I have 2 other items on my credit report, a cell bill from years ago and a library bill that went to collections. I am now in a financial position to completely start paying all of these off, what will happen to my score once they are all paid off? I have never owned a credit card and my debt other than medical bills is under $200. Can I work out some type of deal for the medical bills that happened when I didnt have insurance? I have tons of random bills, ER visits like $900 a pop, a few ultrasounds,.most of these from when I was pregnant.

From my understanding if it was an emergency I don't think that bill counts towards your credit. But I'm not 100% on that. Just work on paying them off. I don't think it will increase your credit but once it is paid off it will be taken off of your credit report and will no longer count against you if it does.

Yes it does.. Or at least it did for me. I have never had a credit card, just unpaid medical bills and have a 470 something

Once they are paid off, you then have to accumulate "good credit".. It won't just automatically go back up, although it will help

Yep. They don't hurt your credit initially, but once they go to collections... it does affect your credit score. I have about, eh, $2k in medical bills and it dropped my credit score down to 566. That's the ONLY thing on my credit score (since my student loans hadn't defaulted and I got an extension for 'em). So yeah... it does hurt credit. You can work out a payment plan, though. They were calling me saying I could pay about $30 a week. I never took 'em up on it... because I was going back to school, but they are definitely willing to help as long as you're willing to pay them back.

watching!
I have like $8,000 in med bills.. anytime Ive tryed to resolve a few they insist I pay in full :/

Yes it does

Actually, they do. I thought they didn't also, until we went to buy a house a few years ago. You have to pay them off, and then even after you do that, the collection agencies won't normally remove them from your credit until you petition them to do so. We had a very very large Childrens Hospital bill from when my son was there with no insurance. We settled with them through the collection agency and only had to pay about 60% of the original bill, which we did, but they still didn't remove it from my credit until I asked them to.

Good to know. Im going to start paying off the ones I can then seeing if they can lower some of the bigger ones and keep paying thwm off until they are all gone.

If I have to petition them to remove them from my report what would they need a receipt? Proof of payment?

What about the whole 7 year thing? Does anything older than that just come off?

It did for us. I was livid!! I only have my current student loan (singular) for $7K for this year and last year. The one one from last year was never acted on for payment bc I was still goin to school. Applied to finance a new heating system-denied. Hospital sent a $2.15 to collections even though they never sent that bill yet. The charge was made just a couple weeks prior on march 19, 2012. My credit went from 643 to 460 over that bullsmurf!

Quoting SailorJerry:" I've considered myself to have "bad credit" because I have a hefty amount of unpaid medical bills. But ... [snip!] ... insurance? I have tons of random bills, ER visits like $900 a pop, a few ultrasounds,.most of these from when I was pregnant."

Yes, it can count on your credit report. Many hospitals are also getting the right to garnish your tax return to recoup their money.

You should be able to set up a monthly payment of any amount you can afford. Just tell them the amount you can pay and they should work with you. I've known people to pay them $20/month.

If you are aiming for a lump payment, many hospitals will cut you a deal if you pay in full.

Good luck and I hope it's paid off soon. I've been paying $200/month since my son's birth (18 months ago) and only have 3 payments left!

<blockquote><b>Quoting BrittanieY:</b>" Yes, it can count on your credit report. Many hospitals are also getting the right to garnish your tax ... [snip!] ... and I hope it's paid off soon. I've been paying $200/month since my son's birth (18 months ago) and only have 3 payments left!"</blockquote>




Thanks, yeah it woukd be easier to just pay a lump sum in full rather than monthly payments, Im gonna try and do that.

To answer more completely, if your medical bills go into collections the collection affects your credit score, primarily for the first 12 months, it will reduce your score by about 20 to 30 points for each collection. After 12 months if does not affect your score but will remain shown on your report which lenders can see.

However, if it is listed as a MED 01 or MED 02, which refers to emergency services, then lenders do not hold that against you. For instance if you apply for a car loan and the lender pulls your credit report, he will not count MED 01 and MED 02 against you. I hope that makes more sense and answers your question!

If your medical bills are listed on your credit report then it has already affected your credit score, and though you are responsible for the debt as long as it is a legitimate medical bill, it's better to establish new healthy credit to increase your score. Paying the medical bills off will not increase your score, nor will it remove it, it will remain for 7 years but you can request it be updated to "Paid As Agreed"

H.