topic Re: Crying and ready to give up in Rebuilding Your Credit

Crying and ready to give up

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 01:34:11 GMT

I feel like giving up. My scores where in the 400's about 6 months ago. Now my Fico scores are in the low 600's. I've been so motivated until today I get 2 medical bills in the mail. When I called the collection agency, they tell me that they will be reporting both to my credit reports this month unless I pay $1400!. My son was very sick this past year, it has been a struggle. It just seems every time I take 2 steps forward, I end up taking 4 steps backwards. How do you guys thing these medical collections will impact my Fico scores? Does anyone have any advice? I don't have the funds to pay these two bills off and with Christmas coming that makes things even worse. I feel like giving up. I have a total of 15 collections, most of them are medical bills. I know I can PFD 3 of them for sure. I just don't know what to do and it will break my heart to see the major dip I'm sure these two collections will do to my Fico scores. Please help! Thanks in advance!

Re: Crying and ready to give up

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 01:51:53 GMT

Ok, breathe deeply. Relax. Tomorrow morning, call the original creditors and see if they will recall the debt and set up a payment arrangement. And go from there. If it's a hospital, see if they have any option for assistance. Also see if you can qualify for Medicaid spend down. Tonight, Google the hipaa process. But don't you dare give up. You've come too far to let $1400 sink you now. You CAN do this!

Re: Crying and ready to give up

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 01:53:44 GMT

First of all, it is a struggle, you have gone this far and its too late for giving up now, I would suggest working on what you can..thats why they call it re-building, medical collections are one of the easiest collections to have removed from the credit report.

Hang in there.

Re: Crying and ready to give up

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 01:57:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Ok, breathe deeply. Relax. Tomorrow morning, call the original creditors and see if they will recall the debt and set up a payment arrangement. And go from there. If it's a hospital, see if they have any option for assistance. Also see if you can qualify for Medicaid spend down. Tonight, Google the hipaa process. But don't you dare give up. You've come too far to let $1400 sink you now. You CAN do this!

Second this. Don't give up. Your doing great. Stay positive. This whole rebuilding thing is a lot of ups and downs. But definitely worth it in the end.

Re: Crying and ready to give up

tiffjtiffj — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 02:08:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I feel like giving up. My scores where in the 400's about 6 months ago. Now my Fico scores are in the low 600's. I've been so motivated until today I get 2 medical bills in the mail. When I called the collection agency, they tell me that they will be reporting both to my credit reports this month unless I pay $1400!. My son was very sick this past year, it has been a struggle. It just seems every time I take 2 steps forward, I end up taking 4 steps backwards. How do you guys thing these medical collections will impact my Fico scores? Does anyone have any advice? I don't have the funds to pay these two bills off and with Christmas coming that makes things even worse. I feel like giving up. I have a total of 15 collections, most of them are medical bills. I know I can PFD 3 of them for sure. I just don't know what to do and it will break my heart to see the major dip I'm sure these two collections will do to my Fico scores. Please help! Thanks in advance!

Third ... Don't you dare

I've been up / down / downer .. and I don't even know. I hit 620 my highest over the summer, then my car note came to an end and the darn thing took 23 points from me, so back down to the 500's I fell. Keep that head up, it'll turn around - gosh it has to.

Re: Crying and ready to give up

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 03:49:03 GMT

Thanks for the support. It really sucks that medical bills have such a horrible effect of credit. It would be great if they changed how medical bills affect credit scores or reports lol

Re: Crying and ready to give up

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 03:55:51 GMT

Will 2 more collections really have that big of an impact on your score if you already have 15? Someone told me that each additional collection has less and less impact. I had a few collections that only made a difference of 5 or so points.

Re: Crying and ready to give up

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 04:38:11 GMT

.Don't give up! I know exactly how you feel. I've worked so hard rebuilding my credit, and I have several medical bills in collections I have been working on. I reduced them so far down to 9 on EQ and only 1 left on TU down from 10! Then yesterday I received 3 "final notice" medical bills in the mail. One I paid that was only $40, the other one is $900 and another is $1400! I cannot begin to pay those, I'm struggling just to make ends meet each month on rent and my tuition while I finish school, and those medical bills are in the process of going into collections now. It upsets me just like you, but I'll have to handle them one at a time the best I can. Don't give up, you've come too far!

Re: Crying and ready to give up

gdale6 — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 04:46:13 GMT

Medicals get overlooked by a lot of creditors.

For unpaid medical debt that is reporting on your CR:

1. Call the OC and see if you qualify for Charity Care
2. If not then ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
3. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
4. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help

Re: Crying and ready to give up

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 05:43:44 GMT

Thanks so much the support and advice means a lot. I am going to do the best that I can to remove some if not all of them. I will follow these steps and keep going. I will also post updates. I love this forum.

Re: Crying and ready to give up

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 15:37:45 GMT

Decisions...

Christmas gifts or 2 less collections to worry about...it's all about what's more important to you. Granted, you did visit the hospital and those medical charges are valid, you do technically owe them. But nonetheless, if you're on a rebuilding path, I would do anything to avoid any other negatives. Good luck to you and wish you the best and hopefully you can resolve it soon..

Happy Friday

Re: Crying and ready to give up

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 15:50:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Will 2 more collections really have that big of an impact on your score if you already have 15? Someone told me that each additional collection has less and less impact. I had a few collections that only made a difference of 5 or so points.

I second this. I had an invalid CA added to my reports a few months back. I took a small hit. Since your FICO is like your repetutation, once you've already got a "bad" one a few more rumors don't change much.

Don't give up, OP. Medical collections are surprisingly easy to deal with. How long ago were the bills incurred and how many notices have you received from the provider? If you has insurance, has it been billed? You can often prevent reporting with a payment plan if it's relatively recent.

Re: Crying and ready to give up

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 15:55:01 GMT

As others may have pointed out, you've already got a lot of collections on there (nothing to be ashamed of, so do I), and if any of those collections are updating monthly, two more are just not going to make a big impact. A handful of points at the worst. The most important thing is to get some sort of payment arrangement made so they do not sue. You don't want an additional judgement on there as well, trust me.

Most collectors will try to work out some kind of deal with you. If you feel like that particular CSR is not willing to work with you on this, just call back and try to get a different CSR.

How are you doing on getting positive tradelines established?