Simple Simple Simple Question

[Anonymous]

Ok. So I got in a car accident when I was 19 (before I had any credit history) and was taken to the ER. I waited too long to reply/pay my bill, again, knowing nothing about credit history, I thought I could just get away with not paying.

Recently, now 22, I tried to get my first (student, beginner) credit card and was rejected due to nonqualifying credit score, which was apparently due to my medical bill from which they deducted 40 points from my score, as I was told.

Now I just payed my medical bill 2 weeks ago and was wondering what score to expect.

How long does it usually take for them to update my score (after paying). What should I expect my score to be?

[Jazzzy]

Hi...and welcome to the forums.

Was this account with a collection agency? If so, unfortunately a paid collection will still count against you. Your score won't likely go up by paying it. (I know...not fair.)

If this was a collection account, you have a couple of options here. One is to write them a goodwill (GW) letter asking them to take the entire collection off of your reports. Another option is to try to have the account removed from your reports because of HIPPA (because this was a medical bill). We don't advise how to get accounts removed through the HIPPA process here, but you can Google the HIPPA process as it relates to collection accounts.

Come back on and give us some more details on the account.