unpaid medical bills on my credit report?

[Anonymous]

Will my FICO score go up if I have at least two positive open accounts despite the fact that I have 3 unpaid medical bills on my report totaling $5,000? I'm making all payments on time on a car loan and a credit card...will my score increase despite the fact that there are 3 unpaid medical bills open for collection on my report? Or will those negative accounts keep my score from going up regardless of the on time payments? Also, if I decide to pay off the medical bills will THAT increase my score? And if so, how much in what period of time?

ANY ADVICE WILL HELP!

[guiness56]

HI and welcome to the forums.

That is a hard question to answer.  FICO scores are based on many different things, like AAoA, payment history, types of credit, etc.  If your positive accounts outweighed your negative, you could see an increase.

Who is reporting the medical accounts, the OC or a CA?   Just paying the collections will have no impact on your score, they would need to be deleted.

Have you tried contacting the OC for payment arrangements and seeing if they will recall the account from the CA?  (If that is how they are reported).

How old are these accounts, do you know the DoFD?  What is your states SOL?

[Anonymous]

The original creditor is United Health Services through the hospital I was treated at. The CA is a law office who works for the hospital. The Law Offices of Burr & Reid is what appears as the CA on my credit report. I have contacted the OC and I'm currently in the process of finding out if they/ll accept my settlement offer of $1500 on the $5000 balance. Whether they accept or not I'm planning on setting up a payment plan on whatever the balance ends up being (1500 OR 4500). If the payment plan is set up is there any way to then get it off my report since it would technically no longer be in collections? One account is from 2003 and two others from 2006. To my knowledge these accounts will take 7 years to be deleted. (My state is NY in case you could advise me otherwise).

[guiness56]

Paid collections in NY come off after 5 years. 

The one from 2003 would be coming off some time this year (under the 7 year rule) or early next year.  The one from 2006 would be 2013 or there about.

If you paid both of them in full, according to NY FCRA, the one from 2003 would immediately be gone and the one from 2006 would be 2012.

You can ask the OC to pull the account back from the CA since you are paying them.