Medical Bill

I believe they have stated the minimum on a non interest rate bill and you should try to cut corners somewhere else to pay this off. At that rate it will take you 6 1/2 years to pay it off. No where else could you take that long with no interest; not a credit card, car or mortgage would let you do that. You are lucky they didn't say 500 a month!

I always thought with medical bills, that as long as you pay something monthly, no matter how small, they can't send you to collections.. but I was wrong! A friend of mine was sending in $50 a month, and they sent her bill to collections within 3 months. I think that is just crazy! Maybe you call back and speak to a manager and let them know you want to pay back what you owe, but it is not possible at this time to pay the $100.

Good luck!

The statute of limitations on debts in Texas is 4 years. If the debt was incurred before June 2006 write them a letter and tell them they are violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as the debt is time barred and uncollectable.

If it is not that old contact the original creditor and see if you can make a payment plan. It seems like you already tried that and unfortunately, they can refuse to accept it. Make sure you go as high up as you can for an answer. Saying you have to pay a minimum makes me think its a collector instead.

If the debt is with a junk debt buyer you can still settle it. In writing, offer them a lump sum in return for a complete settlement on the debt. I would start with 10% and see what the response is. Make sure you stipulate in your letter that this debt will be paid in full when settled. Send your letter, detailing your hardships, certified mail with return receipt.

Lastly, if you have few assets you might want to just let the debt go and see how far they are willing to go. If they sue offer to settle. Wage garnishments are illegal in Texas so they can't attached your paycheck. Odds are they will settle if they think they'll get nothing otherwise.

Good luck!

The hospital returning your check does not mean your bill has been paid in full. It simply means that they did not accept a partial payment that had not been previously agreed to.
You need to call them and tell them that $100 per month is out of the question and you were trying your best to send anything. They may want an agreement that you will send $25 per month in writing.
You also should ask them for time to go over your claim to make sure everything was paid by your insurance correctly, because they do make mistakes. $8000 is a lot of money. You need to see if they can take some of those charges off for you or at least contract for the $25 a month. Most hospitals will.
To me it sounds as though they felt they had a verbal agreement for $100 and that's why they didn't accept your partial payment.
Call the billing departmet, ask to speak to a supervisor about your bill and payment arrangements. Someone should be able to help you with a manageable plan.

At $25/month with no interest, it will take you 27 years to pay off that debt; they probably perceived that as a slap in the face. I suspect the real reason they sent that particular payment back is because they have passed your debt to a collection agency; thus, all the money needs to go through the collector now. Sorry to say, your medical debt still remains and is about to adversely affect your credit report.

How old is the $8,000? If it has already gone to collections, they will reject a payment. No, a refused payment does not mean that the bill is paid in full.

I am sorry that you've found yourself in this situation.

Cindy D - I'm sorry but you're wrong. 7 years is when debt will fall off your credit. I worked in credit, so I know firsthand. It seems the debt has already gone into collections. I would call the original creditor and see where the account was sent, call them and try and set up payment arrangements as low as they will let you

Perhaps you could get a part time job, working very part time. Surely you could earn an extra $100 a month at a part time job to pay for this. Thatwould only be 10-15 hours a month...very doable, if you're willing.

I don't think it's mean or ugly to point out that a part-time job working 15 hours a month would bring in $100 a month. Having said that, I am guessing there are reasons the original poster isn't doing that. There may not be any jobs available for someone to work so few hours, or there may be lingering health or family issues that prevent that.

Anyway, I am afraid you can't consider the debt paid in full at this point. I hope you can work something out with the medical providers. I know that my sister, who is a physician, writes off thousands of dollars' worth of her services every month, and she's a specialist whose billing rate is very high (not high compared to other specialists in her field, but compared to a primary care physician). It's worth asking about.

Best of luck to you. I hope the medical care helped you feel better, at least.

D.,

I live in TX too and owed about $7000 after insurance for the birth of my child. I couldn't believe it when what used to be Harris Methodist refused to take my payments and wanted everything in full within 3 months. They referred me to City National Bank in San Francisco, and I took out a loan with them so I could make payments. I had never heard of such a thing either! Good luck.

No, not true. They used to say that you could send a small amount, whatever you could afford, and it would keep them from reporting it to the credit agency. Apparently, that may not be true now. Good luck. I know there are steps for negotiating but I have forgotten them.

To the Overland Park comment, are you with a collection agency perchance? That response made for some pretty ugly and hasty thoughts. Dig down deep and figure out where that came from. Maybe she has a terminal disease or someone in her family. I hope not, but hope that puts you back into a more graceful state of mind.

I suspect they sent it back because it's been sent to a collection agency. I don't know how you arrange to make payments once that happens. I don't think the collection agency will take payments but you can ask.

It seems like I had a disputed bill and the collection agency sent it back to the hospital. I paid the hospital the amount we agreed that I actually owed and the hospital canceled the rest. so, it may be possible to arrange to have the bell sent back to the creditor where you can make payments.

I would call the original person to whom you owed the money and ask about it. I doubt very much it's been paid.

However, it is possible that the creditor wrote the bill off. Hospitals can do that under certain circumstances. Again, call the creditor and ask what has happened.

If they wrote it off that info will most likely show up on a credit report.

I hope that you're able to work it out.

You would need to contact a lawyer to know for sure. It is my understanding that they have to accept what you can pay. Did you ask if they had any programs that could help you?

They sent it back, because if they accept it, then it becomes a binding contract that you can pay $25 a month. Doesn't hurt to send it again and see if they accept it.

I have the same problem. I was told to go to er because of a bad blood taking. They thought I would bleed to death. I want to Care Now for another reading and they would not do it. Sent me to ER so I went not checking because also it was a week end and insurance was closed. They took me did all sorts of tests and nothing was wrong. The doctor there said it was a dirty blood reading because he would only be a little off not that far off. So I am stuck with a 4433 hundred bill. I tried to pay $100 but it did not go through the bank when they sent it in NSF. So the bill was 4700 and they changed it to 4433 but if I would pay it off in full they would change it to 3200. I could not do it. I have not paid and it has been probably a year. Things keep coming up and every time I think I will be able to pay I am broke again. I get called about once every couple months telling me to call this woman and I do not do it. I am thinking about taking money out of my IRA to pay it. It went into collections and my creditscore went from 640 climbing to 545. I was doing great almost had my creditcards paid off. Then Christmas and stuff they are up again but I have paid them off several times. I had to buy a new fence for my day care and now a new car. So now losing three kids for a month or two hurts. I may just take it out and get it over with and put it behind. It is so unfair. One gal I know went to the hospital and she had a $11,000 bill and they took care of it through charities they have a list. She did not have to pay any. One time I had to have a Cat Scan no insurance and it was the end of the year and they needed a write off and did not charge me anything. Had that hospital taken my blood first instead of doing chest X rays and urine and every thing else they would have found my blood was ok. G. W

By law if you wrote on the check 'balance paid in full' and they accepted it, no matter the amount, they would legally be making and accepting a new contract. But since you didn't write that and they didn't accept it, it is not applicable.

I do not have any advice about the billing. 100 a month is very lenient when you think about how long it will take you to pay it off (6+ years, thank God you have insurance!!) and how long it will take for them to collect their amount due. I hope everything works out for you..

Sounds like it! Wow! I had a $4000 medical bill and I sent them $25 a month until it was paid off. They accepted every single check.

Man I just paid off about $12,000 with no insurance and it took me forever!! Now that I have ins. they are coming slower but never the less they are arriving like clock work.
But now I have a delema I have a 667.00 pass due bill at my drs. "clinic" and I can't even make an apt. to see any dr that practices there. I HAVE to see 2 drs. It is very important that I see them. But the only way I can see them is if i pay 200.00 the day i make the apt. and 100.00 a month unit it is paid off. Well HELLO if i'm not working how would they like me to pay them. So I know how you feel in this situation. To me they are dening me treatment because i owe the "clinic" and there is nothing the drs can do about it. In fact one dr was tring to get around this and they are now watching that dr.Now that is TOTALLY MESSED UP! The "clinic" is all about the money and not the patients.

As far as them sending it back to you. Are you sending it to the right place. If you are and they are still sending back to you I would call and talk to a lawyer.

Good day every one..

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Even if you have insurance, if you still can not afford the bill, ask for a charity or financial assistance application. Most hospitals/facilities are able to write-off a set amount of debt each year and you can apply to have your case reviewed. One thing I learned, it never hurts to ask!