RIP Medical Debt (RIP) is a tax-exempt charity that buys and abolishes medical debt. RIP typically works with donors, such as private foundations, to abolish debt for a specific target population. Since the debt forgiveness is considered a gift, it does not count as income and is therefore not taxable.
Dear Sir or Madam: I am writing to notify you of my inability to pay the above-referenced bill for (describe your condition and treatment). I have received the enclosed bill (enclose a copy of the documentation received from the billing company), but I am unable to pay the bill as outlined.
While medical debt remains on your credit report for seven years, the three major credit scoring agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) will remove it from your credit history once paid off by an insurer.
Unpaid medical bills may be sent to debt collectors, at which point they may show up on your credit reports. Collections accounts can take up to seven years to drop off your credit reports, although the impact on your credit score will lessen over time.
Start Negotiating
Make it clear to them that you intend to do your best to pay the debt but cannot meet the total amount or current repayment terms. Offering the debt collector a lump sum in exchange for full settlement of the debt might be the most effective option if you can afford it.
Try to save at least 25% of your debt, then offer it as payment. The debt collectors might be more willing to accept if they know that they can fulfill the debt right away.
The goodwill deletion request letter is based on the age-old principle that everyone makes mistakes. It is, simply put, the practice of admitting a mistake to a lender and asking them not to penalize you for it. Obviously, this usually works only with one-time, low-level items like 30-day late payments.
When a medical debt goes unpaid, the health care provider can assign it to a debt collection agency. In a worst-case scenario, you could be sued for unpaid medical bills. If you were to lose the case, a creditor or debt collector could then take action to levy your bank account or garnish your wages as payment.
Effective January 1, 2022, the No Surprises Act (NSA) protects you from surprise billing if you have a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage, and bans: Surprise bills for emergency services from an out-of-network provider or facility and without prior authorization.
After seven years, your medical debt won't be reported by the credit bureaus, and it shouldn't affect your credit score anymore.
The study, published Dec. 6 in the journal Health Affairs, found that lawsuits over unpaid bills for hospital care increased by 37% in Wisconsin from 2001 to 2018, rising from 1.12 cases per 1,000 state residents to 1.53 per 1,000 residents. During the same period, wage garnishments from the lawsuits increased 27%.
Additionally, consumers now get a year, up from six months, before unpaid medical debt appears on credit reports once it goes to a collection agency. And more changes are coming: In the first half of 2023, the credit bureaus will stop including any unpaid debts that are less than $500.
A 609 dispute letter is a letter sent to the bureaus requesting this information is actually not a dispute but is simply a way of requesting that the credit bureaus provide you with certain documentation that substantiates the authenticity of the bureaus' reporting.
Your dispute should be made in writing to ensure that the debt collector has to send you verification of the debt. If you're having trouble with debt collection, you can submit a complaint with the CFPB online or by calling (855) 411-CFPB (2372).
While it's not guaranteed to work, writing a goodwill letter to your creditors could result in negative marks being removed from your credit reports.
When you're negotiating with a creditor, try to settle your debt for 50% or less, which is a realistic goal based on creditors' history with debt settlement. If you owe $3,000, shoot for a settlement of up to $1,500.
Some want 75%–80% of what you owe. Others will take 50%, while others might settle for one-third or less. Proposing a lump-sum settlement is generally the best option—and the one most collectors will readily agree to—if you can afford it.
The first step to stopping debt collectors from calling you is telling them the 11-word phrase - “Please cease and desist all calls and contact with me, immediately.”
If you have medical bills in collections or you think you can take on the work of a medical bill advocate, you may be able to negotiate down the cost of your medical bills on your own. For medical bills in collections, know that debt collectors generally buy debts for pennies on the dollar.
There are 3 ways to remove collections without paying: 1) Write and mail a Goodwill letter asking for forgiveness, 2) study the FCRA and FDCPA and craft dispute letters to challenge the collection, and 3) Have a collections removal expert delete it for you.