My wife's appendix ruptured a couple of months ago. Thankfully she had insurance which covered most of the bills, but it still left us with about $5000 to pay off ourselves. We began by sending them the $1500 we had in savings, and also continued to make as large of payments as we could to all 5 or so businesses involved.
We live in New Mexico and are currently living on one person's (very small) income.
The problem is that two of the medical companies are saying that they can't take our partial payments. We can't afford any more, or else we would just send it and be done with it. From the research I've done, it seems that the law allows companies to do this because there is some form of minimum payment agreement (such as the statements one would sign on a credit card application). However, since this was emergency medical care, I am positive that we never agreed to any kind of payment plan whether written or verbal.
So, my question is this: If we never agreed to a payment plan does the medical company have to take our payments or will this medical emergency end up on our credit reports anyway because they can refuse?
Also, it seems logical to me that if/when the reality of the situation is that the company will get their money in payments or not at all, then they would prefer getting paid to not. I just don't understand how or why a business would refuse a payment on a debt they are owed... How do I accurately and legally explain that we can not afford more than $X/month?
Any help or info would be very much appreciated.
We live in New Mexico and are currently living on one person's (very small) income.
The problem is that two of the medical companies are saying that they can't take our partial payments. We can't afford any more, or else we would just send it and be done with it. From the research I've done, it seems that the law allows companies to do this because there is some form of minimum payment agreement (such as the statements one would sign on a credit card application). However, since this was emergency medical care, I am positive that we never agreed to any kind of payment plan whether written or verbal.
So, my question is this: If we never agreed to a payment plan does the medical company have to take our payments or will this medical emergency end up on our credit reports anyway because they can refuse?
Also, it seems logical to me that if/when the reality of the situation is that the company will get their money in payments or not at all, then they would prefer getting paid to not. I just don't understand how or why a business would refuse a payment on a debt they are owed... How do I accurately and legally explain that we can not afford more than $X/month?
Any help or info would be very much appreciated.
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