Approx. 2k of Education & Medical Debt to Take Care of... Someone help?

[kt_est1991]

Hello all,

My name is Katie, and I am in a bit of a financial bind. I'm 20 years old and newly married. My husband and I have been working very hard lately to get our bills taken care of, and now that we've done that, I need to focus on several old medical debts, as well as one account from my old college.

SUMMARY OF DEBTS:
1. Unknown Charge (11/2009) - $140
*On Report
2. Owed to school (Approx. 12/2010) - $1037
3. ER Visit (3/7/2011) - $561
4. Extra fees from ER - $178.95
5. Surgery Anesthesia (4/4/2011) - $374.95
*On Report

I do not know what the "unknown charge" is from. I checked my Experian Report, and that is where I found out about this. Every other debt I have paper records from, but I had no clue this existed before today - how do I go about finding out where this debt came from?

Also, when paying off these debts, which should I pay first - the ones already on my report so that they can be removed, or the ones not yet on my report to keep them from getting there?

One more question, would there be any point in trying to negotiate for a lower amount since these are mostly medical bills? If so, how would I go about doing this? Most info online seems to be about credit card type debts...

Thanks you for the advice in advance, I'd really like to get these taken care of!

-Katie K.

[jpg7n16]

I do not know what the "unknown charge" is from. I checked my Experian Report, and that is where I found out about this. Every other debt I have paper records from, but I had no clue this existed before today - how do I go about finding out where this debt came from?

Have you tried contacting Experian directly to get more info about the debt?
Personal Services Contacts at Experian.com

Also, when paying off these debts, which should I pay first - the ones already on my report so that they can be removed, or the ones not yet on my report to keep them from getting there?

If you have interest rates for these debts, start with the highest % and work down from there

One more question, would there be any point in trying to negotiate for a lower amount since these are mostly medical bills?

Honestly, not really. We're talking $2,300 total debt. Approx $1,100 of which is medical, and that is mostly all from this year. They have no reason to settle. You should be able to handle $1,000 of debt.

Obviously, it would be nice to be able to save $500 by settling, but that's not what the process is for. Settlements are designed to help those who cannot pay, not those who just don't want to.

There is no reason why you guys should not be able to handle $2000 of debt. Payments at 1-2% of the balance should only be $20-40/month across all debts.

If you are truly struggling with this, then please post your budget for evaluation. The real problems lie in your day to day budget.

[bjl584]

First I would look deeper into the unknown charge. It might be a mistake.

Negotiating the amounts may or may not work. It may be worth a try. I've heard stories of hospitals and doctors charging less if you pay cash for services. It saves them the hassle of dealing with insurance companies. With past due bills though, I'm not sure. Call and ask. The worst they can say is no.

You aren't talking about a huge amount of debt, so it should be manageable for you to pay back even without negotiating the amounts lower. You just need a repayment plan. If you can come up with an extra $190 a month you can all this cleared up in a year. Cut expenses or pick up extra work and get to it.

[snafu]

You my benefit from checking the details on those medical bills. Try to verify every procedure was done, codes are correct and there is no billing error or double billing.

[pdweaver]

Take care of the non-medical debt first. Medical debt is the most looked past collection when dealing with credit.