Hospital sent a bill to collection agency

[lennygaudy]

My advice? Pay the $50 and stop prolonging this mess.

Well my concern is that I want to be sure that once she pays it it will be striken from her record-she doesn't care so much about paying the $50 but if its going to show up as a nagative account (paid 2 years late) and stay on her record for the same amount of time the unpaid negative account entry will stay then there doesn't seem to be any reason to pay it. If I was sure that it would be removed from her credit report completely then I would definitely tell my mom to pay it-I just don't know where to find this information.

[boosami]

If it is true, verifiable debt as deemed by the credit bureau, it cannot be removed from her credit report, even if she settles or pays in full. Once a collection is on there and verified, it cannot be removed. 7 years after the settlement date, it will drop off the report. An active, verified debt will stay on the credit report FOREVER until you pay or settle it.

Already one credit bureau has verified proof of the debt, so she has to pay it or else it will never drop off the report. She'll be stuck with it for 7 years on her credit report, and that's much better than forever. Pay the $50!