What is the minimum amount that must be paid towards medical bills to avoid them going to a collection agency?

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What is the minimum amount that must be paid towards medical bills to avoid them going to a collection agency?

I've been told that as long as you pay some amount monthly the bills cannot be sent to a collection agency.

How much is the minimum amount?

Is this by law? If so, could I please see the source of this law?

Does paying this impact my credit score?

There is no such thing as "good faith" payments. The medical provider does NOT have to accept any payment plan. If you do not pay the full bill, they can turn you over to a collection agency no matter what partial payment you send. That bill is due upon receipt and there is no law requiring the medical provider to accept any payment plan.

You need to arrange a payment plan with the medical provider. Typically they will want the bill paid within 3 to 6 months max. Small payments over a long period just won't do.

If the debt is turned to collections, it will be reported to the credit bureaus and will negatively impact your credit. If the medical provider agrees to accept payments and does not turn the debt to collections, it will have no impact on your credit. It's the collection agency that will report the default to the credit bureaus.

The hospital has the right to send your bill collection after a specific time determined by your state. The amount that they will accept is up to them. You best bet is to just call and talk to the billing and finance department. If you are making payments on time as agreed then you will not have your bill sent to collections.

There is no law on this.

I do have experience though. Medical bills.

If you send them payment each month, they may keep this out of collections.

The rule I followed was to break it into 12 payments and have them paid off within a year.

I set myself up on this payment plan, and never had any troubles.

If you make a payment of $5 on a $50,000 bill, they will much figure out they won't get paid within the year, and they are likely to send it right to collections.

How To Pay Medical Bills

Actually, it's a federal law that as long as you make "every effort" to pay that medical bill, it can't be turned over to collection. "Every effort" can be $1 a month (I know someone who did this). I remember when I owed on a medical bill. I tried asking if they would take $15 a month, the guy (with a sarcastic tone) said "no". I told him that if he won't take $15 a month, I'll be giving $1 a month. To make a long story short, he took the $15 a month. Just don't ignore it, then it can be turned over to collection.

If your bill is sold to a third party collection agency. You are not contractually obligated to pay that collection agency being how they bought it for pennies on the dollar from the medical practice and make money by getting you to pay over what they purchased your debt for. They can take you to court within a certain time period. If you have not been taken to court for this bill by the third party after that amount of time and they still contact you. You can send a letter for decease and desist of all communication from the third party, if they continue to contact you after the letter is sent, you can report them to the FCC and they can receive a hefty fine of $18,000. Know your rights, once your account has been sent to collections. If it is a third party tell them to screw themselves and they wasted money on purchasing that debt.

There is a widely believed myth that there is a national good faith payment law in this nation, to where creditors, service providers or debt collectors must accept whatever a person can afford to send in per month, like $1, and cease any collection activity. As nice as this would be, it's not true

I heard $25/month is the magic number. If you pay that they can't ding your credit, and at the end of the year they will probably just write-off the outstanding balance for tax purposes. I haven't personally tried this yet, but I'm going to... because I got a ridiculous bill recently. I'll let you know if it works