Right now, any medical debt that gets sent to a collections agency can remain on your credit report for up to seven years, even after it's been paid off. This ding on your credit score can be the difference between qualifying for a loan or being denied. That's why the House Committee on Financial Services is looking at a bill that would erase some paid medical debts from folks' credit reports.
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
My experiences with credit reports - seven years across the desk making credit decisions - are twofold regarding this situation: everything reported to a credit bureau is then reported for seven years - payments and disputes should show as well; because of the circus involved with medical payments that include doctors, clinics, hospitals, insurance companies, and our beloved, efficient, government, medical issues sink very far down the pile in terms of the effect on credit decisions. This is especially true if most of the rest of the report shows responsible satisfaction of debts. Of course. if this debt is part of a report showing sloppy, irresponsible treatment of one's obligations then it further justifies a downgrade of credit worthiness.
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