How to Negotiate With a Medical Collections Agency

Experiencing an illness, hospitalization or emergency medical care creates a stressful situation in your normal daily routine for you or family members. Receiving frequent calls from medical collections agencies after the fact compounds this stress. You have rights in this situation and can negotiate the medical bills so that you receive a discount or the payments are set at a rate you can afford to pay each month. Knowing the correct way to negotiate is half the battle.

Instructions

1

Read each medical bill you receive and check it for any errors. Often, hospitals and emergency services bill you mistakenly for medications, lab tests or other procedures the patient did not receive.

2

Write your budget down on a sheet of paper. Include all monthly bills, savings, quarterly payments, such as insurance premiums and all your expenses for the month. This helps you determine how much money you can afford to pay on the medical bills. At this time, determine how much of a lump sum you can afford to offer the collections agency in order to settle the debt. The goal is not to establish an ongoing relationship with the firm, but to negotiate a lower settlement.

3

Call the collection agency and ask to speak with a representative. Offer the representative a lump sum to pay them in exchange for the account to be settled. Thirty-three percent of the outstanding balance is an adequate sum to offer them during this first round of negotiation, according to the Credit Builder's Alliance website. If you cannot afford to give them a lump sum at this time, tell the representative what you can afford to pay monthly and stick with that sum.

4

Hang up if the representative refuses to consider the lump sum or tries to get you to pay a higher monthly payment than you can afford. Calling back at a later time will typically get you another representative on the phone who may be more willing to work with you. If there is only one representative handling your account, he may be willing to work with you later on once he realizes he cannot bully you into a larger sum.