Does Not Paying a Doctor's Bill Affect Your Credit Score?

Your credit score can affect every aspect of your life, from getting a mortgage to advancing in your career. Protecting your credit score and your good name means paying your bills on time, every time, whenever possible. That includes medical bills such as a doctor's bill. If you don't pay a doctor's bill, the result may be a black mark on your credit.

The Number One Threat to Your Credit

Nothing affects your credit more than paying your bills and paying them on time. Pay each bill on time, and your credit score has nowhere to go but up. Pay bills late, or, worse, neglect to pay them at all, and your credit score will plummet. Therefore, if you don't pay a doctor's bill, you risk harming your credit. The more medical bills you do not pay, the worse the damage.

The Determining Factor

Whether or not neglecting to pay a bill from your doctor will hurt your credit score depends on whether your doctor -- or, as is usually the case, his financial officer -- reports delinquent accounts to credit reporting agencies. Unless your doctor is driving a horse and buggy and making house calls, then he likely reporting accounts to the three major credit bureaus. If your doctor is not reporting to these credit bureaus, he is probably contracting with a service that does.

The Domino Effect

Most physicians and clinics use a collection agency to recover debt from patients who have not paid. When your doctor turns your bill over to a collection agency, your credit, which has already taken a blow when you let the debt become past due, takes yet another hit. However, the worst may be yet to come; if you continue to ignore attempts from the collection agency to collect on the debt, the agency may go to court to get a judgment against you for the amount of the debt, which means your credit score suffers yet again.

Making Payment Arrangements

If you are unable to pay your doctor's bill, don't just ignore it and hope it goes away. Instead, call or visit your physician's office to determine what payment arrangements he can offer you. If you can pay cash for the amount of the service, the finance office may be willing to cut you a deal, and reduce the amount of the bill, of, if a settlement is not available, you may be able to work out a payment schedule and pay the bill in increments.