Layout:
Home > Will They Sue If You Have Nothing?

Will They Sue If You Have Nothing?

April 29th, 2010 at 12:46 am

These words came out of my DD#2's mouth last night, guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of any parent. She has had a rough month. She got laid off from her job, right at the beginning of April. The company has disputed her unemployment claim (and that of all the others laid off at that same time) so that takes time to work thru the system. She borrowed enough money from me to pay her car insurance, she still had enough in the bank for her other bills. Now she came home two nights ago with a broken wrist! She was biking with some friends, and tried to avoid another bike in from of her....you get the idea. She went to the emergency room, had x-rays, had a consult with the specialist on call, and has a splint until next week, when they will put on the cast. She is looking at several thousand dollars worth of debt, at least. She doesn't know what to do. She can't pay anything until the unemployment situation is resolved (I'm sure she'll get it, I think the company is just jerking them all around) but not paying could ruin her credit for years! And to add insult to injury (literally) she got a call for an interview from another company yesterday, and had to tell them that shes out of commission for at least 6 weeks! They probably won't call her again. Not with hundreds of other prospects out there. So I don' know what to tell her. No, I don't think that any health care organization will waste the money to sue her, will it ruin her credit? Maybe? Definitely? I told her to call all of the places, as soon as she gets a bill from them, and explain the situation, she owns nothing but a 7 year old car, that she is still paying on, and currently lives back at home with her parents. They may be willing to wait, but what if they aren't, you can't get blood from a stone. We'll have to wait and see.

6 Responses to “Will They Sue If You Have Nothing?”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1272499309

    I'm so sorry for your daughter. That isn't a great place to be in, but she will recover, her credit can improve and will relatively quickly once she gets caught up and continues on time payments. The fewer debts the better!!

  2. nmboone Says:
    1272513811

    Ok, the medical debt thing has happened to me before and I just need to say to stop panicking for your daughter. As far as suing goes, I seriously seriously doubt that they will sue her. Even if they did do that, like you said for what? A 7 year old car? If she does not pay anything it will go on a credit report and mess up credit. Yeah, it's bad but it most certainly isn't the end of the world. All you can do is say what you already told her about them needing to hold off until things are straightened out. If she can she can offer them a little bit ($50? Not even joking here) but if she can't she can't. People get by with bad and poor credit all the time, and it will probably be a minor setback anyway.

  3. campfrugal Says:
    1272541810

    As long as she is paying anything on her debt, say $5.00, they (medical debt) cannot do anything to her (suing or credit report). She can just let them know, once the bill comes, that she can only pay xxx amount of dollars right now. No need to worry about it. It is what it is.

  4. dmontngrey Says:
    1272560254

    Has she talked to anyone to see if the hospital will write any of this off? Sometimes it's an option to apply for financial assistance. I know my mom got all her medical treatment last year written off. What a relief that was since she would never be able to afford it - even WITH insurance.

  5. princessperky Says:
    1272560816

    check into writing it off, but also don't worry too much about credit and suing with medical debt, so long as she pays something she can keep that up till she gets a job. (or the UI comes in)

  6. M E 2 Says:
    1272562677


    I agree with CampFrugal, if/when she receives a/the bill, start paying $5 They may not like it, but they aren't going to sue her nor will it mess up her credit.


Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]