Pro tip: My credit took a hit when I forgot about a $35 medical bill from 3 years ago

I was sitting at my kitchen table in Phoenix last month checking Credit Karma and saw my score dropped 60 points over some random ER copay I never paid. Anyone else have tiny medical bills sneak up and wreck their score?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor.brooke20d ago

and @anthony_jackson31 is right, that tiny bill can sit there for years. i had a $28 lab fee from 2019 pop up last spring and drop my score 50 points. it wasn't even from a doctor i remembered going to. the whole system feels broken when something that small can cause that much damage.

anthony_jackson3120d ago

Man @wesley639 you might have gotten lucky with that one because my experience was totally different. That little $35 bill sat on my report for almost two years before I even noticed it. Credit Karma popped up with the alert and I was kicking myself for not catching it sooner. The whole thing just feels unfair how one tiny slip up can mess with your score like that.

wesley63921d ago

I actually push back on that a little. I've had a $45 urgent care copay go to collections and it never showed up on my credit report. Sometimes those medical debts under $500 get lost in the system or sold to different agencies that never report.