Common Mistakes Made When Paying Off Medical Bills
July 18, 2013 
Medical bills can be overwhelming. The best way to take care of them is to make consistent payments each month to show the accounting office that you are planning to pay off the debt. There are some common mistakes that are often made that can make your financial problems even worse. Weather the debt is coming from your 30 day rehabs facility treatment or your medical bills
Personal Loans
Getting a personal loan using your car title, home equity, or payday loans will make it nearly impossible to get out of debt. The interest rates are extremely high, and most of the time they require you to pay them back immediately. If you miss a payment, you can lose your vehicle or your home.
Credit Card
Trading one credit debt for another is not going to help you out. When you take out a credit card, you are not guaranteed a set interest rate, and they are less likely to work with you. Credit cards also do not have flexible payment plans like hospital accounting offices.
Pawning
Some people feel that if they pawn items, then they will have the money to pay the medical bills. You are gambling on the fact that you will have the money to buy your item back before the time is up. If you do not have the money to purchase your item back, then you have lost possessions, and likely for far less than the value of the item. If you are okay with living without the item, then you should sell it for the full value and have more money to put on the loan.
Borrowing from Friends
Borrowing money from family and friends can be very tricky and lead to tensions to rise between family members. If you borrow money, you will always want a contract in place that states the length of time before the loan should be paid back, the amount each payment should be, and both parties should sign it. These contracts can be hard to talk about with family members because there is a lot of emotion involved.
Medical bills bring stress and mistakes are often made when attempting to pay them off faster. As long as you and the hospital are on the same page about what should be done with payments, then you can pay it off slowly. Talk to the hospital to negotiate a rate, or talk to charities for debt elimination plans. Many locations will advocate for your bill to be reviewed and lowered to help save you money, and pay it off in a reasonable fashion.
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