 TITLE: Can Medical Bills Hurt Your Credit? CONTENT: How Long Do Medical Collections Stay on Your Credit Report?\n-----------------------------------------------------------\nUnpaid medical bills can stay on your credit report for seven years from the original delinquency date. Because your payment history is the biggest single factor in your credit score, accounting for about 35% of your score, having a collection account such as unpaid medical debt in your credit history can have a significant negative impact.\nIn recent years, health care costs have risen, making medical debt a serious burden for more and more Americans. In the U.S., the average inpatient hospital stay costs over $22,000, according to a study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The latest FICO credit scoring model, FICO 9, as well as the VantageScore 3.0 and 4.0 credit scoring models, all give less weight to unpaid medical collections than to other collections. FICO® Score☉ 9 also ignores collection accounts if the original unpaid balance was less than $100. In addition, all three major credit scoring agencies will remove medical debt from your credit history once it is paid off by an insurer.\nThe problem is, different banks and lenders may use different credit scoring models. When you apply for a car loan, mortgage or credit card, you won't know exactly which credit scoring model is being used, so you have no idea how heavily medical debt is weighted when determining your creditworthiness.\nClearly, unpaid medical bills can leave your credit score in critical condition. To keep your credit score healthy, you should do everything in your power to prevent a medical bill from ever going to collections in the first place. END