Is there any truth to if you pay just $5.00 on your credit card bills that they can not turn you into a collections agency?
Lynette from Ann Arbor, Michigan
The credit card bill tells you the minimum that you have to pay. Depending on how big your debt is and paying the minimum amount can stretch out your credit debt for years. For example, if you owe $15,000 the minimum payment is $375, it would take 423 months to pay off your debt providing you did not make any further charges. You can go to www.bankrate.com to figure out how long it would take to pay off your debt at minimum payments.
By Harry
I would advise you to buy a book entitled "How to Settle Your Debts Without Committing Financial Suicide" by Norman H. Perlmutter. You can get it on Amazon for $12.89.
Dave Ramsey's book and website offer counseling on this issue.
You definitely need to pay the minimum amount due on credit card or loan payments! Even doing that is going to affect your credit in a negative way if you have a high amount due. The law about a five dollar minimum payment pertains/pertained only to medical bills and that law may have even changed over the past few year!
By Deeli
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Id like to get this answer as well. Im sure its different state to state, but if I wanted to find out for Arizona what the minimum amount for a hospital bill is.
Are u saying if I pay &5 month to my doctor Im ok. Do I have to call and arrange it? Suppose they wont accep that amount?
I have been paying on a medical bill for a while now, they have excepted these payments even though we don't officially have an agreement. They have sent the remaining balance ( less than 300.00) to a collection agency. Can they do that? I am in Georgian USA.
Yes, I believe they can. I have been sent to collections for a small amount like that. (Oregon).
I think the idea of making minimum payments to avoid collections is a strategy rather than a rule.
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