I have always been one to pay off bills as soon as I get them. I have never had any interest gather on any of my payments, and as a result, I have had excellent credit; at least, I thought I did.
A while back, I had to have multiple surgeries that went through workers comp. Often, there would be some sort of clerical error where information got lost in the mix, and the bill would find its way to me. I always worked diligently to fix these errors, and they were taken care of.
There was one bill in particular that gave me trouble. It was a bill for $650 in which the collections agency would constantly call me. I would always give them the information to resubmit the claim to workers comp, and finally, I stopped hearing from them. I had just assumed it was taken care of like the rest of the other claims.
Today, I applied for my first auto loan. I was quickly approved, but was notified that my APR would be 10.5%. When I asked why, they said there was an outstanding medical bill that was filed in March that has been lingering on my credit.
I have no idea what to do right now. I need to purchase a new car, but I can't afford a 10.5% APR. I can pay this bill right now, but I'm worried that doing so would label me as "guilty" for this claim. What can I do to fix this? And how fast can I fix my credit so that I can reapply for an auto loan?
Submitted June 19, 2017 at 12:41PM by whitetailfall http://ift.tt/2tFLuAC
