This last month has been a wild ride, but the bottom line is I've officially been diagnosed with cancer and will be starting chemo treatments on the 18th. Fortunately, the type of cancer is 99% curable, so there's that... I've been advised to immediately contact my creditors to ask for payment deferment/forbearance, and I read an article saying it can't hurt to go as far as asking for debt forgiveness due to financial hardship, but I'm unsure how to proceed.
To add to the madness, the contract job I've had for the last four years was rebid this month, and I didn't get the bid this time around. So, I'll effectively be out of a job July 1st. The upside is this means I'll qualify for my hospital's debt forgiveness program, which could help tremendously with medical costs. But, that said, that also means I won't have a means to make my bill money for the next four months while going through treatment and then for a short period while I recover (truthfully, I really don't know what to expect). Is it reasonable to ask creditors for debt forgiveness or deferment when something like this happens? What is the best way to do so? E-mail? A direct call? To who?
This is all uncharted water for me, to say the least, and the last thing I want to do is bury myself in not only new medical debut but also interest, non-payment fees, and all the in-betweens associated with my current bills/creditors. I could really use some sound advice. Right now, I've got enough in my checking account to cover next month's bills, and I'll also be getting a final paycheck at the end of the month from my contract job, but my dad told me not to pay bills next month (probably thinking we'd work something out eventually). My bills are mostly credit cards and also a car payment. Things have just happened so quickly between the first scan and the official diagnosis, and now I've got a little over two weeks to get my affairs in order before I'll be moving back in with my parents during treatment.
Submitted June 10, 2018 at 08:27PM by GizmosArrow https://ift.tt/2JMfhUg
