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by danenania 1046 days ago
I've had a delinquency on my credit report for years from Verizon Fios for ~$200. It was a clear error on their part, but I still wasn't able to get it removed. I wouldn't be so sure ignoring a $5k medical bill won't have any consequences.
2 comments
jrockway 1046 days ago
I mean, the consequence is that you won't be able to borrow money. On Big Tech salary, you can pay cash for things that a lot of people borrow for.

If you already own your primary residence and you bought in 2021, then you're pretty much locked into that home for 30 years. Interest rates will never be 2% again. So, what is your credit even going towards?

On the same note, you can just show up at your favorite doctor and say you'll pay cash and not tell them your insurance information. My doctor tends to bill my insurance company $200 for an office visit. This is unlikely to be a significant hardship for a software engineer.

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danenania 1046 days ago
Well sure, if you’re going to construct a scenario where a credit score hit will have no impact on someone because they have no need for credit in the next decade, then they can certainly go ahead and ignore bills.

You’re making a lot of assumptions though. What if they don’t own a house yet? A bad credit score will make it harder to get one, increase the interest rate if they can even get approved, and also make it harder to get approved for a rental lease too. Or maybe this person is all set like you describe, but they want to guarantor a loan or a lease for one of their kids? I think credit scores are a borderline scam, but it’s hard to avoid relying on them for one thing or another for most people.

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chrisgd 1045 days ago
You paid and had a credit problem. I didn’t and haven’t had any issues. Seems like the better solution is to ignore it until you can’t
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danenania 1045 days ago
Sure, people can roll the dice if they want. It might work out like it did for you. Or they could end up with an unremovable delinquency that gives them poor credit for years. Unless you have data to back it up, I wouldn't be telling people that the risk is low based on a single experience you had.
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