[Alupis]

> I have a friend who's in that situation. Medical bills for his entire family have basically crushed him. Without the late fees, he'd be just scraping by with bad credit. With the late fees, he's still got bad credit. But now he's got late fees, too.

Whenever I hear these stories, I often think they're made up, or the person has spent zero effort attempting to remedy their situation (and therefore are being financially irresponsible).

Has this friend contacted the hospital/insurer and worked out an affordable payment plan? Universally they'd rather work out an affordable payment plan and get on track vs. not get paid at all. Whatever this friend is doing right now is clearly unsustainable.

What about securing a loan at an affordable monthly payment with longer terms to help lessen the monthly impact on their budget?

There are many options to get back on track - and none of them involve perpetually stacking up late fees.