Are derogatory remarks on your CR pertaining to outstanding medical bills as damaging to your credit as defaulted credit cards?
C'mon, someone has to have an opinion on the effects of outstanding medical bills vs credit card debt on your CR.
Jenny, The actual type of debt in this case isn't as relevant. In other words, if they are both collection records, they are both the same age, and they are both for roughly the same amount, they will affect your score equally. On the other hand, if one is a late-pay, versus a medical, which is nearly always a collection, it comes down to how many other collections/late pays you have and the timing. If you have no other collections, the medical is hurting you -- probably 30+ points even if it's an insignificant amount (<$100) and even if it's old (>3 years). On the other hand, if you have no other late payments, and the CC late is recent, that could be hurting you nearly as much. In short, we'd need more information. Based on an otherwise clean report, I'd probably be more worried about the collection than the late-pay, but again, this is entirely dependent on the surrounding circumstances. Good luck!
