first of all, medical bills don't appear on credit reports. secondly, if you pay, it drops right off with no record of it ever being there

If they're in collections they definitely show up on credit reports.

Unpaid medical bills definitely DO show up on your report...believe me I know..

OP is responsible for bills too, not just the wife. Why didn't he take part in paying the bills? He can't complain if he won't participate.

Presumably because the bill came addressed to his wife and he doesn't routinely open his wife's mail and therefore knew nothing about the bill?

Admittedly, we are both making a lot of assumptions, since there isn't much detail in the FML.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's the option that makes this situation an FML. You know, the reason the OP even bothered to put in the detail about needing clean credit.

If you're married, your credit "merges" so your spouses credit issues (or lack there of) becomes yours and vice versa.

I'm not sure that's how it work 15, my husband and I are married, but our credit is our own. It's just if one of us were to have bad credit, and then apply for joint financing on something, we may be denied because one of us has credit issues. But if my husband had the issues, it would not affect me if I were to apply for credit on my own. I'm assuming, in the case of this FML, that the insurance is under OP's name, but the wife was in charge of paying the bill.

marital debt is joint debt. you do have separate credit scores, however.

Yes, divorce the (assumed) love of his life because she didn't pay a medical bill

Common mate, Dump/divorce/leave them is the go to comment for any relationship mentioned fml. Get used to it.

And then sue her just for good measure.

#13 #16 I feel like yall missed the joke here..

#6 presented the OP with two options: the painstaking process of divorce (and the effect it would have on potential kids) and "just" paying the fine. Given the wording he used, which option does he actually make sound more appealing—is he legitimately advocating for divorce?

I admit defeat I totally missed his joke

Posting twice doesn't increase your chances of getting thumbed up you know.

Maybe OP means the bill has gone to collections. That can affect your credit score.

If it's sent to collection, that can affect your credit score. It happened to me four years ago.

if you don't pay it then they will send it to collection which is reported and out of their hands. this isn't just a delinquent bill. it's a bill that has not been paid and attempts to collect it have not been successful.