RacerX had a great  article called "Budget vs Ninja Bills…" I’d like to expand on.

The dreaded ‘Ninja Bills‘. They come in the night (or more accurately, the afternoon, with the postman) and seek to damage your budget and money reserves. They show no mercy and can’t be stopped. They are masters of the Bill-Fu technique of money destruction.

So now you have the bill for the busted water pump on the car, or the replacement window that cracked over the winter, or, or, or,…. Whatever the bill, it generally hits the "Bills Sweet Spot"

The Bill Sweet Spot – The point at which the amount of the bill falls between what insurance/emergency funds are designed for, and what can be easily paid out of pocket or short-term budget.

What to Do?!??

When bills like this come in, I take a multi-pronged approach to defeating the bills.

Establish their Numbers – Ninja bills are most effective when they ‘gang up’ on you, so the first step is to assess the damage. Sometimes you get multiple bills from one ‘encounter’. Medical Ninja bills are famous for this. They strike in a series instead of a single bill. Response - Set up a folder to accumulate all the bills. Verify that they are accurate, then come up with a total dollar amount you need to pay.

Determine their Patience – Some bills are ‘due on receipt’, but others have later payment dates. This usually isn’t too far in the future, but every little bit helps. Response – Prioritize payments by pay date. For bills that are ‘due on receipt’ put those first, but realize that since there is no actual due date, they have a "little" leeway in that they can be re-prioritized slightly later. Not too late, or you’ll incur the wrath of the Collection Shoguns, but enough to give you breathing room.

Rally your Defenses – You should now have an idea of how much you have to come up with. It’s time to see where to come up with the money FROM.

Responses

• Cashflow the Payment – Check if you can reduce paying other bills (TEMPORARILY) to get extra money. Fall off the Debt Snowball (briefly) and finish off these one-time bills.
• Divide and Conqueror – If you can’t cashflow the payment in a month, can you do it over a few months?? Ideally no more than 3 months should be optimal.
• Negotiate the Ransom – If you can’t pay it outright in 3 months, try contacting the company and see if you could negotiate a longer payment schedule (preferably at no interest if possible). Medical Ninja Bills are ideal for this strategy usually.
• Last Stand (Last Resort) – If you’ve tried all the above, and the bill company won’t work with you, the last resort would be to consolidate your bill into an existing credit card or line of credit. It will cost you interest, but it will prevent the bill from going to collections, which might trigger the dreaded Universal Default Rate and cause you more problems.

Never Surrender, Never Give Up!

Just keep in mind that these kind of bills are just speed bumps on our road to being debt free. Some may be bigger than others, but none of them should completely block you from your desire to get out of debt.

The road ahead might look bleak for awhile sometimes, but up ahead, and around the corner is the land of the Debt Free. Keep going and you’ll get there too.

Do you have any ideas on defeating the Ninja Bills?? Drop us a line and let us know your tactics!