RIVERVIEW, Fla. — The Love First Christian Center in Riverview has paid a company to wipe out the medical debt of hundreds of people in the area, according to Pastor Jomo Cousins.

Pastor says company is mailing letters to 800 people

Says he got idea from HBO's 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'

LINK: RIP Medical Debt

More Hillsborough County headlines

"I saw there was an opportunity to help people with their medical debts and cancel it," he said. "So, we thought it was a great idea."

Pastor Cousins used the company RIP Medical Debt that promises to give you "the power to eradicate medical debt at pennies on the dollar," according to their website. Cousins said the church sent the company $12,000 and that will help cancel up to $1.27 million in medical debt.

"How it works is you buy it in bulk and you pay a percentage of the overall bulk," said Cousins. "It's been above board, good company and our whole goal is to get outside the church."

The pastor said the company is mailing a letter to 800 people with outstanding medical debt in Riverview, Gibsonton and Wimauma. The letter states, "Our forgiveness of the amount you owe is a no-strings attached gift. You no longer have any obligation to pay this debt to anyone, at any future time."

The pastor said he got the idea from watching the HBO show 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.' Cousins said the non-denominational church's goal was to be a blessing to somebody this Christmas.

"My whole goal was to do something that was community driven," he said. "That didn't really necessarily benefit inside the church but mainly outside the church."