Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion have announced that effective July 1, 2022, they will no longer include medical debt that was paid after it was sent to collections on consumer credit reports.  In addition, the time period before unpaid medical collection debt appears on a credit report will be increased from 6 months to one year.

The companies also announced that beginning in 2023, they will only report medical debt when the amount owed is at least $500.  They estimate that these changes will remove nearly 70% of medical collection debt tradelines from consumer credit reports.

The announcement comes on the heels of a CFPB report issued earlier this month titled “Medical Debt Burden in the United States.”  The report takes aim at medical debt collections, with the CFPB indicating that it intends to determine whether it is appropriate for medical debt to be included on credit reports.  Medical debt collection was also the subject of a January 2022 CFPB compliance bulletin which dealt with medical debt collection and consumer reporting requirements in connection with the No Surprises Act.

Last month, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it was adopting new standards for when it will report information on outstanding medical bills to consumer reporting companies.  The CFPB called the new standards “a clear and important precedent for the health care industry.”