medical debt

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The CFPB and state regulators and legislators have medical debt in their crosshairs. In this episode, we’re joined by Chris Eastman, CEO of the Pendrick Group, a Cerberus portfolio company that specializes in financial services solutions for healthcare companies. We discuss the differences between medical debt and other types of debt, as well as how states have been regulating medical debt including the collection of medical debt.… Continue Reading

The steady drumbeat of steps during Rohit Chopra’s tenure as CFPB Director to call into question the reliability and predictability of medical debt information in credit underwriting reached a crescendo last week with the CFPB’s issuance of a proposed rule to eliminate the exception in Regulation V (which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act) that currently allows creditors to obtain and use medical debt information in connection with credit eligibility determinations. … Continue Reading

On June 4, 2024, the CFPB issued its Semi-Annual Report to Congress covering the period beginning April 1, 2023 and ending September 30, 2023. On June 12, 2024, CFPB Director Chopra appeared before the Senate Banking Committee for a hearing, “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress.” On June 13, 2024, Director Chopra appeared before the House Financial Services Committee for a hearing, “The Semi-Annual Report of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.”… Continue Reading

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued two letters in support of state efforts to prohibit medical debt reporting. In March 2024, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra sent a letter to the California State Senate in support of Senate Bill 1061, which would prohibit the practice of including medical bills on credit reports.… Continue Reading

Colorado and New York are not waiting for the Fair Credit Reporting Act rulemaking to eliminate creditor use of medical debt announced by the CFPB in September 2023. As we previously blogged, in the past two years, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion have made significant changes with respect to medical debt collections by removing unpaid medical collections under $500 from consumer credit reports, removing paid medical collections from credit reports, and extending the time period before unpaid medical debt appears on a credit report to one year after the first delinquency.… Continue Reading

On September 21, 2023, with limited time to digest the comments received by September 11, 2023 from the request for information regarding medical payment products, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) started the FCRA rulemaking process. The press release describes a “rulemaking process to remove medical bills from Americans’ credit reports.”… Continue Reading

American Bankers Association (ABA), Association of Credit and Collection Professionals (ACA International), U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Chamber), Synchrony Bank (Synchrony), and National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) submitted comment letters in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s request for information, about medical credit cards and other lending products used to pay for health care expenses.… Continue Reading

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, recently affirmed the district court’s decision denying the plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to block enforcement of Nevada Senate Bill 248 (S.B. 248).  S.B. 248, which took effect on July 1, 2021, was enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and requires debt collectors to provide written notification to debtors 60 days “before taking any action to collect a medical debt.”… Continue Reading

On April 11, 2023, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion announced that they removed unpaid medical collections under $500 from consumer credit reports. The three companies, in July 2022, previously removed paid medical collections from credit reports, and extended the delay in medical collection reporting from sixth months after the first delinquency to one year after the first delinquency.… Continue Reading

With 72% voting in favor, Arizonans approved Proposition 209 decreasing the maximum lawful annual interest rate on “medical debt” from 10% to 3%, and increasing the amount of the homestead and other exemptions. These changes, which are effective immediately following certification of the vote and issuance of a proclamation by the governor (the governor does not have the authority to veto), only apply prospectively.… Continue Reading