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
medical debt
CFPB Launches FCRA Rulemaking to Eliminate Creditor Use of Medical Debt
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
RFI Industry Commenters Urge CFPB to Stay in its Lane on Medical Debt Payments
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
Ninth Circuit affirms district court’s denial of preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of Nevada medical debt collection law
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
CFPB Publishes Data Point on Positive Impacts of Removing Medical Debt Tradelines
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
Arizonans Approve Decrease to Maximum Interest Rate on Medical Debt and Increases to Homestead and Other Exemptions
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
CFPB looks at connection between financial assistance for medical care and medical collections
In a blog post published last week, the CFPB looked at the connection between eligibility for financial assistance under policies mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and medical collections. The ACA requires nonprofit hospitals to establish financial assistance policies for consumers who are unable to pay for their medical expenses.… Continue Reading
CFPB publishes report on impact of medical debt reporting changes
The CFPB recently published a report analyzing how certain actions announced earlier this year by the three largest national consumer reporting agencies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—will affect people who have allegedly unpaid medical debt on their credit reports The new report is the CFPB’s third report issued this year on medical debt.… Continue Reading
CFPB issues report on consumer complaints involving medical debt; Biden Administration announces actions relating to medical debt
Just a little more than a month after issuing a report taking aim at medical debt collections, the CFPB has issued a new report on “Medical billing and collection issues described in consumer complaints.”
The report analyzes debt collection and credit or consumer reporting complaints submitted to the Bureau in 2021 that involved medical debt. … Continue Reading
CFPB Deputy Director Martinez invites discussion of payday payment plans and credit reporting of medical debts
CFPB Deputy Director Zixta Martinez recently provided the opening remarks at the CFPB’s Academic Research Council meeting. In her remarks, Martinez emphasized the CFPB’s role as a data-driven agency and welcomed further discussion of state payday extended payment plans and of the inclusion of medical debt in credit reports—two topics that have garnered renewed public interest due to the COVID-19 pandemic.… Continue Reading