topic Re: Judge Reverses Removing Medical Debt From Credit Reports in Credit in the News

Medical debt credit reporting rule

Saleen099 — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 12:47:21 GMT

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5398381-joe-biden-medical-debt-reporting-rule-scrapped/amp/

Re: Medical debt credit reporting rule

JoeRockhead — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 12:54:04 GMT

I thought this was a done deal (that it got scrapped back in Jan, or Feb). Anything else I have to say would likely be viewed as political so I'll refrain from any further comment.

Re: Medical debt credit reporting rule

Saleen099 — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 13:12:44 GMT

@JoeRockhead wrote:
I thought this was a done deal (that it got scrapped back in Jan, or Feb). Anything else I have to say would likely be viewed as political so I'll refrain from any further comment.

I 100% agree with you, I am not going to comment any further.

Medical Debt credit reporting rule reversed.

DSTforlife — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 17:26:24 GMT

(The Hill) — A federal judge in Texas has reversed a rule that permitted medical debt to be wiped from credit reports, according to court documents.

https://www.wane.com/news/judge-scraps-biden-era-medical-debt-credit-reporting-rule/

Judge Reverses Removing Medical Debt From Credit Reports

MarkintheHV — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 08:56:30 GMT

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/cfpb-medical-debt/2025/07/15/id/1218878/

"CFPB is not permitted to remove medical debt from credit reports according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which protects information collected by consumer reporting agencies."

Doesn't affect me, but, there are many that this will.

Re: Judge Reverses Removing Medical Debt From Credit Reports

Saleen099 — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 15:41:53 GMT

The question now is: how many people will be affected by this, and will it end up being re-reported on their credit reports? It’s important to consider the financial consequences—this could have a real impact.

Re: Judge Reverses Removing Medical Debt From Credit Reports

FICOdawg — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 16:04:03 GMT

This insidious part (trying to stay far and wide from politics) is the current administation wants ultimate power. If they do that by having departments follow the adminstrations bidding, what difference if it is the previous or next guy has a person under them push something like this. It's contadictory.

If the current admin wanted to push something, they'd be up in arms if a judge blocked it. Maybe, just maybe, Congress would be smart enough to step in and remedy the reason for the reversal..... I'm not impacted but it only takes one health issue and any of us could end up facing the issue.

Re: Medical debt credit reporting rule

14YHWH — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:12:25 GMT

This appears to be back in the news ---- the CFPB drafted an interpretive rule on Tuesday (click here to read it) essentially saying the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) preempts any State laws who try and carve out specific debt (e.g., medical).

Related AP article here but there are plenty other articles on the internet, since this just came out a couple days ago.

I wonder what the States, who carved out medical debt, will do now.

Re: Medical debt credit reporting rule

crystal626 — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 07:07:01 GMT

@14YHWH wrote:
This appears to be back in the news ---- the CFPB drafted an interpretive rule on Tuesday (click here to read it) essentially saying the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) preempts any State laws who try and carve out specific debt (e.g., medical).

Related AP article here but there are plenty other articles on the internet, since this just came out a couple days ago.

I wonder what the States, who carved out medical debt, will do now.

Not surprising with this administration... Hopefully Colorado and other states that implemented such laws give the finger to them like they did with marijuana. The federal government was all set to ban medical debt reporting on a federal level and now they want to wipe out protections states already put in place?

So what, are they also going to tell Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion that they can no longer hide medical debt over $500?

All this will do is just kick off a bunch of bankruptcies and even more losses for creditors.

Re: Medical debt credit reporting rule

AndrewF — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:59:08 GMT

Medical debt under $500 still shouldn't appear on a credit report and if it does, you can dispute it and get it removed.

I've used this about how you might expect. There's a very bad hospital that's in my town that's verging on collapse. They owe millions in unpaid electric and water, their landlord threw them out of their medical offices over unpaid rent, and my doctor left for Wisconsin because they weren't paying the contractor that sent her (she says she always got paid though) and the contractor is suing the hospital.

A really bad orthopedic surgeon at the hospital misdiagnosed me as having heterotopic ossification, when the imaging clearly showed the right shoulder humeral head broken into three pieces. On top of that, my biceps tendon and rotator cuff were torn and needed reattached.

Thankfully, since I got a second opinion up at Froedtert in Wisconsin (excellent doctors and hospital btw), because I followed my internal medicine doctor up there to their medical group. The surgeon down here at the other hospital, the failing one that's being sued by everyone, wanted to do the wrong surgery, one that would have made my shoulder even worse.

I ended up having the correct surgery done at Froedtert in Wisconsin, and they did an incredible job. They did a bone graft replacing a third of my humeral head. They reattached tendons, they used these cool non-metallic screws that turn to bone and are not visible on an X-Ray after a few months. I'm healing well and recovering and in Physical Therapy, and my Therapist is great too.

But then the failing lousy crummy hospital down here in Illinois sent me...another bill that they dug out of a filing cabinet after almost 2 years, and said they wanted another $86 for their "services". So I just ignored it and didn't pay it. That place is a dumpster fire and it won't go on my credit report anyway, and there probably on't be a hospital at this rate in another year anyway.

I've paid Froedtert every last penny of my copays because I have the money and I'm so grateful for their professional care and for being pain free and for my arm going from maybe 60% functional to like 95% so far since the surgery that I consider it a pleasure to pay them.

I don't know why an incompetent hospital like the one down here in Illinois that isn't paying their water, electric, doctors, property taxes, or landlords, that almost screwed up my arm for life, deserves to get ANOTHER $86 from me, so it's a matter of principle at this point.

It was because of that guy at the failing hospital in Illinois that I was too scared to move forward with anything for another two years and dealt with crippling pain every day. They will never get another dollar from me no matter how many more bills they find in someone's drawer.

Since then, the doctor they're billing me for even left and there isn't even an orthopedic office there anymore and the medical building is empty.

They were also calling me about another one that was like $150-something. I don't care.

They quit calling me after I answered the phone and started doing things like singing Heart of Oak at them instead of talking about the accounts.

Re: Judge Reverses Removing Medical Debt From Credit Reports

AndrewF — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 01:17:52 GMT

@MarkintheHV wrote:
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/cfpb-medical-debt/2025/07/15/id/1218878/

"CFPB is not permitted to remove medical debt from credit reports according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which protects information collected by consumer reporting agencies."

Doesn't affect me, but, there are many that this will.

Well, the whole "system sucks so badly that who will there be to lend to if they keep penalizing medical debt" thing is already having an effect on credit scoring models. The newer ones treat medical debt less severely than the older ones do.

That's not the only reason why I tell people never move a medical bill you can't pay using a consumer loan like a credit card or a personal loan, it just adds interest and the newer models will score it as consumer debt.

So many people have medical debt now because the system has been out of control for so long with little incentive for anyone to fix it, that there's getting to be safety in numbers. What is is up to now?

Anyway, at its most basic level, borrowing with interest to pay medical bills is stupid. You know what the hospital *might* do? They *might* eventually sue over the figure they made up.

You know what a credit card that you can't pay does? They double the figure the hospital made up and then if you can't pay it off, they sue.

How is borrowing for medical expenses better than just walking away from the hospital?

https://news.gallup.com/poll/657041/americans-borrow-estimated-billion-medical-bills-2024.aspx

Yet $74 billion dollars was borrowed to pay for medical bills that people couldn't really afford in 2024.

The State of Illinois and Cook County (different program) is buying up delinquent medical debt and they're.... _not suing_ ... so there's a chance that if you leave it alone eventually the government will rip it up and not sue you. Nobody is doing that with credit cards.

Lastly, banks are more vicious than hospitals about what threshold will trigger a lawsuit. Many credit card banks will sue you over as little as $1,000, however I've had a hospital bill for $15,000 when I was uninsured and nobody ever sued me over it.

Hospitals are also more likely to negotiate if you tell them you're having trouble paying them, and they have charity programs that you certainly won't get if you just pay the statement off with a consumer loan.

Even if you can pay it's sometimes better not to do it at once. The hospital that did my shoulder will let you put almost any account into 6-12 interest-free installments. Delaying payment at 0% interest while earning bank interest means the bill gets cheaper even if you have to pay the entire amount due to the time value of money.

Re: Judge Reverses Removing Medical Debt From Credit Reports

DONZI — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:57:42 GMT

@AndrewF wrote:
Even if you can pay it's sometimes better not to do it at once. The hospital that did my shoulder will let you put almost any account into 6-12 interest-free installments. Delaying payment at 0% interest while earning bank interest means the bill gets cheaper even if you have to pay the entire amount due to the time value of money.

Agree. I had a hefty hospital bill and they offered a 60% discount for self pay. It could be less (or $0) if giving them a bunch of info, which I opted not to do. I requested it be spread out and was allowed 12 monthly payments. Over that period the cash was earning from 4.xx% - 3.xx% in a money market fund. All the other assorted bills I'd already paid, which also all got varying self-pay discounts.