Hi,

Medical debt is crushing millions of Americans. Beyond the money owed for necessary procedures and life-saving health care, this debt also has a disastrous impact on peoples’ credit reports.

The overpaid CEOs at credit reporting companies Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian have refused to remove medical bills from consumer credit reports.1 The position of these rich CEOs is: if people in America get sick, and go into medical debt, it’s OK for them to also have a harder time accessing housing, employment, and much more as a result. That’s what happens with bad credit.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) just released a draft rule to stop credit reporting companies from including unpaid medical debt on credit reports. In order for this rule to be finalized, the CFPB needs to hear support from the public!

Sign the petition: Submit an official comment to the CFPB in support of its draft rule to keep medical debt off credit reports!

The CFPB estimates at least $88 billion in medical debt appears on American credit reports. They believe the total amount of medical debt may be even higher.2

To make it worse, information about medical debt is often plagued with inaccuracies and errors due to the complexity of medical billing. In fact, many consumers do not find out about an erroneous medical bill in collections before being denied a mortgage, car loan, or credit card based on their consumer report.

Another important part of the CFPB’s draft rule is that debt collectors will be barred from using medical devices as loan collateral. This would protect consumers from having their wheelchairs or prosthetic limbs repossessed if the debt goes unpaid.3 Shockingly, lending companies do re-possess medical devices from people who need them.

The proposed CFPB rule is long overdue and is vital for protecting consumers from predatory credit reporting companies and lenders.

Add your name: Take medical debt off credit reports!

Thanks for taking action,

Joey and the team at Demand Progress

Sources:

  1. Nevada Current, "Credit bureau CEOs face tough questions at Senate hearing; Democrats push to remove medical debt," April 28, 2023.
  2. CFPB, "CFPB Proposes to Ban Medical Bills from Credit Reports," June 11, 2024.
  3. Ibid.

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