| Entities | |
| Topics and Issues | CFPB (3) Medical debt (39) |
In September, “91 consumer, civil rights, healthcare, and advocacy organizations” petitioned the CFPB to “begin the process of issuing a rule that would prohibit medical debts from appearing on credit reports if the debts arose from medically necessary services.”
The petition notes that the three nationwide credit bureaus announced major changes regarding their treatment of medical debt and that VantageScore announced that it will no longer include medical debts in its two latest scoring models (VantageScore 3 and 4). These changes were “[l]ikely in response to…heightened scrutiny [from the CFPB].” The petition adds that “…while the nationwide CRAs’ voluntary reforms will result in the removal of the majority of medical debt, the debts that will remain are held by the most vulnerable consumers. These include consumers who may be facing catastrophic or chronic medical issues and thus have larger medical bills, and low-and-moderate income consumers who cannot afford to pay off the debts.”