Cut med bills from credit reports?

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is considering a proposal that would remove medical bills from credit reports. 

According to the CFPB, reported medical debt can severely impact someone’s ability to get a loan for a car or house, or impact their employability. 

CFPB Senior Counsel Kiren Gopal said there are two main parts to their proposal: (1) prohibit credit reporting companies from including medical debts and collection information on reports to creditors; and (2) prohibit lenders from considering outstanding medical bills when examining credit. 

Gopal says a lot of medical debt information is inaccurate, plus medical debt is not an indicator of whether someone is a bad credit risk. 

He said shady debt collectors could use medical debt to coerce consumers to pay for services they never even received.

While the CFPB works on finalizing its proposal, Patricia Kelmar with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) said there are some things consumers can do now to protect themselves from medical debt and costly bills. (Investigate TV 11/13/23) Government agency considers proposal that would remove medical debt from credit reports (wlbt.com)