The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized new regulations on Tuesday, prohibiting credit reporting agencies and lenders from considering medical debt or any other medical information when establishing a credit score or determining which loans to approve.
[RELATED: Maine Lawmakers Consider Insulating Medical Debt from Credit Score Calculation, Interest Accumulation, and Legal Action…]
“The CFPB’s action will ban the inclusion of medical bills on credit reports used by lenders and prohibit lenders from using medical information in their lending decisions. The rule will increase privacy protections and prevent debt collectors from using the credit reporting system to coerce people to pay bills they don’t owe,” said the federal regulatory agency.
The CFPB argued that the inclusion of medical debts in credit scores prevents people from receiving loans they would be able to repay.
The existing system allegedly encourages patients to pay inaccurate medical bills, fearing harm to their credit scores if they do not.
In support of its regulatory change, the agency cited its own research showing that medical debt on a consumer’s credit report generally does not indicate whether they will be able to repay a loan.
The CFPB estimated that its new regulations will lead to 22,000 additional mortgage approvals every year and average credit score increases for anyone with medical debt currently on their reports.
In Maine, the State Legislature passed legislation to accomplish a similar purpose last year.
The federal regulatory agency, originally proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and established in 2011 under President Barack Obama, regulates various types of financial institutions across the U.S.
Republicans have long opposed the CFPB since its inception, accusing the agency of overstepping its authority by unilaterally imposing burdensome regulations on financial institutions.
The regulatory agency may become a target of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new non-government agency headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, meant to help President-elect Donald Trump cut government waste.
“Delete CFPB. There are too many duplicative regulatory agencies,” said Musk on X in November.
In May, both Democrats and Republicans in Maine’s legislature passed into law a bill to prevent Mainers from having their credit scores affected by medical debt.
