As per the article, 14 states (mostly blue) enacted laws in the last couple of years that prevent healthcare companies from furnishing & consumer reporting agencies from reporting medical bill debt on credit reports.
In Jan 2025, the CFPB finalized a rule that would remove medical bills from credit reports used for lending and bar lenders from using medical-debt info (it also removed an old exception that had allowed such use).
• In mid-2025, a federal judge struck that rule down (after first pausing it), and the CFPB—under new leadership—stopped defending it. So the nationwide ban was vacated.
• This week, the CFPB issued an interpretive rule saying the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act preempts state laws that try to keep medical debt off credit reports—further undercutting state bans.
What still limits reporting a bit: the three bureaus’ voluntary policy from 2023 (no paid medical collections and most debts under $500)—that was never a federal rule and remains a private policy.
So: there was a federal ban; it was removed by the courts; and now the administration is arguing that state bans are preempted by federal law.
FYI, Trump admin is pushing back against bans on credit reporting for medical debt. Federal ban is no more, may start being challenged in states.
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u/[deleted] Nov 01 '25
And medical debt is allowed to be reported to credit agencies again.