But imposing a blanket national ban would still be a major boon to consumers, Christine Chen Zinner, chief policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform, told Yahoo Finance. If it’s implemented, the rule would make it easier for Americans to dispute unfair or incorrect hospital bills by taking away the threat that their credit score could be harmed if the debt is sent to collections.
Today, the CFPB finalized a requirement to remove medical bills from most credit reports, prohibiting companies like Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian from sharing medical debt information with lenders and barring them from considering medical debts in their credit determinations.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) final rule to remove medical bills from most credit reports will prohibit credit reporting companies like Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian from sharing medical debt information with lenders as well as barring lenders from considering these medical debts in underwriting decisions.
Today, over 100 consumer, civil rights, military, legal services, and community groups submitted comments in strong support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) proposed rule to ban medical debt from credit reports. The proposal would stop credit reporting companies from sharing medical debts with lenders and prohibit lenders from making lending decisions based on medical information. The proposed rule is part of the CFPB’s efforts to address the burden of medical debt and coercive credit reporting practices.
AFREF joined a letter to the CFPB requesting they prohibit credit reporting of rent arrears incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic
AFREF joined our partners in sending a follow-up letter calling on the CFPB to rescind its April 1, 2020 guidance allowing consumer reporting agencies and furnishers to exceed the dispute investigation deadlines under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In the six months since we sent our last letter, the situation has only gotten worse, with nearly 26,000 more complaints submitted by consumers about delayed or nonexistent responses to credit/consumer reporting disputes. We urged the Bureau to revoke the guidance as soon as possible to prevent further consumer harm.
AFR joined our partners in calling on the CFPB to rescind its guidance allowing credit reporting agencies and furnishers to disregard statutory deadlines.
Letter to Congress from 73 groups in support of the credit reporting provisions in the HEROES Act
Letter calling on Congress to include consumer protections in COVID-19 relief
Yesterday, the House passed the Comprehensive Credit Reporting Enhancement, Disclosure, Innovation, and Transparency Act of 2020 (Comprehensive CREDIT Act), H.R. 3621, in a 221-189 vote.