Biden administration bans unpaid medical bills from appearing on credit reports
Biden administration bans unpaid medical bills from appearing on credit reports
Unpaid medical bills will no longer appear on credit reports, where they can block people from mortgages, car loans or small business loans.
How is this not bigger news?! This is life changing for a great many Americans.
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The CFPB said that medical debt is a poor predictor of an individual’s ability to repay a loan. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, the three national credit reporting agencies, said last year that they were removing medical collections debt under $500 from U.S. consumer credit reports.
So even the credit reporting agencies are recognizing that medical debt isn't reflective of what the credit scores should be. Sounds like more evidence that there is a big problem with healthcare in this country.
Edit: I meant “credit reporting agencies” not “credit unions”
medical collections debt under $500
Who does this cover, like 20 people?
We just got a second notice for a ≈$20 bill that had been paid 3 months ago.
The first notice 3 months ago was for a procedure that was done 7 months prior.What do you get for 20? A kiss on a boo-boo?
It was a surprise remainder after insurance. We had already paid the office visit copay at time of service.
Such a nice surprise 💝
Co-pays are typically $20.
If you have good insurance
It happens more often than you’d think. A friend of mine had a ~$25 medical bill go to collections. They just kept setting the mail out, filing it away each week, and forgetting about it. I ended up paying it and convinced them to get tested for ADHD. Sure enough…
Yeah, adhd is the only reason I have any debt at all.
I kinda want to start a company that will manage money for people like me who struggle with keeping up with such things.
I do gtm. I'm down. My closest friend I've employed is a finance background and has his shit together.
It’s kinda simple: in large cities you can legit just change doctor office and leave behind <500$ per place and just not pay. Most doctor offices are franchised or opened by large hospitals, so the chances of fucking over an individual doctor is pretty slim. In my state, they drop calling after a while and it just disappears once they write it off.
Every unpaid medical bill I have is under $500. Maybe 6 items? Credit reports aren't only calculating totals, they're looking at individual accounts. 6 bad marks is hella worse than 1, even if the totals are the same.
Medical collections debt under $500
Ah, so, none of them then. That's why this isn't news.
I don't know much about this situation, but it sounds like the reporting agencies took away debt under $500, but the new ban is for any medical debt, not just the debt under $500.
To be clear, that took place last year. This latest move appears much wider-reaching and categorical to any unpaid medical bills. According to the article:
Unpaid medical bills will no longer appear on credit reports, where they can block people from mortgages, car loans or small business loans, according to a final rule announced Tuesday by the Biden administration.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule will remove $49 billion in medical debt from the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans, according to the bureau, which means lenders will no longer be able to take that into consideration when deciding to issue a loan.
That was what the credit reporting agencies did, not what the Biden administration just did.
Edit: I meant "credit reporting agencies" not "credit unions"
Someone didn't read the article.
That's fair, guilty as charged. I'll go back and read it for real this time.