{"id":22665,"date":"2025-07-18T11:04:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T15:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=22665"},"modified":"2025-07-21T09:52:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T13:52:38","slug":"merkley-wyden-colleagues-demand-answers-on-trump-admin-re-adding-medical-debt-onto-credit-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-wyden-colleagues-demand-answers-on-trump-admin-re-adding-medical-debt-onto-credit-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"Merkley, Wyden, Colleagues Demand Answers on Trump Admin Re-Adding Medical Debt onto Credit Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2013\u00a0 U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) led 26 other senators\u2014including Ron Wyden (D-OR)\u2014to push the Trump Administration for answers regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau\u2019s (CFPB) intent to roll back a federal safeguard to keep medical debt off Americans\u2019 credit reports. Their urgent inquiry follows a\u00a0recent\u00a0federal court ruling<\/a>\u00a0that repealed a federal rule to shield patients\u2019 credit scores from unpaid medical bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cOn April 30, 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) asked a court to vacate the agency\u2019s recently released rule to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports. We write to request the information you relied on in making that determination, including any communications with collection agencies that stand to profit from it,\u201d the Senators wrote in their letter.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Merkley has led Congressional efforts to address the financial impact of medical debt since 2010.\u00a0His\u00a0Ley de alivio de la deuda m\u00e9dica<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>prohibir\u00eda que toda deuda m\u00e9dica aparezca en los informes crediticios y prohibir\u00eda a los acreedores considerar la deuda m\u00e9dica de los estadounidenses en sus decisiones sobre si otorgarles cr\u00e9dito.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMedical debt collections information is often inaccurate, and\u00a0estudios<\/a>\u00a0show that it is not useful in determining a consumer\u2019s ability to repay other debts\u2026Almost\u00a0half<\/a>\u00a0of all medical bills contain at least one error, and almost\u00a0half<\/a>\u00a0of nonprofit hospitals have routinely and mistakenly billed patients who were eligible for free or discounted care,\u201d\u00a0continuaron los senadores.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n


At the conclusion of the letter, the Senators emphasize the need for transparency in the agency\u2019s decision-making process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/em>\u201cOn April 30, the CFPB filed a joint motion with the industry groups that oppose the rule, petitioning the court to vacate it \u2013 lining the pockets of corporations off the backs of American consumers. Given the substantial evidence that the CFPB\u2019s rule was well-considered and would help consumers without reducing the accuracy of their credit scores, we write to request that the CFPB make public all information relied on by the agency in its decision to drop the rule, including any communications with the debt collection industry,\u201d they urged.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n


In addition to Senators Merkley, Warnock, Warren, and Schumer, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Adam Schiff (D-CA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), John Fetterman (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tina Smith (D-MN), Jack Reed (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Angus King (I-ME), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Peter Welch (D-VT), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Read the full letter\u00a0by clicking\u00a0AQU\u00cd<\/a>, and the text is below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Dear Acting Director Vought,<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/em>On April 30, 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) asked a court to vacate the agency\u2019s recently released rule to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports. We write to request the information you relied on in making that determination, including any communications with debt collection agencies that stand to profit from it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


Medical debt collections information is often inaccurate, and\u00a0estudios<\/a>\u00a0show that it is not useful in determining a consumer\u2019s ability to repay other debts. One major credit scoring company, VantageScore, has\u00a0stopped<\/a>\u00a0using medical debt in its newer models entirely. Almost\u00a0half<\/a>\u00a0of all medical bills contain at least one error, and almost\u00a0half<\/a>\u00a0of nonprofit hospitals have routinely and mistakenly billed patients who were eligible for free or discounted care. People often receive collection notices for debts they did not owe, in the wrong amount, or that should have been covered by insurance\u2014but still end up experiencing long-lasting damage to their credit scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Listing medical debt on a person\u2019s credit report drives down their credit score, which hurts their ability to purchase a car, buy a home or rent an apartment, get utility service, start a business, or access other banking services. This has profound effects on families that can last generations. To make matters worse, medical debt is the\u00a0most common<\/a>\u00a0reason debt collectors contact consumers; the debt collection industry makes\u00a0one-fourth<\/a>\u00a0of its annual revenue from health care debt. Including medical debt on credit reports makes consumers more vulnerable to predatory debt collection practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medical debt on credit reports also blocks working families from access to credit that they would be able to repay. The\u00a0CFPB\u00a0found that people who had all their medical debts completely removed from their credit reports experienced an average credit score increase of\u00a020 points<\/a>, in some cases elevating families into a higher credit score tier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


In response to growing data that medical debt is not a good indicator of creditworthiness, states across the country have acted to ban the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports. And on\u00a0January 7, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a final\u00a0regla<\/a>\u00a0to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports. The rule would\u00a0remove an estimated $49 billion in medical bills from the credit reports of 15 million Americans, prohibit credit reporting companies from sharing medical debt information with lenders, and bar lenders from considering medical debt in underwriting decisions. It was designed to help the millions of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet,\u00a0by lowering costs and increasing access to affordable credit for working families without affecting the predictive value of their credit reports. The rule would also help reduce the effects of structural racism and other prejudices. People of color are disproportionately harmed by the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports. Meanwhile,\u00a0adults with a disability and new moms are more than twice as likely to carry medical debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Despite the critical importance of the medical debt rule, on April 30, the\u00a0CFPB\u00a0archivado<\/a>\u00a0a joint motion with the industry groups that oppose the rule, petitioning the court to vacate it\u2014lining the pockets of corporations off the backs of American consumers. Given the substantial evidence that the\u00a0CFPB\u2019s rule was well-considered and would help consumers without reducing the accuracy of their credit scores, we write to request that the\u00a0CFPB\u00a0make public all information relied on by the agency in its decision to drop the rule, including any communications with the debt collection industry, by July 28, 2025. We specifically request that\u00a0CFPB\u00a0publicly publish all data about how medical debt relates to key economic indicators, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n