Medical Debt

Medical debt has been treated differently from other consumer debt by the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) since a set of voluntary changes the bureaus made starting in 2022 and 2023: paid medical collections were removed from reports, the reporting waiting period was extended to one year, and medical collections debts under $500 stopped being reported at all. Those bureau policies remain in effect and were a voluntary industry change, separate from federal rulemaking.

In 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a separate federal rule that would have gone further — banning medical debt from credit reports entirely and barring lenders from using it in lending decisions. That CFPB rule was vacated by a federal court in July 2025 after a legal challenge, meaning it never took effect. The result as of 2026: the bureaus’ own voluntary 2022-2023 policies (paid-debt removal, $500 floor, one-year delay) are still the operative rules, not the broader federal ban that courts struck down.

Practically, this means medical debt under $500 generally still won’t appear on a credit report, and paid medical collections should be removed if they were reported — but unpaid medical debt above $500 that’s been in collections for over a year can still be reported, same as before the vacated rule. If a medical collection under $500 or a paid medical collection is still showing on a report, that’s a dispute-worthy inaccuracy under the FCRA, not a matter of waiting for a rule that no longer applies.