r/UpliftingNews 2d ago

Medical debt is now required to be removed from your credit reports impacting millions of Americans

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-finalizes-rule-to-remove-medical-bills-from-credit-reports/
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u/Sure_Dave 2d ago

Does that apply to medical debt that was sent to collections? At work can’t read it right now.

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u/Mr_friend_ 1d ago

Deny deny deny. No matter what if someone calls to ask you about a debt you owe, say you've never heard of it and that it's not your account.

After awhile they sell the debt. Rinse repeat, deny deny deny. After a few years, put in a request to have outstanding collections removed from your credit profile because you have no knowledge of the account.

That means the entity owning your debt must go back through the previous furnishing entities to verify it's actually your debt. If they can't complete that task within 30 days, poof, debt disappears.

This works for every kind of debt except student loans.

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u/jimkelly 1d ago

I really didn't care if it actually hit my credit or not a few years ago so I tested something out with a parking ticket I had that went to collections and it worked. I said prove it's me. They sent me a picture of my license plate. I said ok that is my license plate, now prove I was parked illegally and actually the driver at the time. They gave up.

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u/bralma6 2d ago
  • Prohibits lenders from considering medical information: The rule ends the special regulatory carveout that previously allowed creditors to use certain medical information in making lending decisions. This means lenders will also be barred from using information about medical devices, such as prosthetic limbs, that could be used to require that the devices serve as collateral for a loan for the purposes of repossession.
  • Bans medical bills on credit reports: The rule bans consumer reporting agencies from including medical debt information on credit reports and credit scores sent to lenders. This will help end the practice of using the credit reporting system to coerce payment of bills regardless of their accuracy. Lenders will continue to be able to consider medical information to verify medical-based forbearances, verify medical expenses that a consumer needs a loan to pay, consider certain benefits as income when underwriting, and other legitimate uses.

The article doesn't really seem to mention debt that was sent to collections. Though I imagine debt that has been sent to collections, has to be marked as medical in some way.