CFPB Mulls Removing Medical Debt From Consumer Credit Reports

The CFPB plans to review whether uncollected medical bills should be removed from consumer credit reports amid concerns that errors, inaccuracies and dated information are harming consumers

At around $88 billion, medical debt constitutes around 58% of all uncollected debts reported to consumer credit reporting bureaus, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday in a report.

Debt collectors frequently use the threat of a negative mark on a credit report—which can lower their credit scores and result in consumers paying more for mortgages, car loans and other credit—to get consumers to pay debts they may not even owe, the …