The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today announced its final rule requiring the removal of medical bills from credit reports and barring lenders from using consumers’ medical information in their lending decisions. The Fair Credit Reporting Act already limits a creditor’s ability to obtain or use a consumer’s medical information in connection with any determination of a consumer’s eligibility for credit. Thanks to a regulatory exception, creditors were permitted to obtain and use consumers’ medical financial information in connection with decisions to determine credit eligibility if conditions were met. This final rule removes that exception.
The agency “expects the rule will lead to the approval of approximately 22,000 additional, affordable mortgages every year and that Americans with medical debt on their credit reports could see their credit scores rise by an average of 20 points.”
