WASHINGTON, D.C.— Brady Williams, Legal Counsel, issued the following statement on a joint comment letter, led by the National Consumer Law Center, from consumer, civil rights, health care, and advocacy organizations supporting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) proposed rule addressing medical debt on credit reports.
“Prohibiting medical debts from appearing on credit reports will benefit 15 million people who are unfairly disadvantaged by medical debt on their credit reports, particularly Black, Latino, and low-income communities. Research shows that medical debt is not helpful for credit underwriting since it is often incurred involuntarily and unexpectedly. Moreover, the fear of damaging credit reports often deters consumers from seeking important medical care in the first place.
“The CFPB can go further in protecting Main Street Americans by extending the reporting ban to include related debt that was incurred using general credit cards and specialized medical credit cards. These debts are also involuntary and unexpected for people in very vulnerable states. There are proven abuses to consumers from medical credit cards like deferred interest, mistaken charges that should have been charged to insurance, and even charges for services that patients never received.
“The proposed ban of medical debts from credit reports should also be extended to reports used for employment and tenant screening. Medical debt is not a good predictor of whether someone will be a good tenant or a good employee, and credit history is often used inappropriately by landlords and employers. Getting sick should not prevent someone from being employed or being housed.
“We are happy to join the National Consumer Law Center and other allied organizations in supporting the CFPB’s push to protect consumers from the harmful impact of medical debt reporting and to take this push even further.”
The joint comment letter is available here.
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