Biden-Era Rule on Medical Bill Reporting on Credit Reports
Credit & Collection e-newsletter of 7/16/25 reports: A US District Court Judge Sean Jordan’s ruling, on 7/15/25, that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) does not have the authority to enact a Biden-era rule on medical bill reporting on credit reports, could force individual states to take up the issue of whether credit reporting agencies (Experiean, Equifax, TransUnion) can be forced to remove reporting about unpaid medical bills from individuals’ credit reports, or can be forced not to put reporting about unpaid medical bills on individuals’ credit reports.
U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan, a 2019 appointee of President Donald Trump, said the rule by the previous administration not to include medical billing on credit reports exceeded the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”).
The CFPB’s rule was finalized in January, 2025.
Individual states can still pass laws to order removal of unpaid medical bills from credit reports, and 15 already have; however, Ohio and Pennsylvania are not among them. Ohio does having pending legislation, in committee, called the Medical Debt Fairness Act, but that proposed law has not passed at present.
In 2023, all three major credit reporting agencies agreed not to include past-due medical bills on credit reports that were under $500. That agreement still stands nationwide.