The ruling is likely going to make it harder for many people to get a mortgage or other loan.
The rule was expected to result in the approval of roughly 22,000 additional mortgages each year and would have raised the credit scores of people who are carrying medical debt by an average of 20 points. It would have removed $49 billion in medical bills from credit reports and prohibited lenders from factoring that type of debt in when making most loan decisions.
“People who get sick shouldn’t have their financial future upended,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said when announcing the new rules. “The CFPB’s final rule will close a special carveout that has allowed debt collectors to abuse the credit reporting system to coerce people into paying medical bills they may not even owe.”
Medical debt often includes mistakes, which can artificially impact credit scores. The CFPB also says medial debt is not a good indicator of whether a person is able to pay other loans. Opponents said the practice would undermine the credit score process.
