The rules changed significantly
Medical debt on credit reports has been one of the most contentious issues in consumer credit for years. The major credit bureaus and the CFPB have both taken action to reduce its impact. Here's what the current landscape looks like.
What changed and when
2022: The three major bureaus announced they would remove paid medical collection accounts from credit reports. Previously, a medical debt could stay on your report for seven years even after you paid it.
2023: The bureaus stopped reporting medical collection debts under $500. They also extended the waiting period before unpaid medical debt appears on a report to 12 months (up from 6 months), to give consumers time to resolve insurance billing issues.
2025: The CFPB issued a final rule under the Fair Credit Reporting Act removing medical debt from credit reports entirely. The rule was finalized in early 2025 and went into effect in March 2025.
Under the 2025 rule:
- Medical bill collections can no longer appear on consumer credit reports
- Creditors and lenders cannot use medical debt information in credit decisions
- Previously reported medical collections should have been removed
What this means for your report
If your credit report still shows medical collection accounts — including accounts that were added before March 2025 — they should no longer be there. Bureaus are required to comply with the rule.
If you're seeing medical collections on your report dated before or after the rule change, you have clear grounds to dispute.
How to check your reports
Pull your reports from all three bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com. When reviewing, look specifically for:
- Collections labeled as "medical," "medical debt," or associated with hospitals, physicians, labs, or medical billing companies
- Any collection from a company with "medical," "health," "hospital," or similar in the name
- Collections with a creditor description that includes a healthcare provider
Document the full entry: account number, collection agency name, reported balance, date of first delinquency, open/close dates.
How to dispute medical debt still on your report
Step 1: Dispute with the bureau
File a dispute with each bureau showing the medical collection. Your dispute statement can be direct:
"This account is a medical debt collection. Under the CFPB's 2025 medical debt rule, medical bills cannot be included on credit reports. This entry should be removed immediately."
Submit through each bureau's dispute portal. Bureaus must investigate and respond within 30 days.
Step 2: Dispute with the collection agency (furnisher)
Write a direct dispute to the collection agency reporting the debt. Reference the CFPB rule and request immediate deletion of the tradeline. Include a copy of your credit report showing the entry.
Send via certified mail with return receipt.
Step 3: File a CFPB complaint
If the bureau or collection agency ignores the dispute or claims the entry is valid under current rules, file a complaint at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. This is particularly powerful given that the CFPB itself issued the rule — a complaint about non-compliance with their own regulation gets attention.
What if the debt is legitimate but shouldn't appear?
The 2025 rule removes medical debt from credit reports regardless of whether the debt is valid or paid. The question isn't whether you owe it — it's whether it can legally appear. If it's medical debt, it cannot be on your report under current rules.
Verify the debt type
Some medical billing can be ambiguous. A credit card used to pay a medical bill is still a credit card account, not medical debt, and is not covered by the removal rule. A medical credit product (like CareCredit) is similarly a credit product and may still appear. What's covered is the medical debt itself when it's been sold to a collection agency and reported as a collections tradeline.
Pull your reports, identify any medical collections, and file the disputes. Under current rules, these should come off.