Fight back on bills

Medical Debt and Your Credit Report

The federal rule removing medical debt from credit reports was struck down in 2025. Here is what still protects you and how to use the one-year window.

Current as of August 31, 2026 Fight back on bills

The rules on when a medical bill can reach your credit report changed twice in 2025 - once in your favor, then back. Headlines from January 2025 said medical debt was coming off credit reports entirely. That is not the current law. Here is where things actually stand as of August 2026, what protection remains, and how to use it.

What happened to the federal rule

On January 7, 2025, the CFPB finalized a rule under Regulation V that would have prohibited credit reporting agencies from including medical debt on credit reports and barred lenders from considering medical debt information in credit decisions.

It never took effect in practice. Industry groups sued, the effective date was stayed while the case proceeded, and on July 11, 2025, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated the rule. The court held that the rule exceeded the CFPB’s authority under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Vacated means the rule is gone, not paused. The CFPB’s own page for the rule now describes its materials as reference only.

So there is currently no federal ban on medical debt appearing on your credit report. Anyone who tells you otherwise is working from a stale 2025 headline.

What still stands: the bureaus’ own policies

Separately from the vacated rule, the three nationwide credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion - made voluntary changes to how they handle medical collections. Those changes were never part of the CFPB rule, so the court decision did not touch them. As of today:

Policy	What it means
Paid medical collections are removed	Once you pay a medical collection, it comes off your report instead of lingering for years
Unpaid medical collections under $500 are not reported	Small balances do not appear at all (in effect since April 11, 2023)
Roughly a one-year wait	The bureaus wait about one year from the date you received care before a medical collection can appear, up from the old 60 to 120 days

Two caveats. First, these are company policies, not law. The bureaus adopted them voluntarily and could change them, so check your reports rather than assuming. Second, an unpaid medical collection over $500 that is more than a year old can still be reported, and it can still hurt your score.

What collectors can and cannot do

Federal debt collection law applies to medical debt the same as any other consumer debt.

Collectors can: contact you about the debt, offer settlements and payment plans, report a qualifying debt to the bureaus once the waiting period has passed, and sue you within your state’s statute of limitations.

Collectors cannot: harass you, call repeatedly to annoy you, lie about what they can do to you, misrepresent the amount owed, or threaten actions they do not intend to take or legally cannot take.

Collectors must: give you information validating the debt - who the original creditor is, how much is owed, and your dispute rights. If you dispute the debt in writing, they have to deal with the dispute. If you tell them in writing to stop contacting you, they generally must stop, though they can still sue or report the debt.

When a collector first contacts you about a medical bill, respond in writing before paying anything:

I am requesting validation of this debt. Please send the name of the original provider, the date of service, an itemized statement of the charges, and documentation that you own or are authorized to collect this debt. I do not acknowledge this debt until it is validated.

That request buys time and forces the collector to prove the basics. Medical debts change hands and amounts get garbled in transit. Compare whatever comes back against your own records and your EOB - see how to read your EOB.

State protections exist - check yours

A number of states have passed their own laws restricting medical debt credit reporting or regulating medical debt collection. Be aware that the same July 2025 court decision concluded that the Fair Credit Reporting Act preempts state laws restricting what can be included on credit reports, so the reporting side of those state laws is on uncertain ground. State rules governing collection conduct, hospital collection practices, and interest on medical debt are a separate matter and were not the subject of that ruling. Your state attorney general or financial regulator publishes what applies where you live. It costs nothing to check.

How to use the one-year window

The waiting period is the most useful protection left, because a medical bill in its first year is a billing problem, not a credit problem. Treat the year as working time. A worked example:

You get a $1,400 hospital bill for care received on February 10, 2026. Under current bureau policy, that bill generally cannot appear on your credit report until roughly February 2027. Your sequence:

Weeks 1 to 4: Match the bill against your EOB. If your insurer denied something it should have covered, appeal the denial - do not pay a bill your plan may still owe.
Weeks 2 to 6: Request an itemized bill and check it line by line for common billing errors. Errors are frequent and every removed line shrinks the debt.
Months 2 to 3: Apply for hospital financial assistance. Nonprofit hospitals are required to have a program, and applying often pauses collection activity.
Months 3 to 6: If a balance remains, negotiate it or set up a payment plan directly with the provider. A bill on an active payment plan is typically not sent to collections.
Throughout: Log every call, name, date, and reference number. Use the call and bill trackers and the letter templates in the templates library.

Get every agreement in writing. A payment plan that exists only in a phone call protects you exactly as much as the phone call is remembered.

If something shows up that should not

Pull your credit reports from all three bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com, which is free. If you find a paid medical collection, a medical collection under $500, or a medical collection less than a year old, dispute it with each bureau reporting it. State which policy it violates, attach proof of payment or the date of service, and keep copies. Dispute in writing through the bureau’s dispute process, and if a bureau fails to fix a clear error, file a complaint with the CFPB.

Sources

Figures and rules on this page are current as of August 31, 2026. Dollar limits and deadlines change - check the linked source before you rely on a number.

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