The CFPB wanted medical debt to be left off credit reports. That's changed under Trump
Source: NPR
May 26, 2025 5:00 AM ET
David Deeds is in financial trouble, and he's hoping a federal court in Texas can help get him out of it. Deeds, who is 62 and owes tens of thousands of dollars in medical debt from cancer treatment, is involved in a complicated lawsuit filed by credit industry groups over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's medical debt rule.
The rule, finalized in January just weeks before the end of the Biden administration, would have banned the reporting of medical debt from credit reports. At the time, the agency reported 15 million Americans would benefit from the change, removing $49 billion in medical debt from records. It was set to go into effect in March.
But new leadership appointed by President Trump now runs the CFPB. And the agency hasn't just reversed its position on the consumer protection rule — last month, it joined forces with the plaintiffs who filed the suit trying to block it. The agency has not returned a request for comment from NPR.
Over the last few months, Judge Sean Jordan from Texas' Eastern District has twice ordered a stay, delaying the rule's start date to July 28. He is likely to make a ruling on whether or not to vacate it by mid-June. The outcome of the suit, filed on the same day the rule was issued, has important financial implications for Deeds, as well as the millions more whose medical debt has negatively impacted their credit scores.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/26/nx-s1-5406799/cfpbs-medical-debt-credit-report-lawsuit
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