NEW: Biden-Harris Administration Will Remove $49 Billion in Medical Debt From 15 Million Americans’ Credit Scores Arrow

In response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announcing a new rule to remove medical debt from credit reports, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:

"Thanks to the Biden-Harris administration, no American's ability to apply for a mortgage or secure a small business loan will be denied because of medical debt. This lifechanging CFPB rule will wipe $49 billion in medical debt from the credit reports of over 15 million Americans, ensuring that hardworking families can save money and build wealth - even in the face of medical emergencies. While Donald Trump and his billionaire Cabinet focus on rigging the economy for their ultra-wealthy special interest backers and threaten to gut the CFPB's critical protections for millions of Americans, Democrats are fighting every day to help the American people thrive."

NEW: A new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule will remove medical debt from consumer credit reports of over 15 million Americans.

White House Fact Sheet: "The CFPB is finalizing a rule that will remove medical debt from the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans, raising their credit scores by an estimated average of 20 points and leading to the approval of approximately 22,000 additional mortgages every year. Under the CFPB rule, there will be zero Americans with medical debt listed on their credit reports, down from 46 million in 2020. … 15 million Americans still have $49 billion in outstanding medical bills in collections appearing in the credit reporting system. Today's action will remove these outstanding $49 billion in unpaid medical bills from the credit reports of the remaining 15 million impacted Americans."

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: "Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a rule that will remove an estimated $49 billion in medical bills from the credit reports of about 15 million Americans. The CFPB's action will ban the inclusion of medical bills on credit reports used by lenders and prohibit lenders from using medical information in their lending decisions. The rule will increase privacy protections and prevent debt collectors from using the credit reporting system to coerce people to pay bills they don't owe. The CFPB has found that medical debts provide little predictive value to lenders about borrowers' ability to repay other debts, and consumers frequently report receiving inaccurate bills or being asked to pay bills that should have been covered by insurance or financial assistance programs."

NBC News: "About 1 in 12 adults in the U.S. have medical debt, according to a 2024 poll from KFF, a nonprofit group that researches health policy issues. The CFPB determined that a medical bill on a person's credit report was a poor predictor of whether they would repay a loan yet contributed to thousands of denied mortgage applications."

FACT: The CFPB has helped protect consumer interests for 13 years, putting $17.5 billion back into millions of Americans' pockets.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: "Here's a look at some of the CFPB's achievements, by the numbers:

"$17.5 billion - The amount of money the CFPB has put back in Americans' pockets in the form of monetary compensation, principal reductions, canceled debts, and other consumer relief resulting from CFPB enforcement and supervision work

"$4 billion - The amount of money CFPB has imposed in civil money penalties on companies and individuals that violate the law. This money is deposited into the victims relief fund which provides compensation to people who have been harmed by violations of federal consumer financial protection law

"200 million - The estimated number of consumer accounts eligible to receive financial relief from the CFPB's enforcement and supervision work

"$175 million - The amount of monetary relief resulting from 39 public enforcement actions that involved harm to servicemembers and veterans"

Donald Trump's administration and his allies are already plotting to undermine consumer rights by gutting the CFPB and rolling back progress - potentially putting this rule on the chopping block.

New York Times: "Biden Administration Moves to Ban Medical Debt From Credit Reports"

"The finalized new rule would effectively prohibit loan providers from using medical information while making lending decisions. It is set to take effect 60 days after publication in the federal register, but with President-elect Donald J. Trump returning to office this month, its future remains in question. …

"But Republicans could soon try to undo the rule. Mr. Trump has promised to slash government regulations and unravel much of the Biden administration's policy agenda. Republican lawmakers could also try to roll back certain Biden-era regulations using the Congressional Review Act."

Washington Post: "President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are weighing vast changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, seeking to limit the powers and funding of a federal watchdog agency formed in the wake of the 2008 banking crisis. …

"On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have suggested they'll pursue their own legislative overhaul targeting the bureau. In recent weeks, they have proposed to rethink the CFPB's leadership structure, curtail its investigative powers and tweak its funding source, since the bureau derives its budget from the Federal Reserve in a unique arrangement meant to spare the watchdog from political wrangling and industry lobbying. …

"[S]ome of Trump's former aides have taken the opposite tack, even suggesting that Congress should eliminate the CFPB. That idea is a core element of Project 2025 - the conservative blueprint for the Trump presidency prepared in part by his former advisers for the Heritage Foundation - which describes the bureau as 'highly politicized, damaging, and utterly unaccountable.'

"A spokeswoman for Heritage declined to comment. Trump previously has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, though he's named several of its authors and contributors to his incoming administration."

Elon Musk: "Delete CFPB. There are too many duplicate regulatory agencies."

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