Yesterday, Community Catalyst submitted comments to the CFPB in support of a proposed rule to ban all medical debt from impacting credit scores, which importantly includes medical debt incurred for dental services. The proposal has bipartisan support of 75% of voters (57% strongly support), and 66% of voters say they would feel more favorable towards a policymaker that supports these efforts.

You can review Community Catalyst’s comments here.

The comments praise the policy put forward by Vice President Harris and CFPB Director Chopra, which will benefit the 15 millions U.S. adults with medical debt on their credit reports and improve their health and economic well being. Community Catalyst also urges the CFPB to enact additional protections, including: 

  • Banning the promotion of predatory deferred interest credit cards in all health care settings like emergency rooms and dentist offices, which the organization argues is just another medical debt trap. 61% of voters say they support this proposal, with 36% saying they strongly support it.
  • Prohibiting the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports used for employment and tenant screening. No one should be denied a job or housing because of unpaid medical bills. Medical debt is not very predictive of an individual’s ability to pay off other loans and many medical bills are riddles with errors. However, about half of employers conduct credit checks when screening potential employees, and 90 percent of landlords use credit checks when screening tenants.

Last week, Community Catalyst hosted a #ProtectOurCredit digital day of action, with partners and impacted community members amplifying their support for this policy.

Some stories include:

  • “I had a self-employed brother that fought cancer for almost 5 years. When he died, there was a huge debt.” — Kelli W., Minnesota
  • “I haven’t been able to purchase a used car so I can visit my 95-year-old Mommy because my husband’s hospital debt has affected my credit. Very upsetting.” — Ami C., Virginia
  • “This is important to me because my entire life fell apart in a matter of months and by April of last year with no resources, nobody to turn to, and nothing but an old SUV I ended up losing everything but my sanity and it all started with Medical issues that turned into complete debt.” — Madelyn C., Ohio
  • “In the 90s and early 2000s I had to use emergency rooms as my primary source of healthcare..of course I couldn’t afford to pay the outrageous ER bills so it went on my credit, even [though] I paid all my other bills. The ER bills prevented me from getting credit cards, buying a house etc because I could never get my credit score high enough. Thank God for expanded Medicaid and time. Eventually those bills were written off by the hospitals but it took decades for that to happen. I’m now 61 yrs old and finally have a couple secured credit cards and a credit score of 725. But it shouldn’t have affected my whole life the way it did… I still can’t buy a house.” — Angela B., Colorado

Demonstrating broad support for the CFPB proposal, as well as additional protections like keeping medical debt off credit reports for tenant and employment screening, Community Catalyst also signed onto comments compiled by partners at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), which were signed by 107 state and national organizations.

To speak with Community Catalyst about our efforts to end the medical debt crisis, which include both federal and state policy solutions, please contact Gena Madow at gmadow@communitycatalyst.org.