On July 14, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) filed a status report announcing its decision not to reissue its Medical Debt Collection Advisory Opinion, which had been issued in 2024 to “remind debt...more
7/18/2025
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Reports ,
Debt Collection ,
Enforcement ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Debt ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) requested and was granted a 90-day stay in the litigation involving trade associations Cornerstone Credit Union League (Cornerstone) and the Consumer Data Industry...more
2/10/2025
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reports ,
Debt Collection ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Medical Debt ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Regulation V ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Stays
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) finalized a rule aimed at removing an estimated $49 billion in medical bills from the consumer reports of approximately 15 million Americans. This rule amends...more
1/9/2025
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Consumer Reports ,
Credit Reports ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Debt ,
Regulation V ,
Trade Associations
On January 7, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) finalized its rule aimed at removing an estimated $49 billion in medical bills from the consumer reports of approximately 15 million Americans....more
On November 13, Representative Gary J. Palmer (R-AL) introduced House Joint Resolution 220, which seeks congressional disapproval of an advisory opinion published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau)...more
On November 1, ACA International, LLC and Collection Bureau Services, Inc. filed a lawsuit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) and Director Rohit Chopra, challenging the CFPB’s recent advisory...more
In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by Troutman Pepper Partner David Anthony and Rami Haddad, deputy general counsel for Compliance, Litigation, and Privacy at PRA Group. The discussion...more
On October 1, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued an advisory opinion aimed at debt collectors and emphasizing their obligations under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Regulation...more
10/4/2024
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Creditors ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Debt ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation F ,
Regulation V
On September 24, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a package of consumer protection laws, with three bills aimed directly at collection practices. These new laws introduce significant changes in the areas of...more
On September 9, the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada granted summary judgment in favor of a debt collector in a case involving alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the...more
Both houses of the New Jersey Legislature recently passed Assembly Bill No. 3861 (AB 3861), known as the Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act. The legislation’s stated aims are to prevent undue financial hardship and protect...more
On June 11, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a proposed rule amending Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), concerning medical debt. The proposed rule would...more
6/13/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Debt Collection ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Medical Debt ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation V ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Reporting Requirements
On May 16, the Illinois legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 2933. The bill amends the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act making it unlawful for a consumer reporting agency (CRA) to create a consumer...more
Earlier this week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released its second report detailing changes in the credit reporting of medical debts made by the three national consumer reporting agencies (CRAs)...more
Recently, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) submitted letters to senators in Connecticut and California supporting their proposals to prohibit medical debt reporting....more
On April 2, the California Senate Judicial Committee passed Senate Bill 1061. The bill seeks to prevent health care providers and contracted collection agencies from providing information about patients’ medical debt to...more
4/8/2024
/ California ,
Credit Cards ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Data Collection ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Debt ,
Personal Data ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State and Local Government ,
State Attorneys General
On December 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it had reached a settlement with medical debt collector Commonwealth Financial Systems, Inc. (Commonwealth) in its lawsuit over alleged illegal debt...more
12/19/2023
/ Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Medical Debt ,
Settlement
On December 13, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law S4907A, which prohibits hospitals, medical providers, or ambulance services from providing negative information about medical debt to consumer reporting agencies...more
12/15/2023
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Consumer Reports ,
Creditors ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Debt ,
New Legislation ,
New York ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
State and Local Government
On November 16, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released its Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) Annual Report detailing the CFPB’s 2022 activities related to debt collection practices. This...more
11/21/2023
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Debt ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Medical Debt
Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s denial of preliminary injunctive relief to plaintiffs challenging Nevada Senate Bill 248 (S.B. 248), which places new restrictions on the collection of...more
6/26/2023
/ Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Debt Collection ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
First Amendment ,
Medical Debt ,
Nevada ,
New Legislation ,
Preemption ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Section 7
On June 8, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered a consent order against medical debt collector Phoenix Financial Services for alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)...more
On June 28, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an interpretive rule, encouraging states to enact more laws regulating consumer reporting, arguing that states’ powers are only constrained in limited ways by...more
On March 18, the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion (NCRAs) — announced plans to change how medical debt will be reported on credit reports. The joint measures will result in the...more
On March 11, U.S. Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC) reintroduced a bill to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). H.R. 1645, the Protecting Consumer Access to Credit Act, would remove from a consumer’s credit report...more