Collections
What is actually on your credit report for medical debt in 2026
The federal rule was struck down. What the bureaus do anyway, and which states add protection.
Medical debt reporting has changed several times, and most explanations online are out of date. Here is where things stood as of October 2026.
The federal rule is gone
In January 2025 the CFPB issued a rule intended to keep most medical debt off credit reports. A federal court vacated that rule in July 2025, and the CFPB's own materials are now labeled for reference only.
What the big three bureaus still do
The three major credit bureaus continue to follow voluntary policies: paid medical collections are removed from reports, medical debt under $500 is generally not reported, and medical debt is not reported until it is at least a year delinquent. Verify this against current reporting, because these are voluntary practices that can change.
State laws may give you more
A number of states limit medical-debt credit reporting, and New York is one of them. Whether federal law overrides those state laws has been contested in court. Check your own state's rules rather than assuming either way.
What to actually do
- Pull your free weekly reports from AnnualCreditReport.com. You pull them; you can hand them to your agent to read.
- Dispute any medical account that is not yours or is wrong. Bureau disputes are free and must be investigated.
- Include a “do not refer to any credit bureau” line in every hold letter you send while a dispute is open.
- If a bureau will not fix a clear error, a CFPB complaint is free and does not require a lawyer.
In our case we never checked reports during the dispute, and that was a gap. It is step one of the next version of the case.
Not legal or financial advice. Rules change; verify with the sources above and with your state.