In a new letter, Senator Reverend Warnock urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra to complete rulemaking to remove medical debt from credit reports

In Georgia, 27% of rural citizens have medical collections on their credit report, ten percentage points higher than the national average, due in part to the state’s refusal to expand Medicaid

Earlier this year, Senator Reverend Warnock questioned Director Chopra about the benefits of removing medical debt from credit reports and has pushed CFPB to take action on medical debt since his first term in office

Senator Reverend Warnock chairs the Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, which has jurisdiction over CFPB

Senators Reverend Warnock & Brown: “We encourage the Bureau to finalize this rule and provide critical relief to the 15 million Americans with unjustly lowered credit scores due to medical debt”

Senator Reverend Warnock during Banking hearing: “Medical debt is often unanticipated, it’s unplanned, and it can be high even if someone is insured. In a word, it is something that can happen to any one of us”

ICYMI from the Georgia Recorder: Warnock pushes to finalize plan blocking medical debt from credit reports

Watch Senator Reverend Warnock at Wednesday’s Banking hearing HERE

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Chair of the Senate Banking committee Sherrod Brown (D-OH) pushed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau(CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra to finalize the proposed rulemaking which would eliminate medical debt from credit reports and prohibit consumer reporting agencies from sharing medical debt information with creditors. Senator Warnock is a member of the Senate Banking committee and chair of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, which has jurisdiction over CFPB. In Georgia, where 640,000 people don’t have access to affordable health care because state leaders have refused to expand Medicaid, 27% of rural citizens have medical collections on their credit report—ten percentage points higher than the national average.

“Finalizing the rule would protect families and keep them from being unjustly penalized for seeking medical care,” said the lawmakers in the letter. “This rule would provide vital protections: It would bar lenders from broadly using information about medical debt to make credit eligibility determinations, prohibit the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports, prohibit creditors from repossessing medical devices, and recognize the unique nature of medical debt and not penalize people for seeking treatment and care.”

“This issue is far too important to remain unsettled any longer. The rule would protect millions of people across the nation, and we respectfully urge you to swiftly finalize this rule,” concluded the Senators in the letter.

Senator Warnock has a long track record of working to address the harmful consequences of medical debt on working families. In June, Senator Warnock questioned Director Chopra about the strain medical debt puts on families when it is included in credit reports during a Senate banking committee hearing, in March Senator Warnock led nine of his Senate colleagues in urging the CFPB to protect Americans from predatory medical debt collection practices. Additionally, in 2022 Senator Warnock called on CFPB to establish an ombudsman position for consumer medical debt to help facilitate efforts to resolve consumer complaints and ensure compliance with federal directives like the ban on surprise medical bills.

During a Wednesday Senate Banking committee hearing Senator Warnock continued stressing the importance of eliminating medical debt from credit reports.

Watch the Senator’s full remarks and line of questioning HERE.

Read the letter HERE and below.

We write in strong and continued support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB or “the Bureau”) proposed rulemaking to remove medical debt from credit reports, prohibit consumer reporting agencies from sharing medical debt information with creditors, and ban lenders from repossessing medical devices, like prosthetics.

In March 2024, my colleagues and I wrote to you, urging the Bureau to move forward with a rule to remove medical debt from credit reports and credit underwriting considerations. In June 2024, during your semi-annual appearance in front of the Senate Banking Committee, we stressed the importance of finalizing the Bureau’s proposed rule. Today, as the Bureau continues with an impressive record of protecting American consumers, we encourage the Bureau to finalize this rule and provide critical relief to the 15 million Americans with unjustly lowered credit scores due to medical debt. 

Finalizing the rule would protect families and keep them from being unjustly penalized for seeking medical care. This rule would provide vital protections: It would bar lenders from broadly using information about medical debt to make credit eligibility determinations, prohibit the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports, prohibit creditors from repossessing medical devices, and recognize the unique nature of medical debt and not penalize people for seeking treatment and care.

We once again thank you for your continued and extensive efforts protecting Americans from financial harm. The proposed rule is far too important to remain unsettled any longer. The rule would protect millions of people across the nation and we respectfully urge you to swiftly finalize this rule. 

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Title and affiliation are provided for identification purposes only. A pastor and social justice advocate, Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock was elected to the United States Senate in 2021 and reelected for a full term in 2022. The Senator serves on the Senate Agriculture, Banking, and Commerce committees, as well as the Senate Aging Committee.