Under President Biden, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) created a groundbreaking rule that banned medical debt from credit reports. The change didn’t erase anyone’s bills — it simply stopped credit bureaus from reporting them, so families could rebuild without being trapped by debt they never asked for.

For millions of Americans, it meant a fair shot at renting an apartment, buying a car, or getting a job without the shadow of medical debt destroying their credit score. Nearly 15 million people saw their credit records clear of unfair marks.

Now, Donald Trump’s CFPB appointees are trying to roll back that protection. They’ve moved to undo the Biden-era rule and allow credit bureaus to once again list medical debt — even debt caused by emergencies, billing errors, or insurance delays. They’re also trying to block states from enforcing their own protections.

If they succeed, it would be a disaster for working families already struggling to recover from medical costs. Imagine surviving a medical crisis — then finding out your credit is ruined because of hospital bills you couldn’t pay. That’s what this rollback would bring back.

Congress has the power to stop this. Lawmakers must step in now to defend the CFPB’s medical debt rule and keep these protections in place. Every day they wait, the pressure grows from industry lobbyists who want to reinstate medical debt reporting.