Credit reporting bureaus announced in April that they would start taking most medical debt off of people’s credit reports. At first, we weren’t sure that would be such a huge deal. After all, the medical debt would still exist, people would still get harassed by debt collectors, or even sued over it. But it turns out, there’s a bunch of reasons why these changes could be life-changing, and we want to give credit (the good kind) where it’s due. 

The changes include:

  • Paid-off medical debt disappears from credit reports on July 1, 2022
  • Debts under $500 (even if you haven’t paid them) come off reports in March 2023
  • Medical bills under $500 that you received after March 1, 2022 should will never be counted on your credit report
  • No medical bills of any size will appear on your credit report until they’re at least a year old, starting July 1, 2022

Plus, some good changes to the games debt collectors can play with your credit score. 

Here’s a transcript of this episode.

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