Reports

Older adults, most of whom have health insurance coverage, are among the millions of Americans who experience problems with reporting and collection of inaccurate medical bills.

This report highlights some of the risks to consumers of using financing products such as medical credit cards and installment loans to pay for medical procedures and services. The report provides a background on these products, highlights potential lack of transparency and financial risks to consumers, analyzes data on deferred interest healthcare credit cards, and offers a summary of the terms for a sample of financing products.

The three nationwide consumer reporting companies removed medical collections under $500 from credit reports in April 2023. We study removals of medical collections from credit reports that occurred between 2012-2020 to shed light on the potential effects of this reporting change. We find associated increases in credit score and credit availability.

This report provides an overview of the trends in third-party debt collections tradelines on consumer credit reports from 2018 to 2022. A collections tradeline is an item on a consumer’s credit report. It includes information about an individual’s allegedly unpaid bills. Collections tradelines, which are considered negative, generally may appear on a consumer report for up to seven years.

An analysis of the risks that nursing home residents and their caregivers face by assessing consumer complaints, nursing home admission contracts, and debt collection lawsuits.

This report focuses on the consumer finances of rural Appalachians, and is the first in a series of reports focusing on the finances of rural consumers.

Required financial assistance is a form of community benefit involving medical care that is provided for free, or at a discount, to patients who cannot afford to pay.

This is part of a series of reports of consumer credit trends produced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau using a longitudinal sample of approximately five million de-identified credit records from one of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies.

The Office of Servicemember Affairs’ 2021 annual report on the top financial concerns facing servicemembers, veterans, and military families, based on the complaints they submitted to the CFPB.

This report analyzes debt collection and credit or consumer reporting complaints submitted to the Bureau in 2021.

This report summarizes key areas of concern in medical debt collections and reporting. The report begins with a section describing the medical debt landscape. It then discusses the negative consequences of medical debt for consumers. Next, it outlines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical debt. The report concludes with a brief discussion of federal and state regulatory developments.

This report provides a brief overview of third-party debt collections tradelines. It compares tradelines from debt buyers to those from other debt collectors.

Our data point reports are prepared by our Office of Research to provide an evidence-based perspective on consumer financial markets, consumer behavior, and regulations to inform the public discourse.