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The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau has issued a bulletin indicating that it will monitor the practices of entities involved in the collection of or credit reporting on medical debt as it relates to the No Surprises Act.
In the notice, the bureau states that “a debt collector who represents that a consumer owes a debt arising from out-of-network charges for emergency services may violate the prohibition on misrepresentations if those charges exceed the amount permitted by the No Surprises Act.” The notice further reminds debt collectors that “courts have also emphasized that collecting an amount that exceeds what is owed would violate the prohibition on unfair or unconscionable debt collection practices.”
The notice also highlights the No Surprises Act’s potential implications for reporting information to a credit reporting agency (CRA). It states that “a debt collector who furnishes information (to a CRA) indicating that a consumer owes a debt arising from out-of-network charges for emergency services may violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Regulation V if those charges exceed the amount permitted by the No Surprises Act or if the furnisher (or CRA) fails to meet its dispute obligations.”
