PATCH Act

The PATCH Act amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to explicitly define medical debt and prohibit creditors from using it when making lending decisions. Specifically, the bill requires consumer reporting agencies to exclude information about unpaid medical bills from credit reports, even if those debts have been sent to collections. Additionally, it directs the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to update federal regulations to ban lenders from obtaining or using medical debt data to determine creditworthiness. These changes directly affect individuals with medical bills and financial institutions that currently consider such debts when evaluating loan applications.