U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan of the Eastern District of Texas on 11 July vacated a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that would have barred credit reporting agencies from listing medical debt and prohibited lenders from using such information. Jordan, a Trump appointee, said the CFPB exceeded its authority under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which allows the inclusion of medical collections so long as the data are properly coded to protect privacy. Finalised in January 2025, the Biden-era regulation was expected to erase about $49 billion in medical bills from the credit files of roughly 15 million people, lifting their scores by an average of 20 points and potentially enabling 22,000 additional mortgage approvals each year, according to the agency’s estimates. The lawsuit was brought by the Consumer Data Industry Association and the Cornerstone Credit Union League and later joined by the CFPB’s Trump-era leadership. Jordan ruled that only Congress—not the bureau—can redefine what qualifies as a “permissible purpose” for disclosing credit information under the FCRA. Major credit bureaus Experian, Equifax and TransUnion already remove medical collections under $500, and at least 14 states have enacted their own limits on how such debt can be reported. The CFPB and the Justice Department have not said whether they will appeal the decision.