Can Medical Debt Be Removed From Your Credit Report?

Short answer: The three national credit bureaus don't report paid medical collections or medical collections under $500, and they wait a year before unpaid medical debt can appear. Larger unpaid medical collections can still show up for up to seven years. You can dispute errors, ask the provider about financial assistance, and check your state's laws, some of which go further.

Current rules

• Paid medical collections: removed from reports by the bureaus.
• Medical collections under $500: not reported.
• One-year wait before unpaid medical collections are reported.
• A CFPB rule that would have removed nearly all medical debt from credit reports was finalized in January 2025 but struck down by a federal court in July 2025, so it is not in effect.
• Several states restrict medical debt reporting on their own; check your state attorney general's site.

Steps to take

1. Check your reports at AnnualCreditReport.com.
2. Dispute anything paid, under $500, under a year old, or not yours (FTC dispute steps).
3. Ask for an itemized bill and check for insurance errors.
4. Apply for financial assistance. Nonprofit hospitals must have written financial assistance policies, and many reduce or forgive bills for eligible patients, sometimes retroactively.
5. If it's in collections, request validation from the collector (CFPB).

Avoid putting medical bills on a credit card

Once a medical bill is on a card, it's card debt, without the medical-debt reporting protections or hospital assistance options.

Sources

• CFPB, Credit reports and scores
• CFPB, Debt collection
• FTC, Disputing errors on your credit reports
• AnnualCreditReport.com (the only federally authorized free report site)

Last reviewed October 12, 2026. This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.