November 5, 2025: Letter from Governor Stein to CRAs

November 5, 2025  

Mr. Mark Begor  
Equifax  
1550 Peachtree Street Northwest  
Atlanta, GA 30309  

Mr. Brian Cassin  
Experian  
475 Anton Boulevard  
Costa Mesa, CA 92626  

Mr. Chris Cartwright
Transunion  
555 West Adams Street  
Chicago, IL 60661  

Dear Messrs. Begor, Cartwright, and Cassin,  

I am writing to you in light of the recent release of an interpretive rule from the Consumer 
Financial Protection Bureau rolling back previous guidance on the reporting of medical debt in 
consumer credit files. I applaud your 2022 policy of removing paid medical debt from consumer 
credit files. As you have previously expressed, medical debt is often involuntary and unforeseen, 
reflecting life circumstances and unplanned expenses beyond a consumer’s control. Furthermore, 
research, including that of your joint venture company, VantageScore, has shown that having 
medical debt is typically not predictive of a person’s creditworthiness. 

I recently had the immense privilege of announcing that in partnership with the North Carolina 
Department of Health and Human Services, North Carolina’s ninety-nine acute care hospitals 
have relieved 2.5 million North Carolinians of more than $6.5 billion in medical debt as part of 
the NC Medical Debt Relief program. This announcement was the culmination of a years-long 
effort begun in 2023 by former Governor Roy Cooper after our state expanded Medicaid and 
extended life-saving health coverage to more than 685,000 people. Many of these 2.5 million 
North Carolinians will see debts completely erased from their credit reports, fully freeing them 
from a burden that may have previously restricted their ability to buy a car, apply for a mortgage, 
or rent an apartment. 

As a former consumer protection lawyer myself, I share your commitment to ensuring that 
consumers, financial services firms, and other businesses have access to clear, fair, and holistic 
information regarding consumers’ credit histories. In light of the CFPB’s recent action, I urge 
you to reiterate to North Carolina consumers your continued commitment to removing medical 
debt that has been forgiven, paid, or settled from their credit files. Clear communication and 
guidance from your credit bureaus will help mitigate any confusion among the 2.5 million in 
North Carolina whose medical debt has been relieved and who are anticipating the financial 
freedom of having these debts removed from their credit files. 

Furthermore, I urge you to expand your voluntary commitments from 2022 that led the way in 
providing critical relief from medical debt for people across our country. These 2022 
commitments of refraining from including medical debt in credit reports if the debt is less than 
one year delinquent, removing paid medical debt from credit reports, and omitting from reports 
any medical collection debt under $500 have unburdened millions of American consumers who 
now have expanded options for employment, insurance, housing, and consumer finance. As your 
policies suggest, removing these debts has not hampered accurate credit decisioning for those 
impacted. However, even more Americans would benefit if the credit reporting agencies 
eliminated all medical debt from consumer credit files entirely. 

I appreciate your commitment to providing people with the opportunity to focus on their personal 
health and financial well-being. I hope that you will take action to provide relief to the millions 
of working North Carolinians and people across our country who deserve access to fair and 
affordable credit without the burden of medical debt.

Sincerely,

Josh Stein
Governor