I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 773 
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to institute a 1-year waiting period 
before medical debt will be reported on a consumer’s credit report and 
to remove paid-off and settled medical debts from credit reports that 
have been fully paid or settled, to amend the Fair Debt Collection 
Practices Act to provide a timetable for verification of medical debt 
and to increase the efficiency of credit markets with more perfect infor-
mation, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 3, 2021 
Ms. PORTER (for herself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. 
NORTON, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. BONAMICI, 
Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. TRONE, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. RYAN, Mr. POCAN, Ms. 
SA´NCHEZ, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. RUSH, Mr. LARSON of Con-
necticut, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, 
Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. COHEN, Mr. JOHN-
SON of Georgia, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. SPANBERGER, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. 
MCGOVERN, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. JACKSON LEE, 
Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. TONKO, Ms. OMAR, Mr. 
CARSON, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. JONES, Ms. MENG, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, 
Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mr. CROW, and Mr. LEVIN of California) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Finan-
cial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to institute a 1- 
year waiting period before medical debt will be reported 
on a consumer’s credit report and to remove paid-off 
and settled medical debts from credit reports that have 
been fully paid or settled, to amend the Fair Debt Collec-
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tion Practices Act to provide a timetable for verification 
of medical debt and to increase the efficiency of credit 
markets with more perfect information, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Medical Debt Relief 
Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT. 
(a) MEDICAL DEBT DEFINED.—Section 603 of the 
Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(bb) MEDICAL DEBT.—The term ‘medical debt’ 
means a debt described in section 604(g)(1)(C).’’. 
(b) EXCLUSION FOR PAID OR SETTLED MEDICAL 
DEBT.—Section 605(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 
(15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(9) Any information relating to a medical debt if 
the date on which the debt was placed for collection, 
charged to profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action 
antedates the report by less than 1 year. 
‘‘(10) Any information relating to a fully paid or set-
tled medical debt that had been characterized as delin-
quent, charged off, or in collection which, from the date 
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of payment or settlement, antedates the report by more 
than 45 days.’’. 
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION 
PRACTICES ACT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 809 of the Fair Debt Col-
lection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692g) is amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(f) ADDITIONAL NOTICE REQUIREMENTS FOR MED-
ICAL DEBT.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) CONSUMER
REPORTING
AGENCY.— 
The term ‘consumer reporting agency’ has the 
meaning given the term in section 603(f) of the 
Fair Credit Reporting Act. 
‘‘(B) MEDICAL DEBT.—The term ‘medical 
debt’ means a debt arising from the receipt of 
medical services, products, or devices. 
‘‘(2) NOTICE ABOUT CREDIT REPORTING.—Be-
fore furnishing information regarding a medical debt 
of a consumer to a consumer reporting agency, the 
person furnishing the information shall send a state-
ment to the consumer that includes the following: 
‘‘(A) A notification that the medical debt 
may not be reported to a consumer reporting 
agency until the end of the 1-year period begin-
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‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 
in subparagraph (A) may be construed to affect 
when a debt collector may engage in activities 
to collect or attempt to collect any debt owed or 
due or asserted to be owed. 
‘‘(4) REPORTING AFTER THE 1-YEAR PERIOD.— 
Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a person 
from communicating with, or reporting any informa-
tion to, a consumer reporting agency regarding a 
medical debt of a consumer after the end of the 1- 
year period described in paragraph (2) with respect 
to the debt.’’. 
Æ 
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