WeVote
Log In

Bill

JA

Bill

HB 4329

Consumer credit: credit reports and reporting agencies; collection and reporting of medical debt information; regulate. Creates new act.

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Joey Andrews and 32 co-sponsors

Michigan HB 4329 restricts reporting medical debt on consumer reports, with limited exceptions, and bans debt collectors from implying such reporting.

bill electronically reproduced 04/17/2025
#consumercredit:creditreportsandreportingagencies #health:other
0
WeVote Research Nonpartisan
Bill Summary · HB 4329

Summary — HB 4329 (Medical Debt Act)

Status: Introduced March 11, 2025; bill text electronically reproduced April 17, 2025. Passed the Michigan House May 10, 2025. Referred to Committee on Health Policy on introduction.

Purpose

HB 4329 (the "medical debt act") restricts how medical debts may be collected and reported on consumer credit reports. The bill aims to prevent most medical debt information from appearing in consumer reports and to limit collectors' ability to threaten or imply such reporting.

Key definitions

  • Medical debt: debt arising from a health care service or health care good. Excludes general credit-card charges unless the card/plan is specifically issued for payment of health care.
  • Consumer report / Consumer reporting agency (CRA): defined consistent with typical credit-reporting terminology; includes information used to evaluate creditworthiness.
  • Health care service/good: broadly defined to cover medical, behavioral, mental health, substance use disorder services, hospitalization, prescription drugs, durable medical equipment, etc.

Major provisions / changes

  • Ban on reporting medical debt: A consumer reporting agency may not include an adverse item it knows or should know is medical debt in a consumer report (Sec. 5(1)).
  • Exception for large mortgage-related credit: The prohibition does not apply when the consumer report will be used in connection with a credit transaction involving, or reasonably expected to involve, a principal amount that exceeds the FHFA national conforming loan limit for a 1‑unit property (determined annually) (Sec. 5(2)). In practice this is an exception for higher-value mortgage lending.
  • Limits on collection communications:
    • A collection agency attempting to collect medical debt may not state or imply that the debt will be included in a consumer report, except where the consumer report would be used in connection with a credit transaction exceeding the FHFA conforming loan limit (Sec. 9).
    • Collection agencies must include this exact statement in their initial written communication to the consumer:
      "Michigan law prohibits consumer reporting agencies from reporting medical debt information, unless the consumer report will be used in connection with a credit transaction that involves, or that may reasonably be expected to involve, a principal amount that exceeds the national conforming loan limit value for a 1‑unit property, as determined annually by the Federal Housing Finance Authority." (Sec. 11)

Remedies and enforcement

  • Private right of action: Individuals alleging violations may sue to recover actual damages and seek injunctive relief (Sec. 13).
  • Prevailing plaintiffs may recover costs and reasonable attorney fees.

Who is affected

  • Consumers (Michigan residents): reduced likelihood that medical debt will appear on routine credit reports, potentially improving credit outcomes.
  • Consumer reporting agencies: restricted from including most medical debt items in reports supplied to third parties, except under the stated mortgage-related exception.
  • Collection agencies and debt buyers: prohibited from threatening or representing that medical debt will be reported to CRAs (with the exception noted), and required to include the statutory disclosure in initial written contacts.
  • Lenders and other users of credit reports: large-mortgage lenders may still receive medical-debt information when evaluating loans above the FHFA conforming limit.

Procedural notes / timeline

  • Introduced March 11, 2025; first read April 1/17 (documents show both dates for filing/reading); committee hearings and substitute considered April 9–29, 2025.
  • Reported favorably as substituted and placed on Local & Consent Calendar; passed the House on May 10, 2025 (read 2nd/3rd times, engrossed, record and nonrecord votes recorded).
  • Next steps (not in text): if passed by the Senate and signed by the Governor, the act would become law.

Practical implications (objective)

  • Likely to remove most medical debts from routine credit-reporting, reducing credit-score impacts from medical bills.
  • Could change collection practices and reduce collection leverage based on threatening credit reporting.
  • The FHFA conforming loan‑limit exception preserves access to medical-debt data for large mortgage underwriting.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

Sign in to ask a question.