On June 26, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee signed companion bills S 0169 and S 0172 into law, twin measures that amend the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act and Interest and Usury statute to impose some of the nation's strictest limits on the reporting and collection of medical debt. S0169 becomes effective January 1, 2026, while S0172 took effect immediately upon passage.
The legislation broadly defines "medical debt," to encompass any amount owed to a hospital, clinic, or licensed healthcare professional for treatment, supplies, or medical-only credit-card charges. Key provisions of the bills include:
- Credit-reporting ban. Beginning January 1, 2026, consumer-reporting agencies may not include medical-debt information in Rhode Island consumers' credit files, and furnishers are barred from supplying such data.
- Home and wage protections. S0169 forbids executions or attachments against a debtor's principal residence and bars wage garnishment to collect judgments based on medical debt.
- Interest cap tied to Treasury yield. For medical debt incurred after June 26, 2025, S0172 limits interest to the weekly average one-year constant-maturity Treasury yield, never below 1.5 percent and never above 4 percent per year.
Putting It Into Practice: Rhode Island joins several states measures to ban the inclusion of medical debt in credit reports (previously discussed here, here, and here) and is the latest move in a growing state response to the CFPB setting aside its own medical-debt reporting rule in May (previously discussed here). As additional state bills advance, creditors, consumer-reporting agencies, and debt collectors should closely track evolving requirements and proactively update their furnishing, credit-scoring, and collection procedures to remain compliant.
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