
Medical debt collection agency closes in Fishers
The collection agency, which had more than 90 employees, was ordered in 2023 to pay a $1.68M penalty for violations of federal debt-collection and credit-reporting laws.
The collection agency, which had more than 90 employees, was ordered in 2023 to pay a $1.68M penalty for violations of federal debt-collection and credit-reporting laws.
Hours before the start of a possible federal government shutdown, President-elect Donald Trump doubled-down on his insistence that the debt ceiling be increased or eliminated.
Not only is the federal debt at roughly $36 trillion, but the spike in inflation after the coronavirus pandemic has pushed up the government’s borrowing costs such that debt service next year will easily exceed spending on national security.
A national proposal to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports could have a significant impact in Indiana, where the percentage of residents with delinquent medical debt is higher than in 39 other states.
The debt-relief initiative is part of a partnership between the United Neighborhood Centers of Indianapolis, United Way of Central Indiana and national not-for-profit Undue Medical Debt.
The rules would ban credit reporting agencies from incorporating medical debt when calculating credit scores. They would also bar lenders from using medical debt to determine loan eligibility.
The CEO of Blue Marble says the company is about $22 million in debt and considering its options after three of its creditors moved last month to force it into bankruptcy.
Both companies have benefitted from Americans’ increased use of credit cards. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Americans held $1.13 trillion on their credit cards, and aggregate household debt balances increased by $212 billion, up 1.2%, according to the latest data.
The new milestone comes as lawmakers brace for fiscal showdowns over spending levels in the new year.
In addition to pulling medical bills from credit reports, the proposal would prevent creditors from using medical bills when deciding on loans and stop debt collectors from using credit ratings to pressure people with health care-related debt.
While it caught the White House by surprise, the decision to downgrade U.S. government debt reflects Washington’s persistent battles over rising federal debt, now projected to approach levels unseen since the end of World War II.
The nonpartisan agency estimates in its latest 30-year outlook, released Wednesday, that publicly held debt will be equal to a record 181% of American economic activity by 2053.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a consent order last week against Fishers-based Phoenix Financial Services over alleged violations of federal debt-collection and credit-reporting laws.
Lawmakers are tentatively not expected back at work until Tuesday, just two days from June 1, when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the U.S. could start running out of cash to pay its bills and face a federal default.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers compared the potential economic impact of a debt ceiling breach to the 2008 Great Recession, in which economic growth contracts sharply and unemployment surges.
Next month, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases seeking to overturn the debt relief policy that conservatives have panned as an expensive giveaway and executive overreach.
The countdown toward a possible U.S. government default began Thursday with Treasury implementing accounting measures to buy time as frictions between President Joe Biden and House Republicans raise alarms.
Millions of Americans have had medical debt paid by not-for-profits that receive increased support from a wide variety of grantmakers and donors, including MacKenzie Scott.
After squirreling away cash at record rates during the pandemic, Americans have taken a hard turn in the opposite direction, with the personal savings rate dropping to a 17-year low of 2.3% in October.
Earlier Thursday, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected an appeal from a Wisconsin taxpayers group seeking to stop the debt cancellation program.