The ruling targets a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that would have removed medical debt from 15 million credit reports.

The CFPB pushed further, however, finalizing a rule in early January barring all medical debt from influencing people’s credit scores. It estimated that the rule would remove roughly $49 billion in medical bills from the credit reports of 15 million Americans, raising their scores by an average of 20 points.

The judge's decision vacated a rule imposed by the Biden administration earlier this year to keep medical debt from affecting credit scores.