CFPB Eyes Broad Expansion of Federal Credit Reporting Standards

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is gearing up for a major rewrite of credit reporting rules that would sweep in additional companies and set new standards for data security and investigations of disputes.

The CFPB and the White House floated a potential ban on the use of medical debt in consumers’ credit reports as part of a proposal unveiled Sept. 21 to rewrite the rules for implementing the 1970 Fair Credit Reporting Act.

But the outline, submitted to a review panel of small business representatives, goes much further than the medical debt prohibition. The plan—if embodied in a formal ...