On January 7, two plaintiffs representing industry associations filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against the CFPB and its Director, Rohit Chopra, to challenge a CFPB final rule (also issued on January 7 and covered by InfoBytes here). The plaintiffs allege that the final rule “categorically precludes the inclusion of medical debt—coded or otherwise—on consumer reports” provided to creditors for credit determinations and “forbids creditors from considering solicited medical debt information coded or otherwise when making credit decisions,” in contravention of the FCRA, which expressly allows for the reporting and consideration of coded medical debt information. The plaintiffs also allege that the final rule incorporates various state law prohibitions on the information creditors may consider in making credit determinations, in violation of FCRA’s preemption provisions. Further, the plaintiffs claim the rule is arbitrary and capricious, because it relies on outdated data and fails to account for recent industry changes that improve the accuracy of medical debt reporting and is inconsistent with the CFPB’s requirement that creditors consider self-disclosed medical debt under certain circumstances. The plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief, requesting the court to vacate the CFPB’s rule.