NYC Medical Debt Rights 2026–27: No Credit Reporting, No Wage Garnishment or Home Liens, a 3-Year Lawsuit Limit and Free Debt Relief
A hospital bill in collections is stressful. If you live in New York City, the law gives you real protection. Over the past few years, New York State has passed laws that keep medical debt off your credit report, bar hospitals and doctors from garnishing your wages or putting a lien on your home, cap the interest on consumer debt judgments, and shorten the time a provider has to sue you. New York City adds its own rules for debt collectors and a program that erases some medical debt outright.
None of this means a medical bill simply goes away. Providers can still bill you, send the debt to a collector and, in some cases, sue. What these laws change is how far they can go. Here's what you need to know, and what to do if someone crosses the line.
Last checked October 2026. Sources: the New York Attorney General's medical debt guidance and FAQ; New York Civil Practice Law and Rules sections 213-d and 5004; Governor Hochul's announcement of the 2022 wage garnishment and lien law; the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Consumer Bill of Rights for debt collection; and NYC311's page on the Medical Debt Relief Program. This is general information, not legal advice.
The Short Version
Credit reports: credit bureaus can't report medical debt in New York, no matter when it was incurred. That includes medical credit cards, but not medical bills you put on a regular credit card.
Wages and home: hospitals and licensed health professionals can't garnish your wages or place a lien on your primary residence for medical debt. They can still try to freeze money in a bank account after winning in court.
Lawsuit deadline: hospitals and licensed health professionals must sue within three years of treatment.
Interest: judgments on consumer debt against an individual carry 2% annual interest, not the standard 9%.
Debt collectors in NYC: must tell you about hospital financial assistance and must answer disputes with proof or a "Notice of Unverified Debt" within 60 days.
Debt relief: the NYC Medical Debt Relief Program erases some debts for low-income residents. There's no application; you get a letter if yours is wiped out.
Help: the Attorney General's helpline is 1-800-771-7755.
Medical Debt Can't Go on Your Credit Report
New York's Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act took effect December 13, 2023. According to the Attorney General's office:
Credit bureaus such as Experian, Equifax and TransUnion cannot place or keep any medical debt on your credit report, no matter when it was incurred.
That covers debt on a medical credit card or a medical loan, both of which count as medical debt under state law.
Hospitals, licensed health care professionals and ambulance services can't give credit bureaus information about your medical debt.
They must also include a clause in their contracts with collection agencies forbidding the collector from reporting your debt.
The Attorney General adds that some parts of the law can be read different ways and that courts haven't yet ruled on how to interpret them.
The credit card trap
The single biggest way people lose this protection is by paying a medical bill with a regular credit card. Once you do, the debt is ordinary credit card debt. The card company can report it, and it can show up on your credit report like any other balance.
Be careful with "health" or "wellness" cards, too. The Attorney General warns that if a card can be used for non-medical purchases, the issuer may not treat any of the balance as medical debt. If you're not sure how a card is treated, ask the issuer before you apply.
New York requires providers to warn you each time you pay with a credit card. They must tell you that:
medical bills paid with a regular credit card aren't treated as medical debt, so you lose those protections;
that includes the protections against wage garnishment, home liens and credit reporting, along with the 2% limit on judgment interest; and
you must acknowledge receiving these notices.
Other rules from the Attorney General's guidance:
A provider can't require a credit card on file or a preauthorization before medically necessary or emergency care. (It can for elective services, such as cosmetic procedures, and can ask you to do so voluntarily.)
Staff can hand you an application for a medical credit card or loan and answer your questions, but they can't help you fill it out.
The Attorney General suggests that instead of using a credit card, you may do better by negotiating the bill, asking for a payment plan, or applying for hospital financial aid.
If medical debt shows up on your report
Dispute it with the credit bureau. The Attorney General says incorrectly reported medical debt is considered void under the law and should be removed. You can also report the bureau, or the provider that furnished the information, to the Attorney General at 1-800-771-7755 or through its online complaint form.
A removed entry doesn't erase the bill itself. The Attorney General notes that the reporting law doesn't generally stop providers or their collectors from pursuing the debt. But if they reported it illegally, you can raise that as an argument.
Your Wages and Home Are Off-Limits to Medical Providers
In 2022, Governor Hochul signed a law (S.6522A/A.7363A) that changed the state's civil procedure rules to stop health care providers from placing liens on a person's primary residence or garnishing wages to collect medical debt. In announcing it, the governor's office said more than 50,000 New Yorkers had been sued over medical debt in the previous five years.
According to the Attorney General, these providers cannot garnish your wages or put a lien on your primary home for medical debt:
hospitals;
licensed health care professionals, such as doctors, physician assistants, dentists, chiropractors, physical and occupational therapists, and certain licensed mental health providers; and
certain other Health Department–licensed facilities: freestanding clinics (diagnostic and treatment centers), rehabilitation centers, ambulatory surgery centers, certain dental clinics and nursing homes.
What they can still do
These providers can still sue you, and if they win a judgment, they can seek a bank levy, which takes money from your bank account. If you receive court papers or a notice that your account has been frozen, get legal help right away.
And again, if the debt is on a regular credit card, the card company isn't a medical provider. With a court judgment, it can garnish your wages or place a lien on your home.
A Three-Year Deadline to Sue
Under CPLR section 213-d, a lawsuit over medical debt by a hospital licensed under the Public Health Law, or by a licensed health care professional, must be started within three years of treatment.
If you're sued over care you received more than three years before the case was filed, the deadline may be a defense. Don't ignore the court papers; talk to a legal services office about how to raise it.
Interest on Judgments Is Capped at 2%
New York's general interest rate on court judgments is 9% a year. But CPLR section 5004 sets the rate at 2% a year for judgments in cases arising from consumer debt where the defendant is an individual. Consumer debt means money owed for personal, family or household purposes, which covers most medical bills. This applies to judgments entered after the 2021 change to the law, and to unpaid portions of older judgments from that date forward.
Your Rights With Debt Collectors in NYC
If a collection agency contacts you about a medical bill, New York City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection sets extra rules. The DCWP's Consumer Bill of Rights for debt collection says:
Medical debt disclosures
Collectors must tell you that medical debt can't be reported to a credit bureau.
They must tell you that you may be eligible for help with certain hospital debts under hospitals' financial assistance policies if you have a low or limited income.
You can request information about, or dispute, the related debts from a single hospitalization or course of treatment.
If you think you're eligible for financial assistance, or could have been when you were treated, tell both the collector and the provider right away. The DCWP says the collector can't collect on the debt and may need to take corrective steps.
Disputes and proof
You can dispute a debt, or ask for verification, at any time, by any method the collector uses to contact you, including by phone.
Within 60 days of your request, the collector must send either documents proving the debt and the amount, or a Notice of Unverified Debt.
Until it verifies the debt, the collector can't keep trying to collect it. A default judgment alone doesn't count as verification.
If you also file a government complaint, send your dispute directly to the collector too, so the clock starts.
Contact limits
Collectors generally can't:
contact you about a debt more than three times a week, unless they're responding to you (mailed letters don't count);
call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. Eastern Time without your written consent;
call your work number without your prior written consent; or
use obscene language or threaten violence or deportation.
You can also ask for communications in a language other than English. Collectors must tell you about available language services.
NYC Medical Debt Relief Program
New York City has partnered with the nonprofit Undue Medical Debt, which buys medical debt from NYC health care providers and hospitals and then erases it. According to NYC311, the program is expected to wipe out more than $2 billion in medical debt over three years.
You may get relief if:
your household income is at or below 400% of the federal poverty line, or
your medical debt equals 5% or more of your annual household income.
There's no application. Undue Medical Debt identifies eligible people, and if your debt is erased, you'll receive a notification letter. You can't ask the program to buy a specific bill. So if you owe money now, use the other tools in this guide: ask for financial assistance, request an itemized bill, set up a payment plan, and dispute errors.
Before It Gets to Collections: Ask for Financial Assistance
New York hospitals have financial assistance programs for low- and moderate-income patients, and the DCWP specifically tells debtors to flag possible eligibility. If you haven't applied, ask the hospital's billing office for its financial assistance application, even if the bill is already with a collector. Our guide to NYC hospital bill help explains NYC Care, NYC Health + Hospitals' options and the rules at private hospitals.
Where to Get Help
New York Attorney General helpline: 1-800-771-7755, or file a complaint online (credit reporting violations, credit card pressure, and other medical billing problems).
NYC DCWP: call 311 or visit nyc.gov/dcwp for debt collection complaints and sample notices.
NYC311: 311 or 212-NEW-YORK (212-639-9675) for questions about the Medical Debt Relief Program.
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