A new rule will prohibit a certain type of bad debt from appearing on credit reports.

The rule, announced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, prohibits unpaid medical bills from appearing on credit reports used to determine if people qualify for loans on things like homes and autos. The change will remove some $49 billion in medical debt from the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans, according to the CFPB.

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Americans with medical debt could see their credit scores rise by an average of 20 points, federal officials said.

“People who get sick shouldn’t have their financial future upended,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “The CFPB’s final rule will close a special carveout that has allowed debt collectors to abuse the credit reporting system to coerce people into paying medical bills they may not even owe.”

More than 100 million Americans struggle with past-due medical bills, the largest source of debt in collections, the White House said, despite the fact it is often the result of what the White House described as “significant” billing errors. In 2020, 46 million people had medical debt listed on their credit report.

CFPB’s research showed that medical bills are poor indicators of an individual’s ability to repay a loan. After a 2022 analysis estimated that medical bills made up $88 billion of reported debts on credit reports, the three largest reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – announced they would no longer include paid medical debts, unpaid medical debts less than a year old or debt under $500 from credit reporting.

The final rule is set to take effect in March.