On July 1, your credit score might have gone up. If you have unpaid medical bills under $500, chances are those were removed from your credit reports. But how much you benefit might depend on where you call home, according to a new study from WalletHub. Virginians stand to benefit more than Californians, on average.
The personal finance site listed four Virginia cities in the top 10 to benefit the most in its “2022’s Cities Benefiting Most & Least From Medical-Debt Credit Report Changes” study. Four California cities make up the bottom 10.
The difference wasn’t just how much medical debt those residents were burdened with, it was also how many of those residents had those debts sent to collections.
So in a way, Californians won’t benefit as much from the recent changes because they had less medical debt to start. In fact, looking at the cities that way leads to this conclusion: Smaller cities and rural residents struggle with medical debt more than those in big cities and urban areas.