# Why Does the South Have Such Ugly Credit Scores?  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Andrew Van Dam]] - Full Title:: Why Does the South Have Such Ugly Credit Scores? - Category: #articles - URL: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/02/17/bad-southern-credit-scores/ ## Highlights > big band of credit-score calamity that stretches across the American South. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c1ge1kak3fca5eq642x01)) #### Department of Data > rewards programs such as American Express Gold effectively siphon billions of dollars a year from lower-income counties, many of them in the South, and transfer the cash to well-heeled enclaves loaded with professionals who tend to take advantage of such programs. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c3n7b3smhec67mvzq78t8)) > So while race may play a role, it’s probably not the defining factor. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c4jdez2kbm2w0353hhadk)) > counties with lower income and lower college graduation rates tend to have lower credit scores. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c50hj4c12jm5e5qej9ktv)) > The reason why credit scores are so low in the South has gotta be connected to medical debt, because that’s the most common type of unpaid bill that people have,” Braga said. And the South, he said, easily has the highest levels of medical debt in the country. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c6gj5gmcepr0t272adt43)) > Of the 100 counties with the highest share of adults struggling to pay their medical debt, 92 are in the South, and the other eight are in neighboring Oklahoma and Missouri ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c7ae21xke8xbf25y8cmys)) > became more concentrated in lower-income communities in states that did not expand Medicaid” after key provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2014. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c98t1c534a26ypnte1q1q)) > Of the 11 states that have yet to expand Medicaid, eight sit in the South, [according to KFF](https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map/), a San Francisco health-policy nonprofit. Southerners were more likely to be behind on medical debt even before the ACA, but the reluctance among the region’s mostly Republican governors to participate in the Medicaid expansion has increased the gaps between the South and the rest of the country. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5cbdrgzddjv6f1bvqv9a0x)) > In states that immediately expanded Medicaid, medical debt was slashed nearly in half between 2013 and 2020. In states that didn’t expand Medicaid, medical debt fell just 10 percent, the JAMA team found. And in low-income communities in those states, debt levels actually rose. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5cbypy6k72spz973h34cc3)) > Still, the share of residents with overdue medical debt remains more strongly linked to a county’s credit score than any other factor we considered, including debt related to car loans, credit cards and student loans. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5cdyh49qgkvsz655fk8q9d)) > However, that move could push the South even further behind. [According to the CFPB](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-publishes-analysis-of-potential-impacts-of-medical-debt-credit-reporting-changes/#:~:text=Starting%20in%202023%2C%20medical%20collections,than%20medical%20bills%20over%20%24500.), “people living in the north and east are more likely to benefit” from the change, as they have debts that are more likely to fall below the $500 threshold. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5cfmhswj0v33zwgcgvssgx)) # Why Does the South Have Such Ugly Credit Scores?  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Andrew Van Dam]] - Full Title:: Why Does the South Have Such Ugly Credit Scores? - Category: #articles - URL: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/02/17/bad-southern-credit-scores/ ## Highlights > big band of credit-score calamity that stretches across the American South. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c1ge1kak3fca5eq642x01)) #### Department of Data > rewards programs such as American Express Gold effectively siphon billions of dollars a year from lower-income counties, many of them in the South, and transfer the cash to well-heeled enclaves loaded with professionals who tend to take advantage of such programs. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c3n7b3smhec67mvzq78t8)) > So while race may play a role, it’s probably not the defining factor. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c4jdez2kbm2w0353hhadk)) > counties with lower income and lower college graduation rates tend to have lower credit scores. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c50hj4c12jm5e5qej9ktv)) > The reason why credit scores are so low in the South has gotta be connected to medical debt, because that’s the most common type of unpaid bill that people have,” Braga said. And the South, he said, easily has the highest levels of medical debt in the country. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c6gj5gmcepr0t272adt43)) > Of the 100 counties with the highest share of adults struggling to pay their medical debt, 92 are in the South, and the other eight are in neighboring Oklahoma and Missouri ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c7ae21xke8xbf25y8cmys)) > became more concentrated in lower-income communities in states that did not expand Medicaid” after key provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2014. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5c98t1c534a26ypnte1q1q)) > Of the 11 states that have yet to expand Medicaid, eight sit in the South, [according to KFF](https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map/), a San Francisco health-policy nonprofit. Southerners were more likely to be behind on medical debt even before the ACA, but the reluctance among the region’s mostly Republican governors to participate in the Medicaid expansion has increased the gaps between the South and the rest of the country. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5cbdrgzddjv6f1bvqv9a0x)) > In states that immediately expanded Medicaid, medical debt was slashed nearly in half between 2013 and 2020. In states that didn’t expand Medicaid, medical debt fell just 10 percent, the JAMA team found. And in low-income communities in those states, debt levels actually rose. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5cbypy6k72spz973h34cc3)) > Still, the share of residents with overdue medical debt remains more strongly linked to a county’s credit score than any other factor we considered, including debt related to car loans, credit cards and student loans. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5cdyh49qgkvsz655fk8q9d)) > However, that move could push the South even further behind. [According to the CFPB](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-publishes-analysis-of-potential-impacts-of-medical-debt-credit-reporting-changes/#:~:text=Starting%20in%202023%2C%20medical%20collections,than%20medical%20bills%20over%20%24500.), “people living in the north and east are more likely to benefit” from the change, as they have debts that are more likely to fall below the $500 threshold. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gt5cfmhswj0v33zwgcgvssgx))