[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2516 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2516
To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to restrict the debt
collection practices of certain debt collectors.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 19, 2019
Mr. Booker (for himself and Mr. Lee) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing,
and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to restrict the debt
collection practices of certain debt collectors.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Debt Collection Abuse Act of
2019''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
Section 803 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C.
1692a) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (4), by striking ``facilitating collection
of such debt for another'' and inserting ``collection of such
debt'';
(2) by striking paragraphs (5) and (6) and inserting the
following:
``(5) The term `debt' means--
``(A) any obligation or alleged obligation of a
consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in
which the money, property, insurance, or services that
are the subject of the transaction are primarily for
personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not
such obligation has been reduced to judgment; or
``(B) any obligation or alleged obligation of a
consumer--
``(i) to pay a loan, an overpayment, a
fine, a penalty, a fee, or other money to a
Federal agency; and
``(ii) that is not less than 180 days past
due.
``(6) The term `debt collector'--
``(A) means any person who--
``(i) uses any instrumentality of
interstate commerce or the mails in any
business the principal purpose of which is the
collection of any debts;
``(ii) regularly collects or attempts to
collect, directly or indirectly, by its own
means or by hiring another debt collector,
debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due
another or that have been obtained by
assignment or transfer from another; or
``(iii) regularly collects debts owed or
allegedly owed to a Federal agency;
``(B) includes--
``(i) any creditor who, in the process of
collecting the debts of the creditor, uses any
name other than the name of the creditor which
would indicate that a third person is
collecting or attempting to collect such debts;
and
``(ii) for purposes of section 808(6), any
person who uses any instrumentality of
interstate commerce or the mails in any
business the principal purpose of which is the
enforcement of security interests; and
``(C) does not include--
``(i) any officer or employee of a creditor
while, in the name of the creditor, collecting
debts for such creditor;
``(ii) any person while acting as a debt
collector for another person, both of whom are
related by common ownership or affiliated by
corporate control, if the person acting as a
debt collector does so only for persons to whom
it is so related or affiliated and if the
principal business of such person is not the
collection of debts;
``(iii) any officer or employee of the
United States or any State to the extent that
collecting or attempting to collect any debt is
in the performance of his official duties;
``(iv) any person while serving or
attempting to serve legal process on any other
person in connection with the judicial
enforcement of any debt;
``(v) any nonprofit organization which, at
the request of consumers, performs bona fide
consumer credit counseling and assists
consumers in the liquidation of their debts by
receiving payments from such consumers and
distributing such amounts to creditors; and
``(vi) any person collecting or attempting
to collect any debt owed or due or asserted to
be owed or due another or that has been
obtained by assignment or transfer from another
to the extent such activity--
``(I) is incidental to a bona fide
fiduciary obligation or a bona fide
escrow arrangement;
``(II) concerns a debt which was
originated by such person;
``(III) concerns a debt which was
not in default at the time it was
obtained by such person; or
``(IV) concerns a debt obtained by
such person as a secured party in a
commercial credit transaction involving
the creditor.''.
SEC. 3. DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES FOR DEBT COLLECTORS HIRED BY
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.) is
amended by inserting after section 812 (15 U.S.C. 1692j) the following:
``Sec. 812A. Debt collection practices for debt collectors hired by
Federal agencies
``(a) Limitation on Time To Turn Debt Over to Debt Collector.--A
Federal agency that is a creditor may sell or transfer a debt described
in section 803(5)(B) to a debt collector not earlier than 90 days after
the date on which the obligation or alleged obligation arises.
``(b) Required Notice.--
``(1) In general.--Before transferring or selling a debt
described in section 803(5)(B) to a debt collector or
contracting with a debt collector to collect such a debt, a
Federal agency shall notify the consumer not fewer than 3 times
that the Federal agency will take such action.
``(2) Frequency of notifications.--The second and third
notifications described in paragraph (1) shall be made not less
than 30 days after the date on which the previous notification
is made.''.
SEC. 4. UNFAIR PRACTICES.
Section 808 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C.
1692f) is amended by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the
following:
``(1) The collection of any amount (including any interest,
fee, charge, or expense incidental to the principal obligation)
unless--
``(A) such amount is expressly authorized by the
agreement creating the debt or permitted by law; or
``(B) in the case of any amount charged by a debt
collector collecting a debt for a Federal agency, such
amount is--
``(i) reasonable in relation to the actual
costs of the collection;
``(ii) authorized by a contract between the
debt collector and the Federal agency; and
``(iii) not greater than 10 percent of the
amount collected by the debt collector.''.
SEC. 5. GAO STUDY AND REPORT.
(a) Study.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall
conduct a study on the use of debt collectors by Federal, State, and
local government agencies, including--
(1) the powers given to the debt collectors by Federal,
State, and local government agencies;
(2) the contracting process that allows a Federal, State,
or local government agency to award debt collection to a
certain company, including the selection process;
(3) any fees charged to debtors in addition to principal
and interest on the outstanding debt;
(4) how the fees described in paragraph (3) vary from State
to State;
(5) consumer protection at the State level that offer
recourse to those whom debts have been wrongfully attributed;
(6) the revenues received by debt collectors from Federal,
State, and local government agencies;
(7) the amount of any revenue sharing agreements between
debt collectors and Federal, State, and local government
agencies;
(8) the difference in debt collection procedures across
geographic regions, including the extent to which debt
collectors pursue court judgments to collect debts; and
(9) any legal immunity or other protections given to the
debt collectors hired by State and local government agencies,
including whether the debt collectors are subject to the Fair
Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.).
(b) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to
Congress a report on the completed study required under subsection (a).
<all>
Stop Debt Collection Abuse Act of 2019
#2516 | S Congress #116
Policy Area: Finance and Financial Sector
Last Action: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (9/19/2019)
Bill Text Source: Congress.gov
Summary and Impacts
Original Text