[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6544 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6544

To establish a moratorium on collection efforts made by certain lenders 
               against borrowers affected by coronavirus.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 17, 2020

  Mr. Meeks introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish a moratorium on collection efforts made by certain lenders 
               against borrowers affected by coronavirus.

    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 ``Payday and Predatory Loans 
Moratorium Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON COLLECTION EFFORTS FOR CERTAIN BORROWERS AFFECTED 
              BY CORONAVIRUS.

    (a) Moratorium.--During the one-year period beginning on the date 
on which a borrower notifies a covered lender of the borrower being 
affected by coronavirus, the covered lender may not carry out any 
collection efforts against the borrower with respect to a loan 
described in subsection (b).
    (b) Loan Described.--A loan described in this subsection is any of 
the following loans:
            (1) A loan with nominal interest rates of 36 percent or 
        more.
            (2) A loan by a covered lender described in subsection 
        (c)(3)(B) that does not, or did not at the time of issuing the 
        loan, determine whether the borrower can afford, while still 
        meeting the basic living expenses and major financial 
        obligations of the borrower--
                    (A) with respect to payday and auto title loans 
                that are due in one lump sum within one month of the 
                date of such issuance, the full payment of the total 
                loan amount, plus fees and finance charges; or
                    (B) with respect to longer-term loans with a 
                balloon payment, the payments for the month with the 
                highest total payments on the loan.
    (c) Definitions.--
            (1) Affected by coronavirus.--The term ``affected by 
        coronavirus'' means, with respect to a borrower, any of the 
        following circumstances:
                    (A) The household income of the borrower is reduced 
                by reason of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
                    (B) The borrower becomes unemployed by reason of 
                such disease.
                    (C) The borrower, or a member of the household of 
                the borrower, is hospitalized by reason of such 
                disease.
                    (D) The borrower resides or is employed in an area 
                covered by an emergency declared by the Federal 
                Government or a State or local government as a result 
                of such disease.
            (2) Collection efforts.--The term ``collection efforts'' 
        means any of the following actions, or attempted actions, made 
        by a covered lender (or a collection agency acting on behalf of 
        the covered lender) in order to collect amounts owed to the 
        lender by a borrower:
                    (A) Contacting the borrower by telephone, including 
                by text message.
                    (B) Contacting the employer of the borrower.
                    (C) Cashing post-dated checks of the borrower or 
                making a direct withdrawal from a bank account of the 
                borrower.
                    (D) Entering into an agreement with a collections 
                agency to collect such amounts.
                    (E) Reporting to a credit reporting agency any 
                missed payments related to such amounts.
                    (F) Any other effort not described in subparagraphs 
                (A) through (E) to enforce the collection of the 
                amounts or the making of payments related to such 
                amounts.
            (3) Covered lender.--The term ``covered lender'' means any 
        of the following:
                    (A) A payday lender.
                    (B) A lender who is not a depository institution 
                (as defined under section 3 of the Federal Deposit 
                Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813)) or a Federal or State 
                credit union (as such terms are defined under section 
                101 of the Federal Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1752)).
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