[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 7, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1501-S1502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2146. Mr. BOOKER (for himself and Mr. Lee) submitted an amendment
intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 2155, to promote economic
growth, provide tailored regulatory relief, and enhance consumer
protections, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the
table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. STOP DEBT COLLECTION ABUSE.
(a) 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, 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 his
own debts, uses any name other than his own which would
indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to
collect such debts; and
[[Page S1502]]
``(ii) for purposes of section 808(6), includes 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.''.
(b) 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.''.
(c) 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.''.
(d) GAO Study and Report.--
(1) Study.--The Comptroller General of the United States
shall commence a study on the use of debt collectors by
Federal, State, and local government agencies, including--
(A) the powers given to the debt collectors by Federal,
State, and local government agencies;
(B) the contracting process that allows a Federal, State,
or local government agency to award debt collection to a
certain company, including the selection process;
(C) any fees charged to debtors in addition to principal
and interest on the outstanding debt;
(D) how the fees described in subparagraph (C) vary from
State to State;
(E) consumer protection at the State level that offer
recourse to those whom debts have been wrongfully attributed;
(F) the revenues received by debt collectors from Federal,
State, and local government agencies;
(G) the amount of any revenue sharing agreements between
debt collectors and Federal, State, and local government
agencies;
(H) the difference in debt collection procedures across
geographic regions, including the extent to which debt
collectors pursue court judgments to collect debts; and
(I) 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.).
(2) 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 paragraph (1).
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