Clarifications to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Latest action · Oct 3, 2003 Referred to the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedSep 10, 2003
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Clarifications to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act - Amends the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to state that formal pleadings in a civil action shall not be considered the kind of communication (initial or otherwise) required for a validation of debt notice.
Prescribes an alternative version of the initial communication debt collectors are required to give consumers, incorporating the three statements currently specified.
States that collection activities and communications may continue during the 30 days following a debt collector's initial notice to the debtor.
States that, if the consumer's attorney at law fails to respond to a communication from a debt collector within 30 days (currently, a reasonable period of time) after receiving a communication from the collector, such collector may communicate directly with the consumer.
Limits to one the number of additional communications a debt collector may make to a consumer after the consumer has notified the collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay the debt or wishes the collector to cease further communication. Limits the content of any such additional communication to one of the three purposes already specified by the Act.
Revises notice of debt guidelines to require one of the debt collector's mandatory statements to specify that a consumer's dispute of the validity of a debt be submitted in writing in order to preclude an assumption by the collector that the debt is valid.
Cosponsors 48
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Sep 10, 2003 to Jul 13, 2004; 13 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-FL | Allen Boyd | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| D-KS | Dennis Moore | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| R-NE | Doug Bereuter | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| R-FL | Ginny Brown-Waite | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| R-TX | Jeb Hensarling | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| R-MN | Jim Ramstad | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| R-TX | John R. Carter | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| R-PA | Melissa A. Hart | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| D-NJ | Robert E. Andrews | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| R-NY | Sue W. Kelly | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| R-MI | Thaddeus G. McCotter | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| R-PA | Tim Murphy | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| R-FL | Tom Feeney | Original | Sep 10, 2003 |
| R-WI | F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. | Sep 23, 2003 | |
| R-SC | Joe Wilson | Sep 23, 2003 | |
| R-NE | Lee Terry | Sep 23, 2003 | |
| R-OH | Steven C. LaTourette | Sep 23, 2003 | |
| R-WY | Barbara Cubin | Oct 16, 2003 | |
| D-NY | Carolyn B. Maloney | Oct 16, 2003 | |
| D-SC | John M. Spratt, Jr. | Oct 16, 2003 | |
| R-MN | Mark R. Kennedy | Oct 16, 2003 | |
| R-MI | Peter Hoekstra | Oct 16, 2003 | |
| R-CO | Bob Beauprez | Nov 17, 2003 | |
| D-NY | Major R. Owens | Nov 17, 2003 | |
| R-VA | Virgil H. Goode Jr. | Nov 17, 2003 | |
| R-NY | Amo Houghton | Nov 21, 2003 | |
| R-CO | Marilyn N. Musgrave | Nov 21, 2003 | |
| R-WI | Paul D. Ryan | Nov 21, 2003 | |
| R-NE | Tom Osborne | Nov 21, 2003 | |
| D-WA | Adam Smith | Jan 30, 2004 | |
| D-WA | Brian Baird | Jan 30, 2004 | |
| D-OR | Darlene Hooley | Jan 30, 2004 | |
| R-SC | Jim DeMint | Jan 30, 2004 | |
| R-IN | Mike Pence | Jan 30, 2004 | |
| R-MI | Mike Rogers | Jan 30, 2004 | |
| R-UT | Rob Bishop | Jan 30, 2004 | |
| R-TX | Ron Paul | Jan 30, 2004 | |
| R-NC | Sue Wilkins Myrick | Jan 30, 2004 | |
| R-OH | Patrick J. Tiberi | Feb 26, 2004 | |
| R-GA | Johnny Isakson | Mar 17, 2004 | |
| R-WI | Thomas E. Petri | Mar 17, 2004 | |
| R-MO | W. Todd Akin | Mar 17, 2004 | |
| R-CA | Wally Herger | Mar 17, 2004 | |
| R-SC | J. Gresham Barrett | Mar 24, 2004 | |
| R-TX | Lamar Smith | Mar 24, 2004 | |
| R-PA | Don Sherwood | May 4, 2004 | |
| D-TN | Jim Cooper | May 19, 2004 | |
| R-MI | Dave Camp | Jul 13, 2004 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Financial Services Committee | Referred Sep 10, 2003 |
| Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions Subcommittee | Referred Oct 3, 2003 |
Actions 3
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Oct 3, 2003Referred to the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.
- Sep 10, 2003Introduced in House
- Sep 10, 2003Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to make certain technical corrections, and for other purposes.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Clarifications to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Sep 10, 2003Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.