HB5016 EnrolledLRB097 18247 CEL 63473 b

1    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Collection Agency Act is amended by changing
5Section 2 and by adding Sections 8.5 and 8.6 as follows:
 
6    (225 ILCS 425/2)  (from Ch. 111, par. 2002)
7    (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2016)
8    Sec. 2. Definitions. In this Act:
9    "Charge-off balance" means an account principal and other
10legally collectible costs, expenses, and interest accrued
11prior to the charge-off date, less any payments or settlement.
12    "Charge-off date" means the date on which a receivable is
13treated as a loss or expense.
14    "Consumer credit transaction" means a transaction between
15a natural person and another person in which property, service,
16or money is acquired on credit by that natural person from such
17other person primarily for personal, family, or household
18purposes.
19    "Consumer debt" or "consumer credit" means money,
20property, or their equivalent, due or owing or alleged to be
21due or owing from a natural person by reason of a consumer
22credit transaction.
23    "Creditor" means a person who extends consumer credit to a

 

 

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1debtor.
2    "Current balance" means the charge-off balance plus any
3legally collectible costs, expenses, and interest, less any
4credits or payments.
5    "Debt" means money, property, or their equivalent which is
6due or owing or alleged to be due or owing from a natural
7person to another person.
8    "Debt buyer" means a person or entity that is engaged in
9the business of purchasing delinquent or charged-off consumer
10loans or consumer credit accounts or other delinquent consumer
11debt for collection purposes, whether it collects the debt
12itself or hires a third-party for collection or an
13attorney-at-law for litigation in order to collect such debt.
14    "Debt collection" means any act or practice in connection
15with the collection of consumer debts.
16    "Debt collector", "collection agency", or "agency" means
17any person who, in the ordinary course of business, regularly,
18on behalf of himself or herself or others, engages in debt
19collection.
20    "Debtor" means a natural person from whom a debt collector
21seeks to collect a consumer debt that is due and owing or
22alleged to be due and owing from such person.
23    "Department" means Division of Professional Regulation
24within the Department of Financial and Professional
25Regulation.
26    "Director" means the Director of the Division of

 

 

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1Professional Regulation within the Department of Financial and
2Professional Regulation.
3    "Person" means a natural person, partnership, corporation,
4limited liability company, trust, estate, cooperative,
5association, or other similar entity.
6(Source: P.A. 95-437, eff. 1-1-08.)
 
7    (225 ILCS 425/8.5 new)
8    Sec. 8.5. Debt buyers. A debt buyer shall be subject to all
9of the terms, conditions, and requirements of this Act, except
10as otherwise provided for in subsection (b) of Section 8.6 of
11this Act.
 
12    (225 ILCS 425/8.6 new)
13    Sec. 8.6. Debt buyer activities.
14    (a) Debt buyers initiating actions upon an obligation
15arising out of a consumer debt shall be commenced within the
16applicable statute of limitations period.
17    (b) With respect to its activities as a debt buyer in
18pursuing the collection of accounts it owns, a debt buyer shall
19be subject to all of the terms, conditions, and requirements of
20this Act, except that a debt buyer shall not be required to (i)
21file and maintain in force a surety bond under Section 8 of
22this Act; (ii) maintain a trust account under Section 8c of
23this Act; (iii) procure written authorization to refer the
24account to an attorney for suit under Section 8a-1 of this Act;

 

 

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1or (iv) adhere to the assignment for collection criteria under
2Section 8b of this Act.
3    (c) The Attorney General may enforce against debt buyers
4the provisions identified in Section 9.7 of this Act as an
5unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive
6Business Practices Act.
 
7    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January
81, 2013.