HB5016 EngrossedLRB097 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7    (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2016)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 any person engaging in, or holding
9itself out as engaging in, the business of purchasing accounts
10for value and acquiring all rights in and ownership of a debt.
11    "Debt collection" means any act or practice in connection
12with the collection of consumer debts.
13    "Debt collector", "collection agency", or "agency" means
14any person who, in the ordinary course of business, regularly,
15on behalf of himself or herself or others, engages in debt
16collection.
17    "Debtor" means a natural person from whom a debt collector
18seeks to collect a consumer debt that is due and owing or
19alleged to be due and owing from such person.
20    "Department" means Division of Professional Regulation
21within the Department of Financial and Professional
22Regulation.
23    "Director" means the Director of the Division of
24Professional Regulation within the Department of Financial and
25Professional Regulation.
26    "Person" means a natural person, partnership, corporation,

 

 

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

 

 

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1the provisions identified in Section 9.7 of this Act as an
2unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive
3Business Practices Act.
 
4    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January
51, 2013.