Ending Debt Collection Harassment Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1657 To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to improve consumer protections relating to debt collection practices, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 8, 2021 Ms. PRESSLEY (for herself, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, and Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to improve consumer protections relating to debt collection practices, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ending Debt Collection 4 Harassment Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1657.IH H1657 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1657 IH SEC. 2. CONSUMER PROTECTIONS RELATING TO DEBT COL- 1 LECTION PRACTICES. 2 (a) REPORTS ON DEBT COLLECTION COMPLAINTS 3 AND ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS.— 4 (1) SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT.—Section 1016(c) of 5 the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 6 U.S.C. 5496(c)) is amended— 7 (A) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 8 the end; 9 (B) in paragraph (9), by striking the pe- 10 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 11 (C) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(10) an analysis of the consumer complaints 13 received by the Bureau with respect to debt collec- 14 tion, including a State-by-State breakdown of such 15 complaints; and 16 ‘‘(11) a list of enforcement actions taken 17 against debt collectors during the preceding year.’’. 18 (2) ANNUAL REPORT.—Section 815(a) of the 19 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 20 1692m(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 21 lowing new sentence: ‘‘Each such report shall also 22 include an analysis of the impact of electronic com- 23 munications by debt collectors on consumer experi- 24 ences with debt collection, including a consideration 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1657.IH H1657 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1657 IH of consumer complaints about the use of electronic 1 communications in debt collection.’’. 2 (b) LIMITATION ON DEBT COLLECTION RULES.— 3 Section 1022 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act 4 of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5512) is amended by adding at the 5 end the following: 6 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION ON DEBT COLLECTION RULES.— 7 The Director may not issue any rule with respect to debt 8 collection that allows a debt collector to send unlimited 9 email and text messages to a consumer.’’. 10 (c) PROTECTION OF CONSUMERS FROM UNLIMITED 11 TEXTS AND EMAILS USED IN DEBT COLLECTION.—Sec- 12 tion 806 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 13 U.S.C. 1692d) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 14 lowing new paragraph: 15 ‘‘(7) Contacting the consumer electronically, in- 16 cluding by email or text message, without consent of 17 the consumer, after such consent has been with- 18 drawn, or more frequently than the consumer con- 19 sents to be contacted.’’. 20 (d) ENSURING CONSUMERS RECEIVE NOTICE OF 21 DEBT COLLECTION PROTECTIONS.—Section 809(a) of the 22 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692g(a)) 23 is amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by 24 striking ‘‘Within five days’’ and all that follows through 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1657.IH H1657 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1657 IH ‘‘debt,’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘NOTICE OF DEBT; 1 CONTENTS.—Within five days after the initial commu- 2 nication with a consumer in connection with the collection 3 of any debt,’’. 4 (e) LIMITATIONS ON DEBT COLLECTION RULES.— 5 Section 814(d) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act 6 (15 U.S.C. 1692l(d)) is amended by adding at the end 7 the following: ‘‘Such rules— 8 ‘‘(1) may not allow a debt collector to send un- 9 limited electronic communications to a consumer; 10 ‘‘(2) shall require debt collectors to obtain con- 11 sent directly from consumers before contacting them 12 using a method other than by postal mail or by 13 phone; 14 ‘‘(3) may not waive the requirements of the 15 Electronic Signatures in Global and National Com- 16 merce Act (15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq.); and 17 ‘‘(4) shall allow consumers to opt out of any 18 method of communication that the debt collector 19 uses to communicate with consumers, including a 20 method for which such consumer had given prior 21 consent.’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1657.IH H1657 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS