Ending Debt Collection Harassment Act of 2019

IB Union Calendar No. 337 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5021 [Report No. 116–418] 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 NOVEMBER 8, 2019 Ms. PRESSLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services MARCH 19, 2020 Additional sponsors: Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. LYNCH, and Mr. FOSTER MARCH 19, 2020 Reported with an amendment; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on November 8, 2019] VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H5021.RH H5021 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5021 RH 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. VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H5021.RH H5021 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5021 RH 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 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. CONSUMER PROTECTIONS RELATING TO DEBT COL- 6 LECTION PRACTICES. 7 (a) REPORTS ON DEBT COLLECTION COMPLAINTS AND 8 ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS.— 9 (1) SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT.—Section 1016(c) of 10 the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 11 U.S.C. 5496(c)) is amended— 12 (A) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 13 the end; 14 (B) in paragraph (9), by striking the period 15 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 16 (C) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(10) an analysis of the consumer complaints re- 18 ceived by the Bureau with respect to debt collection, 19 including a State-by-State breakdown of such com- 20 plaints; and 21 ‘‘(11) a list of enforcement actions taken against 22 debt collectors during the preceding year.’’. 23 (2) ANNUAL REPORT.—Section 815(a) of the 24 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5021.RH H5021 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5021 RH 1692m(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 1 lowing new sentence: ‘‘Each such report shall also in- 2 clude an analysis of the impact of electronic commu- 3 nications by debt collectors on consumer experiences 4 with debt collection, including a consideration of con- 5 sumer complaints about the use of electronic commu- 6 nications in debt collection.’’. 7 (b) LIMITATION ON DEBT COLLECTION RULES.—Sec- 8 tion 1022 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 9 (12 U.S.C. 5512) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 10 lowing: 11 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION ON DEBT COLLECTION RULES.—The 12 Director may not issue any rule with respect to debt collec- 13 tion that allows a debt collector to send unlimited email 14 and text messages to a consumer.’’. 15 (c) PROTECTION OF CONSUMERS FROM UNLIMITED 16 TEXTS AND EMAILS USED IN DEBT COLLECTION.—Section 17 806 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 18 1692d) is amended by adding at the end the following new 19 paragraph: 20 ‘‘(7) Contacting the consumer electronically, in- 21 cluding by email or text message, without consent of 22 the consumer, after such consent has been withdrawn, 23 or more frequently than the consumer consents to be 24 contacted.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5021.RH H5021 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5021 RH (d) ENSURING CONSUMERS RECEIVE NOTICE OF DEBT 1 COLLECTION PROTECTIONS.—Section 809(a) of the Fair 2 Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692g(a)) is 3 amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking 4 ‘‘Within five days’’ and all that follows through ‘‘debt,’’ and 5 inserting the following: ‘‘NOTICE OF DEBT; CONTENTS.— 6 Within five days after the initial communication with a 7 consumer in connection with the collection of any debt,’’. 8 (e) IMPROVED LIMITATIONS ON DEBT COLLECTION 9 RULES.—Section 814(d) of the Fair Debt Collection Prac- 10 tices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692l(d)) is amended by adding at the 11 end the following: ‘‘Such rules— 12 ‘‘(1) may not allow a debt collector to send un- 13 limited electronic communications to a consumer; 14 ‘‘(2) shall require debt collectors to obtain con- 15 sent directly from consumers before contacting them 16 using a method other than by postal mail or by 17 phone; 18 ‘‘(3) may not waive the requirements of the Elec- 19 tronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce 20 Act (15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq.); and 21 ‘‘(4) shall allow consumers to opt out of any 22 method of communication that the debt collector uses 23 to communicate with consumers, including a method 24 for which such consumer had given prior consent.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5021.RH H5021 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS Union Calendar No. 337 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5021 [Report No. 116–418] 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. MARCH 19, 2020 Reported with an amendment; committed to the Com- mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H5021.RH H5021 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS