Small Business Fair Debt Collection Protection Act

IB Union Calendar No. 540 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5013 [Report No. 116–656] To apply the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to small businesses to the same extent as such Act applies to consumers, to require the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to define ‘‘small busi- ness’’ for purposes of such Act, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 8, 2019 Mr. LAWSON of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services DECEMBER 16, 2020 Additional sponsor: Mr. CLEAVER DECEMBER 16, 2020 Reported with amendments, 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 00:42 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H5013.RH H5013 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5013 RH A BILL To apply the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to small businesses to the same extent as such Act applies to consumers, to require the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to define ‘‘small busi- ness’’ for purposes of such Act, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H5013.RH H5013 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5013 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 ‘‘Small Business Fair 4 Debt Collection Protection Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES FOR LOANS TO 6 SMALL BUSINESSES. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Debt Collection Practices 8 Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.) is amended— 9 (1) in section 803— 10 (A) by amending paragraph (5) to read as 11 follows: 12 ‘‘(5) The term ‘debt’ means any obligation or al- 13 leged obligation to pay money arising out of a trans- 14 action, whether or not such obligation has been re- 15 duced to judgment.’’; and 16 (B) by adding at the end the following new 17 paragraph: 18 ‘‘(9) The term ‘commercial credit bureau’ means 19 any person which, for monetary fees, dues, or on a co- 20 operative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole 21 or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating 22 commercial credit information or other information 23 on businesses for the purpose of furnishing credit re- 24 ports to third parties, and which uses any means or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5013.RH H5013 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5013 RH facility of interstate commerce for the purpose of pre- 1 paring or furnishing credit reports.’’; 2 (2) by redesignating section 819 as section 820; 3 and 4 (3) by inserting after section 818 the following: 5 ‘‘§ 819. Application to small business debt 6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—This Act shall apply to small 7 business debt to the same extent as this Act applies to debt 8 of consumers. 9 ‘‘(b) SMALL BUSINESS DEBT DEFINED.—The term 10 ‘small business debt’— 11 ‘‘(1) means any non-equity obligation or alleged 12 obligation of a partnership, corporation, trust, estate, 13 cooperative, association, government or governmental 14 subdivision or agency, or other entity that is less than 15 $5,000,000; and 16 ‘‘(2) does not include any obligation or alleged 17 obligation— 18 ‘‘(A) of an individual; or 19 ‘‘(B) that is primarily for personal, family, 20 or household purposes.’’. 21 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents for 22 the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is amended by strik- 23 ing the item relating to section 819 and inserting the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5013.RH H5013 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5013 RH ‘‘819. Application to small business debt. ‘‘820. Effective date.’’. (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Fair Debt Col- 1 lection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.) is amended— 2 (1) in section 805(b), by inserting ‘‘or a commer- 3 cial credit bureau (as applicable)’’ after ‘‘consumer 4 reporting agency’’; 5 (2) in section 806(3)— 6 (A) by striking ‘‘consumers who’’ and in- 7 serting ‘‘consumers or small businesses that’’; 8 and 9 (B) by inserting ‘‘ or to a commercial credit 10 bureau (as applicable),’’ after ‘‘consumer report- 11 ing agency’’; and 12 (3) in section 807(16), by inserting ‘‘or a com- 13 mercial credit bureau’’ after ‘‘this Act’’. 14 Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to apply the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to small business debt to the same extent as such Act applies to consumers, and for other purposes.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5013.RH H5013 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS Union Calendar No. 540 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5013 [Report No. 116–656] A BILL To apply the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to small businesses to the same extent as such Act applies to consumers, to require the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to define ‘‘small business’’ for purposes of such Act, and for other purposes. DECEMBER 16, 2020 Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and or- dered to be printed VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H5013.RH H5013 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS