Small Business Fair Debt Collection Protection Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2884 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. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 18, 2019 Mr. WYDEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 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. 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 Prac- 8 tices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.) is amended— 9 (1) in section 803 (15 U.S.C. 1692a)— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:07 Nov 20, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2884.IS S2884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2884 IS (A) by striking (5) and inserting the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(5) The term ‘debt’ means any obligation or 3 alleged obligation to pay money arising out of a 4 transaction, whether or not such obligation has been 5 reduced to judgment.’’; and 6 (B) by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(9) The term ‘commercial credit bureau’ 8 means any person that— 9 ‘‘(A) for monetary fees, dues, or on a coop- 10 erative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in 11 whole or in part in the practice of assembling 12 or evaluating commercial credit information or 13 other information on businesses for the purpose 14 of furnishing consumer reports to third parties; 15 and 16 ‘‘(B) uses any means or facility of inter- 17 state commerce for the purpose of preparing or 18 furnishing consumer reports. 19 ‘‘(10) The term ‘consumer reports’ has the 20 meaning given the term in section 603 of this Act.’’; 21 and 22 (2) by inserting after section 818 the following: 23 ‘‘§ 818A. Application to small business debt 24 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—The term ‘small business debt’— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:07 Nov 20, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2884.IS S2884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2884 IS ‘‘(1) means any nonequity obligation or alleged 1 obligation of a partnership, corporation, trust, es- 2 tate, cooperative, association, government or govern- 3 mental subdivision or agency, or other entity that is 4 less than $5,000,000; and 5 ‘‘(2) does not include any obligation or alleged 6 obligation— 7 ‘‘(A) of an individual; or 8 ‘‘(B) that is primarily for personal, family, 9 or household purposes. 10 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—This Act shall apply to small 11 business debt to the same extent as this Act applies to 12 debt.’’. 13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 14 for the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is amended by 15 inserting after the item relating to section 818 the fol- 16 lowing: 17 ‘‘818A. Application to small business debt.’’. (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Fair Debt 18 Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.) is 19 amended— 20 (1) in section 805(b), by inserting ‘‘or a com- 21 mercial credit bureau (as applicable)’’ after ‘‘con- 22 sumer reporting agency’’; 23 (2) in section 806(3)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:07 Nov 20, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2884.IS S2884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2884 IS (A) by striking ‘‘consumers who’’ and in- 1 serting ‘‘consumers or small businesses that’’; 2 and 3 (B) by inserting ‘‘ or to a commercial cred- 4 it bureau (as applicable),’’ after ‘‘consumer re- 5 porting agency’’; and 6 (3) in section 807(16), by inserting ‘‘or a com- 7 mercial credit bureau’’ after ‘‘this Act’’. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:07 Nov 20, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2884.IS S2884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS