I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5934 To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to safeguard access to information for consumers and to stop abusive debt litigation, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 21, 2020 Ms. BONAMICI (for herself, Mr. COHEN, and Mr. FOSTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to safe- guard access to information for consumers and to stop abusive debt litigation, 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 ‘‘Securing Consumers 4 Against Misrepresented Debt Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘SCAM 5 Debt Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:09 Feb 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5934.IH H5934 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5934 IH SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 Section 803 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act 2 (15 U.S.C. 1692a) is amended by adding at the end the 3 following: 4 ‘‘(9) The term ‘legal action’ means any lawsuit 5 or legal proceeding (including litigation, arbitration, 6 enforcement of security interests, post-judgment ac- 7 tions, and mediation) pursued, taken, threatened, of- 8 fered, or requested by debt collectors.’’. 9 SEC. 3. FALSE OR MISLEADING REPRESENTATIONS. 10 Section 807(11) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices 11 Act (15 U.S.C. 1692e(11)) is amended by striking ‘‘legal 12 action’’ and inserting ‘‘lawsuit’’. 13 SEC. 4. VALIDATION OF DEBTS. 14 Section 809(a) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices 15 Act (15 U.S.C. 1692g(a)) is amended— 16 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 17 striking ‘‘the following information is contained in 18 the initial communication or’’; 19 (2) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol- 20 lows: 21 ‘‘(1) an itemization of the amount of the debt 22 that includes— 23 ‘‘(A) the total amount of the debt owed on 24 the date of the notice; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:09 Feb 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5934.IH H5934 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5934 IH ‘‘(B) the most recent date of default on the 1 debt; and 2 ‘‘(C) the amount owed on the most recent 3 date of default, the amount of any payments 4 made since such date, and the amount of any 5 interest or fees accrued on the debt since such 6 date;’’; 7 (3) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol- 8 lows: 9 ‘‘(2) the name of the original creditor and, if 10 different, the name of the creditor on the most re- 11 cent date of default and the name of the current 12 creditor to whom the debt is owed;’’. 13 (4) in paragraph (4)— 14 (A) by striking ‘‘in writing’’; and 15 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 16 (5) in paragraph (5)— 17 (A) by striking ‘‘written’’; and 18 (B) by striking the period at the end and 19 inserting a semicolon; and 20 (6) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(6) the account number of the debt on the 22 most recent date of default; and 23 ‘‘(7) all methods that the consumer can use to 24 contact the debt collector.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:09 Feb 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5934.IH H5934 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5934 IH SEC. 5. LEGAL ACTIONS BY DEBT COLLECTORS. 1 Section 811 of the Fair Debt Collections Practices 2 Act (15 U.S.C. 1692i) is amended— 3 (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub- 4 section (c); and 5 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol- 6 lowing new subsection: 7 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR DEBT COLLECTORS.—A 8 debt collector that takes legal action to collect or attempt 9 to collect a debt shall comply with the following require- 10 ments: 11 ‘‘(1) Provide the consumer written notice of the 12 intent to take legal action, sent to the consumer’s 13 last known address at least 30 days and not later 14 than 60 days in advance of commencing the legal ac- 15 tion, that shall include— 16 ‘‘(A) all methods that the consumer can 17 use to contact the debt collector; and 18 ‘‘(B) all information contained in the no- 19 tice required under section 809(a) (excluding 20 the information described in paragraphs (3), 21 (4), and (5) of such section), updated to ensure 22 correctness. 23 ‘‘(2) In the initial pleading filed by a debt col- 24 lector to commence a legal action to collect a debt, 25 include— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:09 Feb 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5934.IH H5934 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5934 IH ‘‘(A) all information contained in the no- 1 tice required under section 809(a) (excluding 2 the information described in paragraphs (3), 3 (4), and (5) of such section), except any ac- 4 count numbers and any personally identifiable 5 information, updated to ensure correctness; 6 ‘‘(B) the last four digits of the account 7 number of the original debt; 8 ‘‘(C) admissible documentary evidence of— 9 ‘‘(i) the written agreement, contract, 10 or instrument creating the debt, if any, or 11 other documents showing that the con- 12 sumer agreed to the agreement, contract, 13 or instrument creating the debt; 14 ‘‘(ii) any terms and conditions rel- 15 evant to the debt; 16 ‘‘(iii) that the consumer incurred the 17 debt and the amount owed; and 18 ‘‘(iv) that there is a chain of title of 19 the ownership of debt and the right to col- 20 lect the debt, including documents showing 21 the date of each transfer of ownership of 22 the debt and the identity of each owner of 23 the debt; and 24 ‘‘(D) a sworn affidavit stating— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:09 Feb 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5934.IH H5934 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5934 IH ‘‘(i) that the applicable statute of limi- 1 tations for collecting the debt has not ex- 2 pired and the date on which such statute 3 of limitations expires; and 4 ‘‘(ii) that the debt collector personally 5 reviewed all applicable records and docu- 6 ments relating to the debt to be collected.’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:09 Feb 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5934.IH H5934 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS