§ 1692a. — Definitions.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 15USC1692a]
TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
CHAPTER 41--CONSUMER CREDIT PROTECTION
SUBCHAPTER V--DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES
Sec. 1692a. Definitions
As used in this subchapter--
(1) The term ``Commission'' means the Federal Trade Commission.
(2) The term ``communication'' means the conveying of
information regarding a debt directly or indirectly to any person
through any medium.
(3) The term ``consumer'' means any natural person obligated or
allegedly obligated to pay any debt.
(4) The term ``creditor'' means any person who offers or extends
credit creating a debt or to whom a debt is owed, but such term does
not include any person to the extent that he receives an assignment
or transfer of a debt in default solely for the purpose of
facilitating collection of such debt for another.
(5) The term ``debt'' means any obligation or alleged obligation
of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the
money, property, insurance, or services which are the subject of the
transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household
purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced to
judgment.
(6) The term ``debt collector'' means any person who uses any
instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business
the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or
who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or
indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another.
Notwithstanding the exclusion provided by clause (F) of the last
sentence of this paragraph, the term includes any creditor who, in
the process of collecting his own debts, uses any name other than
his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or
attempting to collect such debts. For the purpose of section
1692f(6) of this title, such term also includes any person who uses
any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any
business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of
security interests. The term does not include--
(A) any officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name
of the creditor, collecting debts for such creditor;
(B) any person while acting as a debt collector for another
person, both of whom are related by common ownership or
affiliated by corporate control, if the person acting as a debt
collector does so only for persons to whom it is so related or
affiliated and if the principal business of such person is not
the collection of debts;
(C) any officer or employee of the United States or any
State to the extent that collecting or attempting to collect any
debt is in the performance of his official duties;
(D) any person while serving or attempting to serve legal
process on any other person in connection with the judicial
enforcement of any debt;
(E) any nonprofit organization which, at the request of
consumers, performs bona fide consumer credit counseling and
assists consumers in the liquidation of their debts by receiving
payments from such consumers and distributing such amounts to
creditors; and
(F) any person collecting or attempting to collect any debt
owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another to the extent
such activity (i) is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary
obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement; (ii) concerns a
debt which was originated by such person; (iii) concerns a debt
which was not in default at the time it was obtained by such
person; or (iv) concerns a debt obtained by such person as a
secured party in a commercial credit transaction involving the
creditor.
(7) The term ``location information'' means a consumer's place
of abode and his telephone number at such place, or his place of
employment.
(8) The term ``State'' means any State, territory, or possession
of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, or any political subdivision of any of the foregoing.
(Pub. L. 90-321, title VIII, Sec. 803, as added Pub. L. 95-109, Sept.
20, 1977, 91 Stat. 875; amended Pub. L. 99-361, July 9, 1986, 100 Stat.
768.)
Amendments
1986--Par. (6). Pub. L. 99-361 in provision preceding cl. (A)
substituted ``clause (F)'' for ``clause (G)'', struck out cl. (F) which
excluded any attorney-at-law collecting a debt as an attorney on behalf
of and in the name of a client from term ``debt collector'', and
redesignated cl. (G) as (F).
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in title 31 section 3718.
