EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect new information provided by Mark Dobosz, the Executive Director of NARCA – The National Creditors Bar Association.
Rep. Alex Mooney [R-W.V.] introduced a bill on Friday that would amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to exclude lawyers and law firms engaged in collection-related work from the definition of debt collector in the FDCPA.
The full text of the bill, H.R. 5028, is not yet available. The bill is intended to replace a similar bill, H.R. 4550, the Practice of Law Technical Clarification Act of 2017. That bill was supposed to be voted on by the House Financial Services Committee last month, but was postponed due to administrative reasons. It is scheduled to be voted on in March.
Rep. Mooney was a co-sponsor on H.R. 4550, which was introduced by Rep. Vincente Gonzales [R-Texas]. Rep. Gonzalez is now a co-sponsor of Rep. Mooney’s bill.
The aim of the bill is to amend the FDCPA to exclude lawyers and law firms engaged in collections work from the definition of debt collector under the FDCPA, and to prohibit the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from supervising or enforcing “with respect to attorneys when undertaking certain actions related to legal proceedings, and for other purposes.”
H.R. 5028 has been referred to the House Financial Services Committee for consideration. Rep. Mooney is a member of the House Financial Services Committee.
