The House Financial Services Committee will be marking up a series of bills today, including one that was introduced last week by Rep. Maxine Waters [D-Calif.], the chairwoman of the Committee, that includes eight different bills aimed at debt collectors.
The committee will be marking up H.R. 2547, The Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act. Among the sections included in that bill are:
- Small Business Lending Fairness Act
- Fair Debt Collection Practices for Servicemembers Act
- Private Loan Disability Discharge Act of 2021
- Consumer Protection for Medical Debt Collections Act
- Ending Debt Collection Harassment Act of 2021
- Stop Debt Collection Abuse Act of 2021
- Debt Collection Practices Harmonization Act
- Non-Judicial Foreclosure Debt Collection Clarification Act
A full copy of the text of the bill is available by clicking here.
Among some of the provisions of the bills are:
- Prohibiting collectors from threatening to have a servicemember demoted for not paying a debt, having the servicemember’s security clearance revoked, or threatening prosecution under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
- Discharging any private student loan in the event a student becomes permanently disabled or dies.
- Creating a two-year waiting period for attempting to collect on an unpaid medical debt while also notifying consumers prior to furnishing information about unpaid medical debts to credit reporting agencies.
- Requiring consumers’ consent before attempting to contact them via email or text messaging.
- Regulating collection practices for collectors hired by federal agencies.
- Increasing the penalties collectors can face when found to have violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
You can watch a live webcast of the session by clicking here. A summary of all the bills being discussed during the hearing, including those related to debt collection, is available by clicking here
