Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 91.djvu/908

 PUBLIC LAW 95-109—SEPT, 20, 1977

91 STAT. 874

Public Law 95-109 95th Congress An Act Sept. 20, 1977 [H.R. 5294]

To amend the Consumer Credit Protection Act to prohibit abusive practices by debt collectors.

• Consumer Credit Protection Act, amendment.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America m Congress assembled.) That the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) is amended by adding ^^ ^j^g ^^^ thereof the following new title:

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

15 USC 1601 note. 15 USC 1692.

"TITLE VIII—DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES "Sec.

"801. "802. "803. "804. "805. "806. "807. "808. "809. "810. "811. "812. "813. "814. "815. "816. "817. "818.

Short title. - Findings and purpose. Definitions. Acquisition of location information. Communication in connection with debt collection. Harassment or abuse. False or misleading representations. Unfair practices. Validation of debts. Multiple debts. Legal actions by debt collectors. Furnishing certain deceptive forms. Civil liability. Administrative enforcement. Reports to Congress by the Commission. Relation to State laws. Exemption for State regulation. Effective date.

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"§ 801. Short title "This title may be cited as the 'Fair Debt Collection Practices Act'. "§ 802. Findings and purpose "(a) There is abundant evidence of the use of abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices by many debt collectors. Abusive debt collection practices contribute to the number of personal bankruptcies, to marital instability, to the loss of jobs, and to invasions of individual privacy. " (b) Existing laws and procedures for redressing these injuries are inadequate to protect consumers. " (c) Means other than misrepresentation or other abusive debt collection practices are available for the effective collection of debts. "(d) Abusive debt collection practices are carried on to a substantial extent in interstate commerce and through means and instrumentalities of such commerce. Even where abusive debt collection practices are purely intrastate in character, they nevertheless directly affect interstate commerce. "(e) I t is the purpose of this title to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors, to insure that those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged, and to promote consistent State action to protect consumers against debt collection abuses.

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