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Fair Debt Collection: D.C. Code §§ 22-3401 to 22-3403

Coverage: Any person collecting or aiding in the collection of private debts or obligations; detective agencies. § 22-3401.

Prohibited Practices: Use of the term “District of Columbia,” “D.C.,” etc. to create a false impression of a connection to local government. § 22-3401.

Private Remedies: Criminal penalties only; no mention of private remedies. §§ 22-3402, 22-3403.

Fair Debt Collection: Fla. Stat. §§ 559.55 to 559.785 (Consumer Collection Practices)

Coverage: Prohibited practices, complaint procedure, and private remedies sections apply to any person collecting consumer debts. § 559.72. Registration requirements apply to a consumer collection agency, defined as a debt collector (definition substantially similar to FDCPA) or any business entity engaged in the business of soliciting consumer debts for collection or collecting consumer debts. The registration requirement excludes original creditors, lawyers, financial institutions, real estate and insurance professionals. §§ 559.55(3) through 559.55(7), 559.553.

Fair Debt Collection: Ga. Code Ann. §§ 7-3-1 to 7-3-29 (Installment Loan Statute)

Coverage: Applies to industrial loan licensees (certain lenders making loans of $3000 or less, but not various regulated financial services providers, including banks, trust companies, insurance companies, mortgage lenders, pawnbrokers, etc., and educational institutions making student loans), and their employees or agents, including debt collectors. §§ 7-3-3, 7-3-4.

Fair Debt Collection: Idaho Code §§ 26-2222 to 26-2251 (Collection Agencies)

Coverage: A “collection agency” is defined as a person who engages in any of a variety of specified collection-related activities, including engaging or offering to engage in the business of collecting debts for the person’s own account if the indebtedness was acquired from another person and was delinquent or in default when acquired. §§ 26-2222, 26-2223.

Fair Debt Collection: 720 Ill. Comp Stat. § 5/17-5

Coverage: Collection agencies as defined in Collection Agency Act (see above) and their employees.

Prohibited Practices: Impersonation of attorney, police, sheriff, deputy sheriff, bailiff, county clerk’s office employee, or other enforcement officer; use of false name; addition of unauthorized charges to debt; threatening to affect debtor’s credit rating adversely without simultaneously disclosing debtor’s right to inspect credit rating; accepting payment which collector knows is not owed.

Fair Debt Collection: Ind. Code §§ 25-11-1-1 to 25-11-1-16

Coverage: Collection agencies, defined as all persons engaging directly or indirectly, as a primary or secondary object, in soliciting claims for collection, or in the collection of claims due or asserted to be due another, including child support arrearages. “Claim” as defined is limited to obligations for the payment of money or its equivalent and any sum or sums owed or due or asserted to be owed or due to another. Also covers creditors using fictitious name, and furnishers of letters, etc. or “written demand service” for use by creditors in collecting debts.

Fair Debt Collection: Ind. Code § 24-4.5-5-107 (Uniform Consumer Credit Code)

Coverage: Extensions of consumer credit.

Prohibited Acts: “Extortionate” extensions of credit, i.e., those where it is the understanding of the debtor and creditor that, if repayment is delayed, violent or criminal means to harm the person, property or reputation of the debtor may be used.

Private Remedy: Debt is unenforceable by civil judicial process.

Fair Debt Collection: Iowa Code §§ 537.7101 to 537.7103 (Consumer Credit Code)

Coverage: “Debt collector:” a person engaging directly or indirectly in soliciting consumer debts for collection or in the collection or attempted collection of consumer debt (explicitly including checks) on behalf of oneself, one’s employer, or others; includes furnishing forms represented to be a debt collection system. § 537.7102.

Fair Debt Collection: Kan. Stat. Ann. § 16a-5-107 (Consumer Credit Code)

Coverage: Creditors: Persons who regularly extend credit in consumer transactions payable by written agreement in more than four installments or for which a finance charge is or may be charged. § 16a-1-301.

Prohibited Practices: Extortionate extensions of credit, i.e., if creditor and consumer understand that delay in repayment may result in the use of violent or criminal means to harm the person, property or reputation of any person.

Private Remedies: Debt arising from extortionate extension of credit is unenforceable by civil judicial process.

Fair Debt Collection: Me. Stat. tit. 19-A, § 2109 (Limitations on Collection of Child Support)

Coverage: Persons other than employees of the department who enter into an agreement with another to collect child support. The statute also explicitly covers persons regularly engaged in the enforcement of security interests.

Prohibited Practices: Collector is subject to the provisions of Me. Stat. tit. 32, ch. 109-A (the Maine Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, summarized supra), if either obligor or obligee is a Maine resident. Also requires written contract, prohibits termination penalty, and restricts fees.

Fair Debt Collection: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93, §§ 24 to 28 (Collection Agencies)

Coverage: Collection agencies, defined similarly to FDCPA, plus persons engaged in a business whose principal purpose is enforcement of security interests. Excludes lawyers representing clients, certain fiduciaries and escrows, certain process servers, bona fide debt counselors, purchasers who acquired debt that was not in default, student loan servicers licensed pursuant to Chapter 93L, and collectors for landlords, regulated utilities, or insurance companies. § 24.

Fair Debt Collection: Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 339.901 to 339.920 (Collection Practices)

Coverage: Collection agencies, defined as persons directly engaged in collecting for others. (A 2016 amendment deleted the words “or indirectly”). Repossessors included. Excludes attorneys, financial institutions, real estate professionals, various other entities whose collection activities are incidental to some other regulated activity, and forwarding agencies that, acting on behalf of a creditor or lender, forward a claim, collection, or repossession to a licensed collection agency or a person whose collection activities are excluded or exempted. § 339.901.

Fair Debt Collection: Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 445.251 to 445.258 (Collection Practices)

Coverage: Applies to “regulated persons,” defined as persons whose collection activities are confined and directly related to the operation of a business other than a collection agency; specifically includes banks and other financial institutions, attorneys collecting on behalf of a client and in the attorney’s name, public officers, and persons acting under court orders. § 445.251(g).