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Fair Debt Collection: S.D. Codified Laws § 54-4-77

Coverage: Applies to entities holding a license to engage in the business of lending money, defined as originating, selling, servicing, acquiring, or purchasing loans, or servicing, acquiring, or purchasing retail installment contracts. § 54-4-36(2). Banks and certain other financial institutions are exempt from the chapter by virtue of § 54-4-37, but § 54-4-77.1 provides that they are still subject to the prohibitions of debt collection tactics found in § 54-4-77.

Fair Debt Collection: Tex. Fin. Code Ann. §§ 392.001 to 392.404 (West)

Coverage: Debt collector: person who directly or indirectly collects or solicits for collection consumer debts due or alleged to be due to a creditor, and includes sellers of debt collection forms. § 392.001. Third party debt collector: FDCPA definitions, except makes exception for attorney collecting as an attorney on behalf of and in the name of a client, provided attorney does not have non-attorney employees who solicit debts for collection or contact debtors.

Fair Debt Collection: Tex. Fin. Code Ann. §§ 396.001 to 396.353 (West) (Private Child Support Enforcement Agencies)

Coverage: Applies to private child support enforcement agency, defined as an individual or nongovernmental entity who engages in the enforcement of child support ordered by a court or other tribunal for a fee or other consideration. Definition excludes state child support enforcement agencies and their contractors; and attorneys that do not have any non-attorney employees who regularly solicit for child support enforcement or contact child support obligors or obligees for the purpose of child support enforcement. § 396.001.

Fair Debt Collection: Utah Code Ann. §§ 12-1-1 to 12-1-11 (West) (Collection Agencies)

Coverage: Registration and bonding requirements apply to any person who “conduct[s] a collection agency, collection bureau or collection office in this state,” or engages in the business of soliciting the right to collect or receive payment for another, or advertises or solicits in print for the right to collect or receive payment for another. § 12-1-1. Attorneys, title insurance agencies, title insurance producers, banks, and trust companies excepted. § 12-1-7.

Fair Debt Collection: Utah Code Ann. §§ 70C-7-105 and 70C-7-106 (West) (UCCC)

Coverage: Creditors.

Prohibited Practices: Unconscionable extension of credit, i.e., one in which debtor and creditor understand that delay or failure to repay may result in the use of violent or criminal means to damage the person, property, or reputation of any person.

Private Remedies: If extension of credit is extortionate, repayment may not be enforced through judicial proceedings and debtor may recover a penalty, as determined by the court, of not less than $100 or more than $5000, plus costs and attorney fees. Class actions prohibited.

Fair Debt Collection: Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-213

Coverage: Applies to any person who simulates process “for the purpose of collecting money.”

Prohibited Practices: This is a criminal statute making it a criminal misdemeanor to simulate legal process “for the purpose of collecting money.”

Private Remedies: No mention of private remedies.

Fair Debt Collection: Wash. Rev. Code §§ 19.16.100 to 19.16.960 (Collection Agencies)

Coverage: Collection agencies, defined as persons engaged in directly soliciting for collection or collecting claims due or asserted to be due another; creditors who use a false name that creates the appearance of third-party involvement; furnishers of collection forms and systems; and any person or entity that is engaged in the business of purchasing delinquent or charged-off claims for collection purposes, whether it collects the claims itself or hires a third party for collection or an attorney for litigation in order to collect such claims. § 19.16.100(4), (7).

Fair Debt Collection: W. Va. Code §§ 47-16-1 to 47-16-5 (Collection Agencies)

Coverage: Collection agencies, defined as persons or business entities that are directly or indirectly engaged in the business of soliciting from or collecting for others indebtedness originally due or asserted to be owed or due another; engaged in asserting, prosecuting or enforcing those claims; or engaged in the business of soliciting, or holding themselves out as engaged in the business of soliciting, debts of any kind owed or due, or asserted to be owed or due, to any solicited person, firm, corporation or association for fee, commission or other compensation.

Fair Debt Collection: W. Va. Code §§ 46A-2-122 to 46A-2-129a, 48-1-307 (Consumer Credit Protection)

Coverage: Applies to debt collectors, defined as persons or organizations engaging directly or indirectly in soliciting claims for collection or in the collection of claims owed or due or alleged to be owed or due by a consumer. Attorneys exempt if representing creditors in their own name, and not operating a collection agency under the direction of a non-attorney. § 46A-2-122. Separate but similar prohibitions apply to private collectors of child or spousal support. § 48-1-307.

Fair Debt Collection: Wis. Stat. § 218.04 (Collection Agencies)

Coverage: Collection agencies: person (defined to include business entities) engaging in the business of collecting or receiving payment for others of any account, bill or other indebtedness. Exempts lawyers, financial institutions, insurers and their agents, and real estate brokers and salespersons. Also exempts district attorneys or persons contracting with district attorneys collecting pursuant to dishonored check diversion statute. § 218.04(1)(a).

Fair Debt Collection: Wis. Stat. §§ 427.101 to 427.105 (Consumer Act)

Coverage: Debt collectors: any person engaging directly or indirectly in soliciting or collecting claims owed or due or alleged to be owed or due a merchant by a consumer. “Claim” is defined as an obligation arising from a consumer transaction, including transaction for agricultural purposes. §§ 427.102, 427.103. “Merchant” is defined broadly to include sellers, lessors, manufacturers, creditors, arrangers of credit, and their assignees or successors. § 421.301.

Fair Debt Collection: Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 33-11-101 to 33-11-116 (Collection Agencies)

Coverage: Collection agencies, defined as persons who: engage in business the purpose of which is collection of debts for Wyoming creditors; regularly collect or attempt to collect, directly or indirectly, for Wyoming creditors debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another; take assignment of debts for the purpose of collecting such debts; directly or indirectly solicit debts for collection that are owed or due or asserted to be owed or due a Wyoming creditor; use fictitious name to collect own accounts receivable; collect debts in-state from debtors located in-state by

Fair Debt Collection: Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 40-14-507

Coverage: Creditors.

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: Ark. Code Ann. §§ 17-24-101 to 17-24-512 (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act)

Coverage: The statute’s licensing requirements and restrictions on collection fees in § 17-24-309 apply to collection agencies, defined as a person or one of various business entities that (1) engages in the collection of delinquent accounts, bills or other forms of indebtedness owed or due or asserted to be owed or due to another; (2) uses any name other than its own in collecting its own accounts receivable; (3) solicits claims for collection; or (4) “purchases and attempts to collect delinquent accounts or bills.” § 17-24-101.