(1) The term “Bureau” means the Bureau
of Consumer Financial Protection.
(2) The term “communication” means the
conveying of information regarding a debt directly or indirectly to
any person through any medium.
(3) The term “consumer” means any natural
person obligated or allegedly obligated to pay any debt.
(4) The term “creditor” means
any person who offers or extends credit creating a debt or to whom
a debt is owed, but such term does not include any person to the extent
that he receives an assignment or transfer of a debt in default solely
for the purpose of facilitating collection of such debt for another.
(5) The term “debt” means
any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising
out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services
which are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family,
or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced
to judgment.
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(6) The term “debt collector”
means any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce
or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the
collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to
collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to
be owed or due another. Notwithstanding the exclusion provided by
clause (F) of the last sentence of this paragraph, the term includes
any creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts, uses
any name other than his own which would indicate that a third person
is collecting or attempting to collect such debts. For the purpose
of section 808(6), such term also includes any person who uses any
instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business
the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security interests.
The term does not include—
(A) any officer or employee of a creditor
while, in the name of the creditor, collecting debts for such creditor;
(B) any person while
acting as a debt collector for another person, both of whom are related
by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control, if the person
acting as a debt collector does so only for persons to whom it is
so related or affiliated and if the principal business of such person
is not the collection of debts;
(C) any officer or employee of the United
States or any State to the extent that collecting or attempting to
collect any debt is in the performance of his official duties;
(D) any person while
serving or attempting to serve legal process on any other person in
connection with the judicial enforcement of any debt;
(E) any nonprofit organization
which, at the request of consumers, performs bona fide consumer credit
counseling and assists consumers in the liquidation of their debts
by receiving payments from such consumers and distributing such amounts
to creditors; and
(F) any person collecting or attempting to collect any debt owed
or due or asserted to be owed or due another to the extent such activity
(i) is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide
escrow arrangement; (ii) concerns a debt which was originated by such
person; (iii) concerns a debt which was not in default at the time
it was obtained by such person; or (iv) concerns a debt obtained by
such person as a secured party in a commercial credit transaction
involving the creditor.
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(7) The term “location information” means
a consumer’s place of abode and his telephone number at such place,
or his place of employment.
(8) The term “State” means any State, territory,
or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any political subdivision of any of
the foregoing.
[12 USC 1692a. As amended
by acts of July 9, 1986 (100 Stat. 768) and July 21, 2010 (124 Stat.
2092).]
