United States HR 5674: Fair Debt Collection Practices for Servicemembers Act

Bill Text

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118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 5674
To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to provide enhanced protec-
tion against debt collector harassment of members of the Armed Forces,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania (for herself and Mr. DAVIDSON) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
A BILL
To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to provide
enhanced protection against debt collector harassment
of members of the Armed Forces, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Debt Collection 4
Practices for Servicemembers Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. ENHANCED PROTECTION AGAINST DEBT COL-1
LECTOR HARASSMENT OF 2
SERVICEMEMBERS. 3
(a) COMMUNICATION IN CONNECTION WITH DEBT 4
COLLECTION.—Section 805 of the Fair Debt Collection 5
Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692c) is amended by adding 6
at the end the following: 7
‘‘(e) COMMUNICATIONS CONCERNING SERVICEMEM-8
BER DEBTS.— 9
‘‘(1) COVERED MEMBER DEFINED.—In this 10
subsection, the term ‘covered member’ means any of 11
the following: 12
‘‘(A) A covered member or a dependent as 13
defined in section 987(i) of title 10, United 14
States Code. 15
‘‘(B) An individual who was separated, dis-16
charged, or released from duty described in 17
such section 987(i)(1), but only during the 365- 18
day period beginning on the date of separation, 19
discharge, or release. 20
‘‘(C) A person, with respect to an indi-21
vidual described in subparagraph (B), described 22
in subparagraph (A), (D), (E), or (I) of section 23
1072(2) of title 10, United States Code. 24
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‘‘(2) PROHIBITIONS.—A debt collector may not, 1
in connection with the collection of any debt of a 2
covered member— 3
‘‘(A) threaten to have the covered member 4
reduced in rank; 5
‘‘(B) threaten to have the covered mem-6
ber’s security clearance revoked; or 7
‘‘(C) threaten to have the covered member 8
prosecuted under chapter 47 of title 10, United 9
States Code (the Uniform Code of Military Jus-10
tice).’’. 11
(b) UNFAIR PRACTICES.—Section 808 of the Fair 12
Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692f) is amend-13
ed by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(9) The representation or implication to any 15
covered member (as defined under section 805(e)(1)) 16
that failure to cooperate with a debt collector will re-17
sult in— 18
‘‘(A) a reduction in rank of the covered 19
member; 20
‘‘(B) a revocation of the covered member’s 21
security clearance; or 22
‘‘(C) prosecution under chapter 47 of title 23
10, United States Code (the Uniform Code of 24
Military Justice).’’. 25
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SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 1
The Comptroller General of the United States shall 2
conduct a study and submit a report to Congress on the 3
impact of this Act on— 4
(1) the timely delivery of information to a cov-5
ered member (as defined in section 805(e) of the 6
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, as added by this 7
Act); 8
(2) military readiness; and 9
(3) national security, including the extent to 10
which covered members with security clearances 11
would be impacted by uncollected debt. 12
Æ
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