§ 19-14.9-3 - Definitions.
SECTION 19-14.9-3
§ 19-14.9-3 Definitions. – For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the followingmeaning unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Consumer" means any person obligated or allegedlyobligated to pay any debt, as defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1692a.
(2) "Consumer Reporting Agency" means any person which, formonetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages inwhole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer creditinformation or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishingconsumer reports to third parties.
(3) "Creditor" means any person who offers or extends creditcreating a debt or to whom a debt is owed, but the term shall not include aperson to the extent that he/she receives an assignment or transfer of a debtin default solely for the purpose of facilitating collection of the debt.
(4) "Debt" means any obligation or alleged obligation of aconsumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money,property, insurance, or services which are the subject of the transaction areprimarily for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not theobligation has been reduced to judgment.
(5) "Debt collector" means any person who uses aninstrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business theprincipal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularlycollects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due orasserted to be owed or due another. Notwithstanding the exclusion provided byclause (f) below, debt collector shall include a creditor who, in the processof collecting his/her own debt, uses any name other than his/her own whichwould indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect thedebt. Debt collector shall also include a person who uses an instrumentality ofinterstate commerce or the mails in a business the principal purpose of whichis the enforcement of security interests. Debt collector shall not include:
(a) An officer or employee of a creditor while, in the nameof the creditor, collecting debts for the creditor;
(b) A person while acting as a debt collector for anotherperson, both of whom are related by common ownership or affiliated by corporatecontrol, if the person acting as a debt collector does so only for a person towhom it is so related or affiliated and if the principal business of the personis not the collection of a debt;
(c) An officer or employee of the United States or a state ofthe United States to the extent that collecting or attempting to collect a debtis in the performance of his/her official duty;
(d) A person while serving or attempting to serve legalprocess on another person in connection with the judicial enforcement of a debt;
(e) A nonprofit organization which, at the request of aconsumer, performs bona fide consumer credit counseling and assists theconsumer in the liquidation of debts by receiving payments from the consumerand distributing the amounts to creditors;
(f) A person collecting or attempting to collect a debt owedor due or asserted to be owed or due another to the extent the activity:
(1) Is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or abona fide escrow arrangement, or;
(2) Concerns a debt which was originated by the person;
(3) Concerns a debt which was not in default at the time itwas obtained by the person or in connection with a debt secured by a mortgage,when first serviced by the person;
(4) Concerns a debt obtained by the person as a secured partyin a commercial credit transaction involving the creditor;
(g) Attorneys-at-law collecting a debt on behalf of a client.
(h) An agent or independent contractor employed for thepurpose of collecting a charge or bill owed by a tenant to a landlord or owedby a customer to a corporation subject to the supervision of the department ofbusiness regulation insofar as the person collects charges or bills only forthe landlord or supervised corporations.
"Department" means the department of business regulation.
"Director" means the director of the department of businessregulation or the director's designee.
"Obligor" means an individual or company that owes the debtcreated by the issuing of a bond required under § 19-14.9-13.
"Registrant" means an entity registered under this chapter.