Bill Text: OR SB525 | 2013 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to debt collection practices.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Passed) 2013-07-03 - Effective date, January 1, 2014. [SB525 Detail]
Download: Oregon-2013-SB525-Enrolled.html
77th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2013 Regular Session
Enrolled
Senate Bill 525
Sponsored by Senator ROSENBAUM; Senators BEYER, DINGFELDER,
MONNES ANDERSON, PROZANSKI, STEINER HAYWARD
CHAPTER ................
AN ACT
Relating to debt collection practices; creating new provisions;
and amending ORS 135.925 and 646.639.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. { + (1) A public agency or public official may not:
(a) Allow a person or entity in the practice of collecting
debt, including restitution, to use the seal or letterhead of the
public agency or public official; or
(b) Receive or collect a fee from a person or entity in the
practice of collecting debt, including restitution, in exchange
for the person or entity using the seal or letterhead of the
public agency or public official.
(2) As used in this section, 'public agency' and 'public
official' have the meanings given those terms in ORS 171.725. + }
SECTION 2. ORS 135.925 is amended to read:
135.925. (1) As used in this section, 'bad check diversion
program' means a program established under subsection (2) of this
section.
(2) A district attorney may establish a bad check diversion
program within the office of the district attorney.
(3) If a district attorney has established a bad check
diversion program, upon receipt of a case alleging a violation of
ORS 165.065, the district attorney shall determine if the case is
appropriate to be referred to the bad check diversion program. In
determining whether to refer the case to the bad check diversion
program, the district attorney shall consider, in addition to any
other factors the district attorney deems appropriate, the
following:
(a) The amount of the bad check;
(b) Whether the person alleged to have negotiated the bad check
has a prior criminal record or has previously participated in a
bad check diversion program;
(c) The number of violations of ORS 165.065 the person is
alleged to have committed in the current or prior allegations;
(d) Whether current charges of violating ORS 165.065 are
pending against the person; and
(e) The strength of the evidence of intent to defraud the
victim.
(4) When a case is referred to the bad check diversion program,
the district attorney shall send a notice to the person who is
alleged to have violated ORS 165.065. The notice must contain:
(a) The date and amount of the bad check;
Enrolled Senate Bill 525 (SB 525-B) Page 1
(b) The name of the payee;
(c) The date before which the person is required to contact the
district attorney, or a person designated by the district
attorney, concerning the bad check; and
(d) The penalty for a violation of ORS 165.065.
(5) The district attorney may enter into a written agreement
with the person alleged to have violated ORS 165.065 to forgo
prosecution of the violation if the person agrees to do the
following within a six-month period:
(a) Complete a class conducted by the district attorney, or by
a private entity under contract to the district attorney,
relating to writing checks;
(b) Make full restitution to the payee; and
(c) Pay any collection fee imposed by the district attorney
under subsection (6) of this section.
(6) A district attorney may collect a fee if the district
attorney collects and processes a bad check. The amount of the
fee may not exceed $35 for each bad check in addition to the
actual amount of any bank charge incurred by the victim as a
result of the bad check.
(7) The district attorney may not require a person alleged to
have violated ORS 165.065 to make an admission of guilt as a
prerequisite to participating in a bad check diversion program.
(8) The following are not admissible in any civil or criminal
action against a person arising from negotiating a bad check:
(a) A statement, or any information derived from the statement,
made by the person in connection with the determination of the
person's eligibility to participate in a bad check diversion
program.
(b) A statement, or any information derived from the statement,
made by the person after the person is determined to be eligible
to participate in a bad check diversion program.
(c) A statement, or any information derived from the statement,
made by the person while participating in a bad check diversion
program.
(d) Information about the person's participation in a bad check
diversion program.
{ + (9) A district attorney may not authorize a private
entity to use the seal, letterhead or name of the district
attorney or district attorney's office to collect debt, including
restitution, pursuant to a bad check diversion program. + }
SECTION 3. ORS 646.639 is amended to read:
646.639. (1) As used in subsection (2) of this section:
(a) 'Consumer' means a natural person who purchases or acquires
property, services or credit for personal, family or household
purposes.
(b) 'Consumer transaction' means a transaction between a
consumer and a person who sells, leases or provides property,
services or credit to consumers.
(c) 'Commercial creditor' means a person who in the ordinary
course of business engages in consumer transactions.
(d) 'Credit' means the right granted by a creditor to a
consumer to defer payment of a debt, to incur a debt and defer
its payment, or to purchase or acquire property or services and
defer payment therefor.
(e) 'Debt' means any obligation or alleged obligation arising
out of a consumer transaction.
(f) 'Debtor' means a consumer who owes or allegedly owes an
obligation arising out of a consumer transaction.
Enrolled Senate Bill 525 (SB 525-B) Page 2
(g) 'Debt collector' means any person who by any direct or
indirect action, conduct or practice, enforces or attempts to
enforce an obligation that is owed or due to any commercial
creditor, or alleged to be owed or due to any commercial
creditor, by a consumer as a result of a consumer transaction.
(h) 'Person' means an individual, corporation, trust,
partnership, incorporated or unincorporated association or any
other legal entity.
(2) It shall be an unlawful collection practice for a debt
collector, while collecting or attempting to collect a debt to do
any of the following:
(a) Use or threaten the use of force or violence to cause
physical harm to a debtor or to the debtor's family or property.
(b) Threaten arrest or criminal prosecution.
(c) Threaten the seizure, attachment or sale of a debtor's
property when such action can only be taken pursuant to court
order without disclosing that prior court proceedings are
required.
(d) Use profane, obscene or abusive language in communicating
with a debtor or the debtor's family.
(e) Communicate with the debtor or any member of the debtor's
family repeatedly or continuously or at times known to be
inconvenient to that person with intent to harass or annoy the
debtor or any member of the debtor's family.
(f) Communicate or threaten to communicate with a debtor's
employer concerning the nature or existence of the debt.
(g) Communicate without the debtor's permission or threaten to
communicate with the debtor at the debtor's place of employment
if the place is other than the debtor's residence, except that
the debt collector may:
(A) Write to the debtor at the debtor's place of employment if
no home address is reasonably available and if the envelope does
not reveal that the communication is from a debt collector other
than a provider of the goods, services or credit from which the
debt arose.
(B) Telephone a debtor's place of employment without informing
any other person of the nature of the call or identifying the
caller as a debt collector but only if the debt collector in good
faith has made an unsuccessful attempt to telephone the debtor at
the debtor's residence during the day or during the evening
between the hours of 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. The debt collector may not
contact the debtor at the debtor's place of employment more
frequently than once each business week and may not telephone the
debtor at the debtor's place of employment if the debtor notifies
the debt collector not to telephone at the debtor's place of
employment or if the debt collector knows or has reason to know
that the debtor's employer prohibits the debtor from receiving
such communication. For the purposes of this subparagraph, any
language in any instrument creating the debt which purports to
authorize telephone calls at the debtor's place of employment
shall not be considered as giving permission to the debt
collector to call the debtor at the debtor's place of employment.
(h) Communicate with the debtor in writing without clearly
identifying the name of the debt collector, the name of the
person, if any, for whom the debt collector is attempting to
collect the debt and the debt collector's business address, on
all initial communications. In subsequent communications
involving multiple accounts, the debt collector may eliminate the
name of the person, if any, for whom the debt collector is
Enrolled Senate Bill 525 (SB 525-B) Page 3
attempting to collect the debt, and the term 'various' may be
substituted in its place.
(i) Communicate with the debtor orally without disclosing to
the debtor within 30 seconds the name of the individual making
the contact and the true purpose thereof.
(j) Cause any expense to the debtor in the form of long
distance telephone calls, telegram fees or other charges incurred
by a medium of communication, by concealing the true purpose of
the debt collector's communication.
(k) Attempt to or threaten to enforce a right or remedy with
knowledge or reason to know that the right or remedy does not
exist, or threaten to take any action which the debt collector in
the regular course of business does not take.
(L) Use any form of communication which simulates legal or
judicial process or which gives the appearance of being
authorized, issued or approved by a governmental agency,
governmental official or an attorney at law when it is not in
fact so approved or authorized.
(m) Represent that an existing debt may be increased by the
addition of attorney fees, investigation fees or any other fees
or charges when such fees or charges may not legally be added to
the existing debt.
(n) Collect or attempt to collect any interest or any other
charges or fees in excess of the actual debt unless they are
expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt or
expressly allowed by law.
(o) Threaten to assign or sell the debtor's account with an
attending misrepresentation or implication that the debtor would
lose any defense to the debt or would be subjected to harsh,
vindictive or abusive collection tactics.
{ + (p) Use the seal or letterhead of a public official or a
public agency, as those terms are defined in ORS 171.725. + }
(3) It shall be an unlawful collection practice for a debt
collector, by use of any direct or indirect action, conduct or
practice, to enforce or attempt to enforce an obligation made
void and unenforceable by the provisions of ORS 759.720 (3) to
(5).
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Passed by Senate April 23, 2013
Repassed by Senate June 18, 2013
.............................................................
Robert Taylor, Secretary of Senate
.............................................................
Peter Courtney, President of Senate
Passed by House June 14, 2013
.............................................................
Tina Kotek, Speaker of House
Enrolled Senate Bill 525 (SB 525-B) Page 4
Received by Governor:
......M.,............., 2013
Approved:
......M.,............., 2013
.............................................................
John Kitzhaber, Governor
Filed in Office of Secretary of State:
......M.,............., 2013
.............................................................
Kate Brown, Secretary of State
Enrolled Senate Bill 525 (SB 525-B) Page 5
