15 U.S.C. § 1692a : US Code - Section 1692A: Definitions

Search 15 U.S.C. § 1692a : US Code - Section 1692A: Definitions

As used in this subchapter -
(1) The term "Commission" means the Federal Trade Commission.
(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.
(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 1692f(6) of this title, 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.
(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.