§ 19-14.9-3. Definitions.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meaning
unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Consumer� means any person obligated or allegedly obligated to pay any debt, as defined
by 15 U.S.C. § 1692a.
(2) "Consumer reporting agency� means any person which, for monetary fees, dues, or on
a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice
of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers
for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties.
(3) "Creditor� means any person who offers or extends credit creating a debt or to whom
a debt is owed, but the term shall not include a person to the extent that he/she
receives an assignment or transfer of a debt in default solely for the purpose of
facilitating collection of the debt.
(4) "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 that are
the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes,
whether or not the obligation has been reduced to judgment.
(5) "Debt collector� means any person who uses an 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) below, debt collector shall include a creditor who, in the process of
collecting his/her own debt, uses any name other than his/her own which would indicate
that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect the debt. Debt collector
shall also include a person who uses an instrumentality of interstate commerce or
the mails in a business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security
interests. Debt collector shall not include:
(a) An officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name of the creditor, collecting
debts for the creditor;
(b) A 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 a person to whom it is so related or affiliated and
if the principal business of the person is not the collection of a debt;
(c) An officer or employee of the United States or a state of the United States to the
extent that collecting or attempting to collect a debt is in the performance of his/her
official duty;
(d) A person while serving or attempting to serve legal process on another person in connection
with the judicial enforcement of a debt;
(e) A nonprofit organization that, at the request of a consumer, performs bona fide consumer
credit counseling and assists the consumer in the liquidation of debts by receiving
payments from the consumer and distributing the amounts to creditors;
(f) A person collecting or attempting to collect a debt owed or due or asserted to be
owed or due another to the extent the activity:
(i) Is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement;
(ii) Concerns a debt that was originated by the person;
(iii) Concerns a debt that was not in default at the time it was obtained by the person
or in connection with a debt secured by a mortgage, when first serviced by the person;
or
(iv) Concerns a debt obtained by the person as a secured party in 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 the purpose of collecting a charge
or bill owed by a tenant to a landlord or owed by a customer to a corporation subject
to the supervision of the department of business regulation insofar as the person
collects charges or bills only for the landlord or supervised corporations.
(6) "Department� means the department of business regulation.
(7) "Director� means the director of the department of business regulation, or the director's
designee.
(8) "Registrant� means an entity registered under this chapter.