§ 33-11-101 — Definitions

Wyoming § 33-11-101

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming
• Title 33: Professions and Occupations
• Ch. 11: COLLECTION AGENCIES

Text

(a) As used in this act:
(i) "Board" means the collection agency board created
by W.S. 33-11-103;
(ii) "Business debt" means the obligation arising
from a credit transaction between business or commercial
enterprises for goods or services used or to be used primarily
in a commercial or business enterprise and not for personal,
family or household purposes;
(iii) "Collection agency" means any person who:
(A) Engages in any business, the purpose of
which is the collection of any debts for Wyoming creditors;
(B) Regularly collects or attempts to collect
for Wyoming creditors, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due
or asserted to be owed or due another;
(C) Takes assignment of debts for the purpose of
collecting such debts;
(D) Directly or indirectly, solicits for
collection debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due a
Wyoming creditor;
(E) Uses a fictitious name or any name other
than their own name in the collection of their own accounts
receivable;
(F) Collects debts incurred in this state from
debtors located in this state by means of interstate
communications, including telephone, mail or facsimile or any
other electronic method, from the debt collector's location in
another state; or
(G) Operates as a debt buyer.
(iv) "Communication" means conveying information
regarding a debt in written or oral form, directly or
indirectly, to any person through any medium;
(v) "Consumer" means any natural person obligated or
allegedly obligated to pay any debt;
(vi) "Creditor" means any person who offers or
extends credit creating a debt or to whom a debt is owed, but
"creditor" does not include:
(A) Any person or collection agency, to the
extent that the person or agency receives an assignment or
transfer of a debt in default solely for the purpose of
facilitating collection of the debt for another; or
(B) Any person whose principal office is located
outside the state of Wyoming and who only maintains a branch or
satellite office in this state.
(vii) "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 the
obligation has been reduced to judgment;
(viii) "Debt collector" means any person employed or
engaged by a collection agency to perform the collection of
debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due to another,
including any owner or shareholder of the collection agency
business who engages in the collection of debts;
(ix) "Location information" means a consumer's place
of abode and his telephone number at that place or his place of
employment;
(x) "Revocation" means withdrawal or termination of
the license and authority to conduct a collection agency in this
state, and disqualification to renew the license, permanently or
for an indefinite period of time;
(xi) "Solicitor" means any person employed or engaged
by a collection agency, including an owner or shareholder of the
agency, who solicits or attempts to solicit debts, accounts,
notes or other evidence of indebtedness for collection by the
person or any other person;
(xii) "Suspension" means withdrawal or termination of
the license and authority to conduct a collection agency in this
state, and disqualification to renew the license, for a period
not to exceed one (1) year;
(xiii) "Channeling agent" means the third party
licensing system that gathers the application information and
distributes it to Wyoming for review and for use in the approval
or denial decision;
(xiv) "Registry" means the nationwide multistate
licensing system and registry maintained by the State Regulatory
Registry, LLC;
(xv) "Debt buyer" means any person that is regularly
engaged in the business of purchasing charged-off consumer debt
for collection purposes, whether the person collects the debt,
hires a third party for collection of the debt or hires an
attorney for collection litigation;
(xvi) "This act" means W.S. 33-11-101 through 33-11-
116.
(b) The term "collection agency" does not include:
(i) Any officer or employee of a creditor while
collecting debts for and in the name of the creditor;
(ii) Any officer or employee of the United States or
of any state, to the extent that collecting or attempting to
collect a debt is in the performance of his official duties;
(iii) Any person while serving or attempting to serve
legal process on another person in connection with the judicial
enforcement of any debt;
(iv) Any person whose principal business is the
making of loans or the servicing of debt, and who acts as a loan
correspondent, seller or servicing agent for the owner or holder
of a debt which is secured by a mortgage on real property,
whether or not the debt is also secured by an interest in
personal property;
(v) Any person whose collection activities are
carried on in the true name of the creditor, and are confined to
the operation of a business other than a collection agency,
including but not limited to banks, trust companies, savings and
loan associations, abstract companies doing an escrow business,
real estate brokers, attorneys, insurance companies, credit
unions or loan or finance companies;
(vi) Any person whose business is the servicing of
credit card debt;
(vii) Any person engaged solely in the collection of
one (1) or more business debts; or
(viii) Any licensed attorney acting in an
attorney-client relationship with the creditor, and who conducts
the collection in the true name of the client.
(c) Repealed by Laws 1993, ch. 21, § 2.