I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5021 

To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 and the Fair 

Debt Collection Practices Act to improve consumer protections relating 

to debt collection practices, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 8, 2019 

Ms. PRESSLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 

and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to improve 

consumer protections relating to debt collection practices, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ending Debt Collection 

5 Harassment Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONSUMER PROTECTIONS RELATING TO DEBT COL2 LECTION PRACTICES. 

3 (a) REPORTS ON DEBT COLLECTION COMPLAINTS

4 AND ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS.— 

5 (1) SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT.—Section 1016(c) of 

6 the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 

7 U.S.C. 5496(c)) is amended— 

8 (A) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

9 the end; 

10 (B) in paragraph (9), by striking the pe11 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

12 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(10) an analysis of the consumer complaints 

14 received by the Bureau with respect to debt collec15 tion, including a State-by-State breakdown of such 

16 complaints; and 

17 ‘‘(11) a list of enforcement actions taken 

18 against debt collectors during the preceding year.’’. 

19 (2) ANNUAL REPORT.—Section 815(a) of the 

20 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 

21 1692m(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol22 lowing new sentence: ‘‘Each such report shall also 

23 include an analysis of the impact of electronic com24 munications by debt collectors on consumer experi25 ences with debt collection, including a consideration 


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1 of consumer complaints about the use of electronic 

2 communications in debt collection.’’. 

3 (b) LIMITATION ON DEBT COLLECTION RULES.— 

4 Section 1022 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act 

5 of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5512) is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following: 

7 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION ON DEBT COLLECTION RULES.— 

8 The Director may not issue any rule with respect to debt 

9 collection that allows a debt collector to send unlimited 

10 email and text messages to a consumer.’’. 

11 (c) PROTECTION OF CONSUMERS FROM UNLIMITED

12 TEXTS AND EMAILS USED IN DEBT COLLECTION.—Sec13 tion 806 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 

14 U.S.C. 1692d) is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(7) Contacting the consumer electronically, in17 cluding by email or text message, without consent of 

18 the consumer, after such consent has been with19 drawn, or more frequently than the consumer con20 sents to be contacted.’’. 

21 (d) ENSURING CONSUMERS RECEIVE NOTICE OF

22 DEBT COLLECTION PROTECTIONS.—Section 809(a) of the 

23 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692g(a)) 

24 is amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by 

25 striking ‘‘Within five days’’ and all that follows through 


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1 ‘‘debt,’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘NOTICE OF DEBT; 

2 CONTENTS.—Within five days after the initial commu3 nication with a consumer in connection with the collection 

4 of any debt,’’. 

5 (e) LIMITATIONS ON DEBT COLLECTION RULES.— 

6 Section 814(d) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act 

7 (15 U.S.C. 1692l(d)) is amended by adding at the end 

8 the following: ‘‘Such rules— 

9 ‘‘(1) may not allow a debt collector to send un10 limited electronic communications to a consumer; 

11 ‘‘(2) shall require debt collectors to obtain con12 sent directly from consumers before contacting them 

13 using a method other than by postal mail or by 

14 phone; 

15 ‘‘(3) may not waive the requirements of the 

16 Electronic Signatures in Global and National Com17 merce Act (15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq.); and 

18 ‘‘(4) shall allow consumers to opt out of any 

19 method of communication that the debt collector 

20 uses to communicate with consumers, including a 

21 method for which such consumer had given prior 

22 consent.’’. 

Æ 


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