I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2549

To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to prohibit creditors from 

taking action that is adverse to the interests of a consumer with respect 

to certain payments that are due in or shortly after the period of 

a disruption of the mail resulting from a national emergency declared 

under the National Emergencies Act. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 19, 2003

Mr. SHERMAN (for himself, Mr. MCHUGH, Ms. LEE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 

MCGOVERN, and Mrs. MALONEY) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL

To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to prohibit 

creditors from taking action that is adverse to the interests of a consumer with respect to certain payments 

that are due in or shortly after the period of a disruption 

of the mail resulting from a national emergency declared 

under the National Emergencies Act.

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 ‘‘Bill Payment Grace 

5 Period Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF PERIOD FOR MAKING CERTAIN PAY2 MENTS DUE TO A NATIONAL EMERGENCY. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Debt Collection Prac4 tices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.) is amended by redesig5 nating sections 813 through 818 in order as sections 814 

6 through 819, and by inserting after section 812 the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘§ 813. Extension of period for making certain pay9 ments due to national emergency 

10 ‘‘(a) The Secretary of the Treasury may designate 

11 a grace period under this section for the making of pay12 ments of debts by mail from or to any location within an 

13 area in which there occurs a disruption of the mail—

14 ‘‘(1) in the period of a national emergency de15 clared under the National Emergencies Act (50 

16 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.); and 

17 ‘‘(2) as a result of the circumstances that re18 sulted in such declaration. 

19 ‘‘(b) In designating a grace period under this section, 

20 the Secretary shall determine, in consultation with the 

21 Postmaster General, and specify—

22 ‘‘(1) the geographic area in which occurred the 

23 disruption of the mail for which the grace period is 

24 designated; and 

25 ‘‘(2) the period of time during which such dis26 ruption of the mail occurred. 
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1 ‘‘(c) A grace period under this section—

2 ‘‘(1) shall be comprised of a period of consecu3 tive days designated by the Secretary; 

4 ‘‘(2) shall begin upon the first day of the period 

5 of the disruption of the mail for which it is des6 ignated, as such period is specified under subsection 

7 (b)(2); and 

8 ‘‘(3) except as provided in subsection (d), shall 

9 end not later than 7 days after the end of such pe10 riod of the disruption of the mail. 

11 ‘‘(d) The Secretary—

12 ‘‘(1) may designate a grace period under this 

13 section with respect each disruption of the mail oc14 curring in the same national emergency period; 

15 ‘‘(2) may extend the duration of a grace period 

16 under this section by up to 7 days, by publishing no17 tice of such extension before the end of the grace pe18 riod; and 

19 ‘‘(3) may issue more than one extension under 

20 paragraph (2) for the same grace period.

21 ‘‘(e) A creditor or debt collector shall not—

22 ‘‘(1) impose any late fee or additional financing 

23 fee in connection with an affected mail payment by 

24 a consumer that is received after its due date; 
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1 ‘‘(2) provide to a credit reporting agency (as 

2 that term is defined in section 603) any information 

3 with respect to such payment that is adverse to the 

4 interests of the consumer or would adversely affect 

5 the credit standing of the consumer; or 

6 ‘‘(3) take any other action that is adverse to 

7 the interests of the consumer as a consequence of 

8 the failure of the consumer to make such payment 

9 in a timely manner. 

10 ‘‘(f) This section shall not apply to any payment by 

11 mail made by a consumer on a debt to a creditor if, before 

12 the disruption of the mail with respect to which a grace 

13 period is designated under this section—

14 ‘‘(1) the creditor or its debt collector gave the 

15 consumer, by mail, telephone, or otherwise, notice 

16 regarding alternative payment options that are avail17 able to such consumer without any fee or other 

18 charge; and 

19 ‘‘(2) the consumer, with or without fee or 

20 charge, agreed to use an alternative payment option, 

21 or actually made one or more payments using an al22 ternative payment option, within the 6-month period 

23 preceding the due date of the payment made by 

24 mail. 
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1 ‘‘(g) For the purposes of this section, evidence in the 

2 form of business records indicating that notice regarding 

3 alternative payment options was given before the date re4 quired by subsection (f) shall establish a conclusive pre5 sumption that such notice had been received by the con6 sumer by such date. 

7 ‘‘(h) In this section: 

8 ‘‘(1) The term ‘affected mail payment’ means 

9 any payment by mail of the full amount due on a 

10 debt owed by a consumer—

11 ‘‘(A) for which the due date occurs—

12 ‘‘(i) in the period of a disruption of 

13 the mail with respect to which a grace pe14 riod is designated under this section; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) within seven calendar days fol16 lowing the end of such disruption of the 

17 mail; 

18 ‘‘(B) that is sent from, or addressed to, a 

19 location that is within the area in which the dis20 ruption of the mail occurred, as such area is 

21 specified under subsection (b)(1) for that grace 

22 period; 

23 ‘‘(C) that is postmarked by not later than 

24 the expiration of the grace period; and 

25 ‘‘(D) that is less than $10,000.
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1 ‘‘(2) The term ‘alternative payment option’ 

2 means any electronic, Internet-based, telephone au3 thorized, or other means of making a payment other 

4 than by mail.

5 ‘‘(3) The term ‘due date’ means the first date 

6 upon which a creditor or its debt collector may im7 pose a late fee or other penalty for a failure of a 

8 consumer to make a periodic payment that is due on 

9 a debt.

10 ‘‘(4) The term ‘disruption of the mail’ means 

11 any disruption in the pick-up, processing, transpor12 tation, or delivery of the mail of the United States.’’. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AND CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—

14 The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 

15 et seq.) is further amended—

16 (1) in the table of sections preceding section 

17 801 by striking the items relating to sections 813 

18 through 818 and inserting the following:

‘‘813. Extension of period for making certain payments due to national emergency. 

‘‘814. Civil liability. 

‘‘815. Administrative enforcement. 

‘‘816. Reports to Congress by the Commission. 

‘‘817. Relation to State laws. 

‘‘818. Exemption for State regulation. 

‘‘819. Effective date.’’;

19 (2) in section 812(b) by striking ‘‘section 813’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘section 814’’; and 
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1 (3) in section 816 (as redesignated by this Act) 

2 by striking ‘‘section 814’’ each place it appears and 

3 inserting ‘‘section 815’’.

Æ