I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6814 

To apply the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to small business debt 

to the same extent as such Act applies to consumers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 22, 2022 

Mr. LAWSON of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To apply the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to small 

business debt to the same extent as such Act applies 

to consumers, 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 ‘‘Small Business Fair 

5 Debt Collection Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES FOR LOANS TO 

7 SMALL BUSINESSES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Debt Collection Prac9 tices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.) is amended— 

10 (1) in section 803— 


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1 (A) by amending paragraph (5) to read as 

2 follows: 

3 ‘‘(5) The term ‘debt’ means any obligation or 

4 alleged obligation to pay money arising out of a 

5 transaction, whether or not such obligation has been 

6 reduced to judgment.’’; and 

7 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

8 paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(9) The term ‘commercial credit bureau’ 

10 means any person which, for monetary fees, dues, or 

11 on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages 

12 in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or 

13 evaluating commercial credit information or other 

14 information on businesses for the purpose of fur15 nishing credit reports to third parties, and which 

16 uses any means or facility of interstate commerce 

17 for the purpose of preparing or furnishing credit re18 ports.’’; 

19 (2) by redesignating section 819 as section 820; 

20 and 

21 (3) by inserting after section 818 the following: 

22 ‘‘§ 819. Application to small business debt 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—This Act shall apply to small 

24 business debt to the same extent as this Act applies to 

25 debt of consumers. 


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1 ‘‘(b) SMALL BUSINESS DEBT DEFINED.—The term 

2 ‘small business debt’— 

3 ‘‘(1) means any non-equity obligation or alleged 

4 obligation of a partnership, corporation, trust, es5 tate, cooperative, association, government or govern6 mental subdivision or agency, or other entity that is 

7 less than $5,000,000; and 

8 ‘‘(2) does not include any obligation or alleged 

9 obligation— 

10 ‘‘(A) of an individual; or 

11 ‘‘(B) that is primarily for personal, family, 

12 or household purposes.’’. 

13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

14 for the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is amended by 

15 striking the item relating to section 819 and inserting the 

16 following: 

‘‘819. Application to small business debt. 

‘‘820. Effective date.’’. 

17 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Fair Debt 

18 Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.) is 

19 amended— 

20 (1) in section 805(b), by inserting ‘‘or a com21 mercial credit bureau (as applicable)’’ after ‘‘con22 sumer reporting agency’’; 

23 (2) in section 806(3)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘consumers who’’ and in2 serting ‘‘consumers or small businesses that’’; 

3 and 

4 (B) by inserting ‘‘or to a commercial credit 

5 bureau (as applicable),’’ after ‘‘consumer re6 porting agency’’; and 

7 (3) in section 807(16), by inserting ‘‘or a com8 mercial credit bureau’’ after ‘‘this Act’’. 

Æ 


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