IB 
Union Calendar No. 540 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5013 
[Report No. 116–656] 
To apply the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to small businesses to 
the same extent as such Act applies to consumers, to require the Director 
of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to define ‘‘small busi-
ness’’ for purposes of such Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 8, 2019 
Mr. LAWSON of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Financial Services 
DECEMBER 16, 2020 
Additional sponsor: Mr. CLEAVER 
DECEMBER 16, 2020 
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 
on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on November 8, 2019] 
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A BILL 
To apply the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to small 
businesses to the same extent as such Act applies to 
consumers, to require the Director of the Bureau of 
Consumer Financial Protection to define ‘‘small busi-
ness’’ for purposes of such Act, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Fair 
Debt Collection Protection Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES FOR LOANS TO 
SMALL BUSINESSES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Debt Collection Practices 
Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) in section 803— 
(A) by amending paragraph (5) to read as 
follows: 
‘‘(5) The term ‘debt’ means any obligation or al-
leged obligation to pay money arising out of a trans-
action, whether or not such obligation has been re-
duced to judgment.’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(9) The term ‘commercial credit bureau’ means 
any person which, for monetary fees, dues, or on a co-
operative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole 
or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating 
commercial credit information or other information 
on businesses for the purpose of furnishing credit re-
ports to third parties, and which uses any means or 
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facility of interstate commerce for the purpose of pre-
paring or furnishing credit reports.’’; 
(2) by redesignating section 819 as section 820; 
and 
(3) by inserting after section 818 the following: 
‘‘§ 819. Application to small business debt 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—This Act shall apply to small 
business debt to the same extent as this Act applies to debt 
of consumers. 
‘‘(b) SMALL BUSINESS DEBT DEFINED.—The term 
‘small business debt’— 
‘‘(1) means any non-equity obligation or alleged 
obligation of a partnership, corporation, trust, estate, 
cooperative, association, government or governmental 
subdivision or agency, or other entity that is less than 
$5,000,000; and 
‘‘(2) does not include any obligation or alleged 
obligation— 
‘‘(A) of an individual; or 
‘‘(B) that is primarily for personal, family, 
or household purposes.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents for 
the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is amended by strik-
ing the item relating to section 819 and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘819. Application to small business debt. 
‘‘820. Effective date.’’. 
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Fair Debt Col-
lection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) in section 805(b), by inserting ‘‘or a commer-
cial credit bureau (as applicable)’’ after ‘‘consumer 
reporting agency’’; 
(2) in section 806(3)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘consumers who’’ and in-
serting ‘‘consumers or small businesses that’’; 
and 
(B) by inserting ‘‘ or to a commercial credit 
bureau (as applicable),’’ after ‘‘consumer report-
ing agency’’; and 
(3) in section 807(16), by inserting ‘‘or a com-
mercial credit bureau’’ after ‘‘this Act’’. 
Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘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.’’. 
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Union Calendar No. 540 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5013 
[Report No. 116–656] 
A BILL 
To apply the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to 
small businesses to the same extent as such Act 
applies to consumers, to require the Director of 
the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to 
define ‘‘small business’’ for purposes of such Act, 
and for other purposes. 
DECEMBER 16, 2020 
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee 
of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and or-
dered to be printed 
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