‘‘(c) Except to the extent the debt relief counselling
agency provides the required information itself after rea-
sonably diligent inquiry of the assisted person or others
so as to obtain such information reasonably accurately for
inclusion on the petition, schedules or statement of affairs,
a debt relief counselling agency providing bankruptcy as-
sistance to an assisted person shall provide each assisted
person at the time required for the notice required under
subsection (a)(1) reasonably sufficient information (which
may be provided orally or in a clear and conspicuous writ-
ing) to the assisted person on how to provide all the infor-
mation the assisted person is required to provide under
this title pursuant to section 521, including—
‘‘(1) how to value assets at replacement value,
determine current monthly total income, projected
monthly income and, in a chapter 13 case, net
monthly income, and related calculations;
‘‘(2) how to complete the list of creditors, in-
cluding how to determine what amount is owed and
what address for the creditor should be shown;
‘‘(3) how to determine what property is exempt
and how to value exempt property at replacement
value as defined in section 506 of this title.
‘‘(d) A debt relief counselling agency shall maintain
a copy of the notices required under subsection (a) of this
section for two years after the later of the date on which
the notice is given the assisted person or the assisted per-
son receives a discharge under this title in a case as to
which the debt relief counselling agency provides bank-
ruptcy assistance to the assisted person.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tion for chapter 5 of title 11, United States Code, is
amended by inserting after the item relating to section
525 the following:
‘‘526. Disclosures.’’.
SEC. 115. DEBTOR’S BILL OF RIGHTS.
(a) DEBTOR’S BILL OF RIGHTS.—Subchapter II of
chapter 5 of title 11, United States Code, as amended by
section 114, is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing:
‘‘§ 527. Debtor’s bill of rights
‘‘(a) A debt relief counselling agency shall—
‘‘(1) no later than three business days after the
first date on which a debt relief counselling agency
provides any bankruptcy assistance services to an
assisted person, execute a written contract with the
assisted person specifying clearly and conspicuously
the services the agency will provide the assisted per-
son and the basis on which fees or charges will be
made for such services and the terms of payment,
and give the assisted person a copy of the fully exe-
cuted and completed contract in a form the person
can keep.
‘‘(2) disclose in any advertisement of bank-
ruptcy assistance services or of the benefits of bank-
ruptcy directed to the general public (whether in
general media, seminars or specific mailings, tele-
phonic or electronic messages or otherwise) that the
services or benefits are with respect to proceedings
under this title, clearly and conspicuously using the
following statement: ‘‘We are a debt relief counsel-
ling agency. We help people file Bankruptcy peti-
tions to obtain relief under the Bankruptcy Code.’’
or a substantially similar statement. An advertise-
ment shall be of bankruptcy assistance services if it
describes or offers bankruptcy assistance with a
chapter 13 plan, regardless of whether chapter 13 is
specifically mentioned, including such statements as
‘‘federally supervised repayment plan’’ or ‘‘Federal
debt restructuring help’’ or other similar statements
which would lead a reasonable consumer to believe
that help with debts was being offered when in fact
in most cases the help available is bankruptcy assist-
ance with a chapter 13 plan.
‘‘(3) if an advertisement directed to the general
public indicates that the debt relief counselling agen-
cy provides assistance with respect to credit defaults,
mortgage foreclosures, lease eviction proceedings, ex-
cessive debt, debt collection pressure, or inability to
pay any consumer debt, disclose conspicuously in
that advertisement that the assistance is with re-
spect to or may involve proceedings under this title,
using the following statement: ‘‘We are a debt relief
counselling agency. We help people file Bankruptcy
petitions to obtain relief under the Bankruptcy
Code.’’ or a substantially similar statement.
‘‘(b) A debt relief counselling agency shall not—
‘‘(1) fail to perform any service which the debt
relief counseling agency has told the assisted person
or prospective assisted person the agency would pro-
vide that person in connection with the preparation
for or activities during a proceeding under this title.
‘‘(2) make any statement, or counsel or advise
any assisted person to make any statement in any
document filed in a proceeding under this title,
which is untrue or misleading or which upon the ex-
ercise of reasonable care, should be known by the
debt relief counselling agency to be untrue or mis-
leading.
‘‘(3) misrepresent to any assisted person or pro-
spective assisted person, directly or indirectly, af-
firmatively or by material omission, what services
the debt relief counselling agency can reasonably ex-
pect to provide that person, or the benefits an as-
sisted person may obtain or the difficulties the per-
son may experience if the person seeks relief in a
proceeding pursuant to this title.
‘‘(4) advise an assisted person or prospective
assisted person to incur more debt in contemplation
of that person filing a proceeding under this title or
in order to pay an attorney or bankruptcy petition
preparer fee or charge for services performed as part
of preparing for or representing a debtor in a pro-
ceeding under this title.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tion for chapter 5 of title 11, United States Code, as
amended by section 114, is amended by inserting after the
item relating to section 526, the following:
‘‘527. Debtor’s bill of rights.’’.
SEC. 116. ENFORCEMENT.
(a) ENFORCEMENT.—Subchapter II of chapter 5 of
title 11, United States Code, as amended by sections 114
and 115, is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘§ 528. Debt relief counselling agency enforcement
‘‘(a) ASSISTED PERSON WAIVERS INVALID.—Any
waiver by any assisted person of any protection or right
provided by or under section 526 of this title shall be void
and may not be enforced by any Federal or State court
or any other person.
‘‘(b) NONCOMPLIANCE.—
‘‘(1) Any contract between a debt relief counsel-
ling agency and an assisted person for bankruptcy
assistance which does not comply with the require-
ments of section 526 of this title shall be treated as
void and may not be enforced by any Federal or
State court or by any other person.
‘‘(2) Any debt relief counselling agency which
has been found, after notice and hearing, to have
‘‘(A) failed to comply with any provision of
this section or of section 526 with respect to a
bankruptcy case or related proceeding of an as-
sisted person, or
‘‘(B) provided bankruptcy assistance to an
assisted person in a case or related proceeding
which is dismissed or converted in lieu of dis-
missal under section 707 of this title or because
of a failure to file bankruptcy papers, including
papers specified in section 521 of this title; or
‘‘(C) 
negligently 
or 
intentionally 
dis-
regarded the requirements of this title or the
Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure appli-
cable to such debt relief counselling agency
shall be liable to the assisted person in the
amount of any fees and charges in connection
with providing bankruptcy assistance to such
person which the debt relief counselling agency
has already been paid on account of that pro-
ceeding and if the case has not been closed, the
court may in addition require the debt relief
counselling agency to continue to provide bank-
ruptcy assistance services in the pending case to
the assisted person without further fee or
charge or upon such other terms as the court
may order.
‘‘(3) In addition to such other remedies as are
provided under State law, whenever the chief law en-
forcement officer of a State, or an official or agency
designated by a State, has reason to believe that any
person has violated or is violating section 526 of this
title, the State—
‘‘(A) may bring an action to enjoin such
violation;
‘‘(B) may bring an action on behalf of its
residents to recover the actual damages of as-
sisted persons arising from such violation, in-
cluding any liability under paragraph (2); and