I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6423 
To provide for a temporary debt collection moratorium during the COVID- 
19 emergency period, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 31, 2020 
Mr. LAWSON of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To provide for a temporary debt collection moratorium dur-
ing the COVID-19 emergency period, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. DEBT COLLECTION. 
(a) TEMPORARY DEBT COLLECTION MORATORIUM 
DURING THE COVID-19 EMERGENCY PERIOD.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Fair Debt Collection 
Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.) is amended 
by inserting after section 812 the following: 
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‘‘§ 812A. Temporary debt collection moratorium dur-
ing the COVID-19 emergency period 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) CONSUMER.—The term ‘consumer’ means 
any natural person obligated or allegedly obligated 
to pay any debt. 
‘‘(2) COVID-19
EMERGENCY
PERIOD.—The 
term ‘COVID-19 emergency period’ means the pe-
riod that begins upon the date of the enactment of 
this Act and ends upon the date of the termination 
by the Federal Emergency Management Administra-
tion of the emergency declared on March 13, 2020, 
by the President under the Robert T. Stafford Dis-
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 
U.S.C. 4121 et seq.) relating to the Coronavirus 
Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. 
‘‘(3) CREDITOR.—The term ‘creditor’ means 
any person who offers or extends credit creating a 
debt or to whom a debt is owed or other obligation 
of payment. 
‘‘(4) DEBT.—The term ‘debt’— 
‘‘(A) means any past due obligation or al-
leged obligation of a consumer, non-profit orga-
nization, or small business to pay money— 
‘‘(i) arising out of a transaction in 
which the money, property, insurance, or 
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services which are the subject of the trans-
action are primarily for personal, family, 
business, non-profit, or household pur-
poses, whether or not such obligation has 
been reduced to judgment; and 
‘‘(ii) owed to a local, State, or Federal 
government; and 
‘‘(B) does not include federally related 
mortgages (as defined under section 3 of the 
Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 
1974) unless a deficiency judgment has been 
made with respect to such federally related 
mortgage. 
‘‘(5) DEBT COLLECTOR.—The term ‘debt col-
lector’ includes a creditor and any person or entity 
that engages in the collection of debt (including the 
Federal Government or a State government) whether 
or not the debt is allegedly owed to or assigned to 
that person or entity. 
‘‘(6) DEPOSITORY INSTITUTION.—The term ‘de-
pository institution’— 
‘‘(A) has the meaning given that term 
under section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insur-
ance Act; and 
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‘‘(B) means a Federal or State credit 
union (as such terms are defined, respectively, 
under section 101 of the Federal Credit Union 
Act). 
‘‘(7) NON-PROFIT
ORGANIZATION.—The term 
‘non-profit organization’ means an organization de-
scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under sub-
section (a) of such section. 
‘‘(8) SMALL BUSINESS.—The term ‘small busi-
ness’ has the meaning given the term ‘small business 
concern’ under section 3 of the Small Business Act 
(15 U.S.C. 632). 
‘‘(b) PROHIBITIONS.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, during COVID-19 emergency period and 
the 120-day period immediately following, a debt collector 
is prohibited from— 
‘‘(1) capitalizing or adding extra interest or fees 
triggered by the non-payment of an obligation by a 
consumer, small business, or non-profit organization 
to the balance of an account; 
‘‘(2) suing or threatening to sue a consumer, 
small business, or non-profit for a past-due debt; 
‘‘(3) continuing litigation initiated before the 
date of enactment of this section to collect a debt 
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from a consumer, small business, or non-profit orga-
nization; 
‘‘(4) enforcing a security interest, including 
through repossession or foreclosure, against a con-
sumer, small business, or non-profit organization; 
‘‘(5) reporting a past due debt of a consumer, 
small business, or non-profit organization to a con-
sumer reporting agency; 
‘‘(6) taking or threatening to take any action to 
enforce collection, or any adverse action against a 
consumer, small business, or non-profit organization 
for non-payment or for non-appearance at any hear-
ings related to a debt; 
‘‘(7) except with respect to enforcing an order 
for child support or spousal support, initiating or 
continuing any action to cause or to seek to cause 
the collection of a debt from wages, Federal benefits, 
or other amounts due to a consumer, small business, 
or non-profit organization, by way of garnishment, 
deduction, offset, or other seizure, or to cause or 
seek to cause the collection of a debt by seizing 
funds from a bank account or any other assets held 
by such consumer, small business, or non-profit or-
ganization; 
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‘‘(8) in the case of action or collection described 
under paragraph (7) that was initiated prior to the 
beginning of the date of such disaster or emergency, 
failing to suspend the action or collection until 120 
days after the end of the COVID-19 emergency pe-
riod; 
‘‘(9) upon the termination of the incident period 
for such disaster or emergency, failing to extend the 
time period to pay an obligation by one payment pe-
riod for each payment that a consumer, small busi-
ness, or non-profit organization missed during the 
incident period, with the payments due in the same 
amounts and at the same intervals as the pre-exist-
ing payment schedule of the consumer, small busi-
ness, or non-profit organization (as applicable) or, if 
the debt has no payment periods, allow the con-
sumer, small business, or non-profit a reasonable 
time in which to repay the debt in affordable pay-
ments; 
‘‘(10) disconnecting a consumer, small business, 
or non-profit organization from a utility prepaid or 
post-paid electricity, natural gas, telecommuni-
cations, broadband, water, or sewer service; or 
‘‘(11) exercising a right to set off provision con-
tained in any consumer, small business, or non-prof-
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it organization account agreement with a depository 
institution. 
‘‘(c) VIOLATION.—Any person who violates a provi-
sion of this section shall— 
‘‘(1) be treated as a debt collector for purposes 
of section 813; and 
‘‘(2) be liable to the consumer, small business, 
or non-profit organization an amount equal to 10 
times the damages allowed under section 813 for 
each such violation.’’. 
(2) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The 
table of contents at the beginning of the Fair Debt 
Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.) is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to sec-
tion 812 the following new item: 
‘‘812A. Temporary debt collection moratorium during the COVID-19 emergency 
period.’’. 
(b) CONFESSIONS OF JUDGMENT PROHIBITION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 2 of the Truth in 
Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1631 et seq.) is amended— 
(A) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘§ 140B. Confessions of judgment prohibition 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—During a period described under 
section 812A(b) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 
no person may directly or indirectly take or receive from 
another person or seek to enforce an obligation that con-
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stitutes or contains a cognovit or confession of judgment 
(for purposes other than executory process in the State 
of Louisiana), warrant of attorney, or other waiver of the 
right to notice and the opportunity to be heard in the 
event of suit or process thereon. 
‘‘(b) EXEMPTION.—The exemption in section 104(1) 
shall not apply to this section. 
‘‘(c) DEBT DEFINED.—In this section, the term 
‘debt’ means any obligation of a person to pay to another 
person money— 
‘‘(1) regardless of whether the obligation is ab-
solute or contingent, if the understanding between 
the parties is that any part of the money shall be 
or may be returned; 
‘‘(2) that includes the right of the person pro-
viding the money to an equitable remedy for breach 
of performance if the breach gives rise to a right to 
payment; and 
‘‘(3) regardless of whether the obligation or 
right to an equitable remedy described in paragraph 
(2) has been reduced to judgment or is fixed, contin-
gent, matured, unmatured, disputed, undisputed, se-
cured, or unsecured.’’; and 
(B) in the table of contents for such chap-
ter, by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘140B. Confessions of judgment prohibition.’’. 
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(2) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 
130(a) of the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 
1640(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: ‘‘For purposes of this section, the term 
‘creditor’ refers to any person charged with compli-
ance.’’. 
Æ 
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