An Act To Amend the Debt Collection Law
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 1804
Committee: Business, Research and Economic Development
Sponsors: SULLIVAN, BRAUTIGAM, COWGER, BOWLES, PELLETIER-SIMPSON
Amends: 32 MRSA §11002

Legislative Document 
No. 1804 
S.P.721 
In Senate, December 30, 2005 
An Act To Amend the Debt Collection Law 
Submitted by the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation pursuant to Joint 
Rule 204. 
Received by the Secretary of the Senate on December 28,2005. Referred to the Committee 
on Business, Research and Economic Development pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered 
printed pursuant to Joint Rule 218. 
Presented by Senator SULLIVAN of York. 
Cosponsored by Representative BRAUTIGAM of Falmouth and 
JOY 1. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Senator: COWGER of Kennebec, Representatives: BOWLES of Sanford, PELLETIER-
SIMPSON of Auburn. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 32 MRSA §11002, sub-§6, as amended by PL 1999, c. 184, 
§20, is further amended to read: 
6. 
Debt 
collector. 
"Debt 
collector" 
means 
any 
person 
conducting business in this State, the principal purpose of which 
is the collection of any, debts, or who regularly collects or 
attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or 
asserted to be owed or due another. 
"Debt collector" includes 
persons 
who 
furnish collection systems 
carrying 
a 
name 
that 
simulates the name of a debt collector and who supply forms or 
form letters to be used by the creditor even though the forms 
direct the debtor to make payments directly to the creditor. 
Notwithstanding 
the 
exclusion 
provided 
by 
section 
11003, 
subsection 7, "debt collector" includes any creditor who, in the 
process of collecting the creditor's own debts, uses any name 
other than the creditor's that would indicate that a 3rd person 
is collecting or attempting to collect these debts. 
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"Debt 
collector" 
includes 
any 
attorney-at-law 
whose 
principal 
activities 
include 
collecting 
debts as an attorney on behalf of and in the name of clients L 
~~cept that any such attorney licensed to practice law in this 
State 
is 
subject 
exclusively 
to 
subchapter 
and 
any 
such 
attorney not licensed to practice law in this State is subject to 
this entire chapter. 
"Debt collector" also includes any person 
regularly 
engaged 
in 
the 
enforcement 
of 
security 
interests 
securing debts. 
"Debt collector" does not include any person who 
retrieves collateral when a consumer has voluntarily surrendered 
possession. 
A person is regularly engaged in the enforcement of 
security interests if that person enforced security interests 
more than 5 times in the previous calendar year. 
If a person 
does not meet these numerical standards for the previous calendar 
year. 
the numerical standards must be applied to the current 
calendar year. 
This bill requires 
licensed to practice law 
entail collections 
from 
collector license before 
in this State. 
SUMMARY 
that out-of-state attorneys who are not 
in Maine and whose practices primarily 
Maine 
consumers 
obtain 
a 
Maine 
debt 
collecting on debts originally incurred 
Page l-LR3001(1)