CO Code § 5-16-103 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 5 - Consumer Credit Code|Article 16 - Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act|§ 5-16-103. Definitions

 As used in this article 16, unless the context otherwise requires:    “Administrator” means the administrator of the “Uniform Consumer Credit Code”, articles 1 to 9 of this title 5, whose office is created in the department of law in section 5-6-103.    Repealed.      “Collection agency” means any:   Person who engages in a business the principal purpose of which is the collection of debts; or    Person who:   Regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another;    Takes assignment of debts for collection purposes;    Directly or indirectly solicits for collection debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another;    Collects debt for the department of personnel, but only for the purposes specified in subsection (3)(d) of this section;          “Collection agency” does not include:   Any officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name of the creditor, collecting debts for such creditor;    Any person while acting as a collection agency for another person, both of whom are related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control, if the person acting as a collection agency does so only for creditors to whom it is so related or affiliated and if the principal business of the person is not the collection of debts;    Any officer or employee of the United States or any state to the extent that collecting or attempting to collect any debt is in the performance of the officer's or employee's official duties, except as otherwise provided in subsection (9) of this section;    Any person while serving or attempting to serve legal process on any other person in connection with the judicial enforcement of any debt;    Any debt-management services provider operating in compliance with or exempt from the “Uniform Debt-Management Services Act”, part 2 of article 19 of this title 5;    Any person collecting or attempting to collect any debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another to the extent that:   The activity is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement;    The activity concerns a debt that was extended by the person;    The activity concerns a debt that was not in default at the time it was obtained by the person; or    The activity concerns a debt obtained by the person as a secured party in a commercial credit transaction involving the creditor;       Any person whose principal business is the making of loans or the servicing of debt not in default and who acts as a loan correspondent, or seller and servicer for the owner, or holder of a debt which is secured by a deed of trust on real property whether or not the debt is also secured by an interest in personal property;    A limited gaming or racing licensee acting pursuant to article 33 of title 44.       Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (3)(b)(VI) of this section, “collection agency” includes any person who, in the process of collecting his or her own debts, uses another name which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts.    For the purposes of section (1)(f), “collection agency” includes any person engaged in any business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security interests. For purposes of sections 5-16-104, 5-16-105, 5-16-106, 5-16-107, 5-16-108, and 5-16-109 only, “collection agency” includes a debt collector for the department of personnel.    Notwithstanding subsection (3)(b) of this section, “collection agency” includes any person who engages in any of the following activities; except that the person shall be exempt from provisions of this article 16 that concern licensing and licensees:   Is an attorney-at-law and regularly engages in the collection or attempted collection of debts in this state;    Is a person located outside this state whose collection activities are limited to collecting debts not incurred in this state from consumers located in this state and whose collection activities are conducted by means of interstate communications, including telephone, mail, or facsimile transmission, and who is located in another state that regulates and licenses collection agencies but does not require Colorado collection agencies to obtain a license to collect debts in their state if the agencies' collection activities are limited in the same manner.          “Communication” means conveying information regarding a debt in written or oral form, directly or indirectly, to any person through any medium.    “Consumer” means any natural person obligated or allegedly obligated to pay any debt.      “Consumer reporting agency” means any person that, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties.    “Consumer reporting agency” shall not include any business entity that provides check verification or check guarantee services only.    “Consumer reporting agency” shall include any persons defined in 15 U.S.C. sec. 1681a (f) or section 5-18-103 (4).       “Creditor” means any person who offers or extends credit creating a debt or to which a debt is owed, but “creditor” does not include any person to the extent the person receives an assignment or transfer of a debt in default solely for the purpose of facilitating collection of the debt for another.      “Debt” means any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction, whether or not the obligation has been reduced to judgment.    “Debt” does not include a debt for business, investment, commercial, or agricultural purposes or a debt incurred by a business. (8.5) “Debt buyer” means a person who engages in the business of purchasing delinquent or defaulted debt for collection purposes, whether it collects the debt itself, hires a third party for collection, or hires an attorney for litigation in order to collect the debt. Debt buyers are collection agencies for the purposes of this article 16.       “Debt collector” means any person employed or engaged by a collection agency to perform the collection of debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due to another, and includes any person employed by the department of personnel, or any division of that department, when collecting debts due to the state on behalf of another state agency.    “Location information” means a consumer's place of abode and his or her telephone number at such place or his or her place of employment.    “Person” means a natural person, firm, corporation, limited liability company, or partnership.    “Principal” means any individual having a position of responsibility in a collection agency, including but not limited to any manager, director, officer, partner, owner, or shareholder owning ten percent or more of the stock.    “Solicitor” means any person employed or engaged by a collection agency who solicits or attempts to solicit debts for collection by the person or any other person.    “State” means any state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any political subdivision of any of them.     History. Source: L. 2017: Entire article added with relocations,(HB 17-1238), ch. 260, p. 1080, § 1, effective August 9; IP amended, (2) repealed, and (8.5) added,(SB 17-216), ch. 285, p. 1578, § 3, effective January 1, 2018. L. 2018: (3)(b)(VIII) amended,(HB 18-1375), ch. 274, p. 1725, § 91, effective October 1.    Editor's note:    This section is similar to former § 12-14-103 as it existed prior to 2017.    The introductory portion of this section was amended in SB 17-216, effective January 1, 2018. Those amendments were superseded by the amendment of the introductory portion in HB 17-1238.    Subsections (2) and (8.5) were numbered as § 12-14-103 (1.5) and (6.5), respectively, in SB 17-216 (seeL. 2017, p. 1578). Those provisions were harmonized with this section as it appears in HB 17-1238, effective January 1, 2018.     ANNOTATION   Annotator's note. Since § 5-16-103 is similar to former § 12-14-103 and laws antecedent to that section, relevant cases construing those provisions have been included in the annotations to this section.   Entity which originally extends credit to a debtor is not subject to the provisions of this Act but a collection agency which takes a complete assignment of such a debt which is in default is subject to the provisions of this act even though the entity which made such assignment retains no further rights. Debt is still “owed or due another” for purposes of this act. Commercial Serv. v. Fitzgerald, 856 P.2d 58 (Colo. App. 1993).   When an obligation arises outside the scope of a consumer transaction, the obligation is not a “debt” under this article. The regulation of metered parking is an exercise of a city's police power not a rendering of a service to consumers. Rector v. City & County of Denver, 122 P.3d 1010 (Colo. App. 2005).   A subrogation claim arising from tortious conduct is not “debt” under this article because it does not arise from a transaction. Ybarra v. Greenberg & Sada, P.C., 2016 COA 116 , __ P.3d __, aff'd, 2018 CO 81, 429 P.3d 839.   “Debt collector” includes a person who is regularly engaged to solicit information from a debtor to aid a debt collector. Defendant mailed the debtor a telegram notification that invited the debtor to call a number. Upon making such call, the debtor's phone number was electronically captured and sold to a debt collector. This practice was sufficient to qualify as a “debt collector” under the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Udis v. Universal Commc'ns Co., 56 P.3d 1177 (Colo. App. 2002).   A person who collects a debt that is not in default is not a “collection agency”. Therefore, a person who purchases a debt before it is in default is not acting as a collection agency when attempting to collect the debt. PurCo Fleet Servs., Inc. v. Koenig, 240 P.3d 435 (Colo. App. 2010), aff'd on other grounds, 2012 CO 56, 285 P.3d 979.   Applied in B.C. Inv. Co. v. Throm, 650 P.2d 1333 (Colo. App. 1982) (decided under former § 12-14-101 ).