Illinois Administrative Code › Title 38 - FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS › Part 145 - DEBT SETTLEMENT CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT › Section 145.5 - Purpose and Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
a) Purpose
The purpose of the Act and this Part is to protect consumers
				who enter into agreements with debt settlement providers and to regulate debt
				settlement providers. [225 ILCS
				429/5 ]
b) Definitions
"Act" means the Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act [225
				ILCS 429 ].
"Consumer", "customer" or "debtor" means any person who
				purchases or contracts for the purchase of debt settlement services.
				[225 ILCS 429/10
				]
"Debt settlement provider" or "provider" means any person or
				entity engaging in, or holding itself out as engaging in, the business of
				providing debt settlement service in exchange for any fee or compensation, or
				any person who solicits for or acts on behalf of any person or entity engaging
				in, or holding itself out as engaging in, the business of providing debt
				settlement service in exchange for any fee or compensation. "Debt settlement
				provider" does not include:
attorneys licensed, or otherwise authorized, to practice in
				Illinois who are engaged in the practice of law;
escrow agents, accountants, broker dealers in securities, or
				investment advisors in securities, when acting in the ordinary practice of
				their professions and through the entity used in the ordinary practice of their
				profession;
any bank, agent of a bank, operating subsidiary of a bank,
				affiliate of a bank, trust company, savings and loan association, savings bank,
				credit union, crop credit association, development credit corporation,
				industrial development corporation, title insurance company, title insurance
				agent, independent escrowee or insurance company operating or organized under
				the laws of a state or the United States, or any other person authorized to
				make loans under State law while acting in the ordinary practice of that
				business;
any person who performs credit services for his or her employer
				while receiving a regular salary or wage when the employer is not engaged in
				the business of offering or providing debt settlement service;
a collection agency licensed pursuant to the Collection Agency
				Act [225 ILCS 425 ] that is collecting a debt on its own behalf or on behalf of
				a third party; an organization that is described in
				26 USC
				501(c)(3) and subject to
				26 USC
				501(q) and exempt from tax
				under
				26 USC
				501(a) and governed by the
				Debt Management Service Act [205 ILCS 665 ];
public officers while acting in their official capacities and
				persons acting under court order;
any person while performing services incidental to the
				dissolution, winding up, or liquidating of a partnership, corporation, or other
				business enterprise; or
persons licensed under the Real Estate License Act of 2000 [225
				ILCS 454 ] when acting in the ordinary practice of their profession and not
				holding themselves out as debt settlement providers. [225 ILCS 429/10
				]
"Debt settlement services" means:
offering to provide advice or service, or acting as an
				intermediary between or on behalf of a consumer and one or more of a consumer's
				creditors, when the primary purpose of the advice, service, or action is to
				obtain a settlement, adjustment, or satisfaction of the consumer's unsecured
				debt to a creditor in an amount less than the full amount of the principal
				amount of the debt or in an amount less than the current outstanding balance of
				the debt; or
offering to provide services related to or providing services
				advising, encouraging, assisting, or counseling a consumer to accumulate funds
				for the primary purpose of proposing or obtaining or seeking to obtain a
				settlement, adjustment, or satisfaction of the consumer's unsecured debt to a
				creditor in an amount less than the full amount of the principal amount of the
				debt or in an amount less than the current outstanding balance of the
				debt.
"Debt settlement services" does not include:
the services of attorneys licensed, or otherwise authorized, to
				practice in Illinois who are engaged in the practice of law; or
debt management service as defined in the Debt Management
				Service Act. [225 ILCS 429/10]
"Department" means the Department of Financial and Professional
				Regulation.
"Division" means the Department of Financial and Professional
				Regulation-Division of Financial Institutions.
"Provider fee" means the fee charged by the provider in return
				for debt settlement services. Provider fees generally consist of:
enrollment or set up fees paid by the consumer in connection
				with establishing a contract or other agreement related to the provision of
				debt settlement service; and/or
maintenance fees paid by the consumer on a periodic basis for
				contractually outlined debt settlement service.
"Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department of Financial
				and Professional Regulation.