Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. AUCHINCLOSS. Madam Speaker, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan, a tremendous investment to support millions of workers without a paycheck and behind on bills. As we begin work to build back a stronger economy post-pandemic, we must ensure that consumers are protected from bad faith debt collectors.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was enacted in 1977, almost 45 years ago. Since then, much has changed, including the way we communicate, how we purchase goods, and the credit products we use. Chairman Waters' bill, the Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act, provides much-needed updates to the FDCPA to fit the needs of consumers today, not in 1977.

This legislation includes my bill, the Non-Judicial Foreclosure Debt Collection Clarification Act, which closes the gap in the FDCPA so that homeowners facing non-judicial foreclosure proceedings are protected under the law. The FDCPA sets procedures for the way that debt collectors interact with consumers to protect their rights and their privacy. This includes ensuring that debtors aren't paying more than they owe, that their debt information won't be shared with their boss, and that they will not be harassed by collectors. These protections should not be limited to foreclosure proceedings that take place in a courtroom.

The legislation we are considering today includes other necessary consumer protection bills, like Congresswoman Dean's Fair Debt Collection Practices for Servicemembers Act, which would prohibit debt collectors from threatening a servicemember's rank to collect a debt, and Congresswoman's Pressley's bill, the Ending Debt Collection Harassment Act, which would prohibit debt collectors from contacting consumers electronically without consent.

We cannot rebuild an economy that works for everyone without protecting consumers. Making sure borrowers are treated with dignity and protected from unwanted and unnecessary practices is an important step to ensuring economic fairness moving forward. I am proud to support the bill, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

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Mr. AUCHINCLOSS. Mr. Speaker, I reject the amendment from the ranking member, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. I reject it because it undermines the premise of the chairwoman's bill. The premise of the chairwoman's bill is not prudential underwriting as a core premise of our economy which, of course, we need. It is not about payments for goods and services which is obviously a pillar of the United States system of business.

It is about fairness. It is about fairness in the allocation of credit and fairness in the collection of debt.

What the chairwoman has put forward and what the amendment from the ranking member would undermine is a bill that recognizes that people should not be punished for circumstances outside of their control. They should not be precluded from accessing credit for something that happened to them that they did not wish upon themselves, and that they had no volition in doing.

For example, this bill would ensure that medical debts do not prohibit people's access to credit. The senior Senator from my home State of Massachusetts famously demonstrated that medical bankruptcies were plaguing the middle class and the working class in this country. Indeed, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has reported that medical debt has a significant impact on consumer credit. After Americans undergo lifesaving treatment, they should not have to worry about the impact of a necessary medical procedure that they will have to stay at home to convalesce will have on their ability to then restart their life, start a business, or care for their family.

H.R. 2547 seeks to give consumers time to fully recover until they are able to pay their bills. Nobody chooses to get sick, Mr. Speaker, and being sick should not show up on your credit report as you seek to access credit in the future.

This bill is also about fairness in how we collect debts. There, of course, should be payments for goods and services, but there does not need to be and there should not be harassment.

As a former marine officer, it deeply concerns me that servicemembers who need to concentrate on the mission at hand might be distracted, and, indeed, might even be demoted for debts outside of their control.

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