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Section 803
Definitions
As used in this subchapter--
(1) The term "Commission" means the Federal Trade
Commission.
(2) The term "communication" means the conveying of
information regarding a debt directly or indirectly to any person through any medium.
(3) The term "consumer" means any natural person
obligated or allegedly obligated to pay any debt.
(4) The term "creditor" means any person who offers or
extends credit creating a debt or to whom a debt is owed, but such term does not include
any person to the extent that he receives an assignment or transfer of a debt in default
solely for the purpose of facilitating collection of such debt for another.
(5) The term "debt" means any obligation or alleged
obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money,
property, insurance, or services which are the subject of the transaction are primarily
for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been
reduced to judgment.
(6) The term "debt collector" means any person who
uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business 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.
Notwithstanding the exclusion provided by clause (F) of the last sentence of this
paragraph, the term includes any creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts,
uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or
attempting to collect such debts. For the purpose of section 1692f(6) of this title, such
term also includes any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the
mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security
interests. The term does not include --
(A) any officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name of
the creditor, collecting debts for such creditor;
(B) any person while acting as a debt collector for another
person, both of whom are related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control,
if the person acting as a debt collector does so only for persons to whom it is so related
or affiliated and if the principal business of such person is not the collection of debts;
(C) 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 his
official duties;
(D) any person while serving or attempting to serve legal
process on any other person in connection with the judicial enforcement of any debt;
(E) any nonprofit organization which, at the request of
consumers, performs bona fide consumer credit counseling and assists consumers in the
liquidation of their debts by receiving payments from such consumers and distributing such
amounts to creditor; and
(F) any person collecting or attempting to collect any debt owed
or due or asserted to be owed or due another to the extent such activity (i) is incidental
to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement; (ii) concerns a
debt which was originated by such person; (iii) concerns a debt which was not in default
at the time it was obtained by such person; or (iv) concerns a debt obtained by such
person as a secured party in a commercial credit transaction involving the creditor.
(G) Redesignated (F)
(7) The term "location information" means a consumer's
place of abode and his telephone number at such place, or his place of employment.
(8) The term "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 the foregoing.
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