803. Definitions
[15 USC 1692a]
As used in this title --
(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 808(6), 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
creditors; 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.
(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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