Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, announced the reintroduction of H.R. 10509, the Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act, legislation to better protect consumers from abusive and unfair debt collection practices. Today, individuals and families are struggling with medical debt, student loan debt, and other debts. Meanwhile, too many debt collectors have raked in profits by harassing individuals with frequent phone calls, threats, and even misleading information for debts they do not owe.

This bill will bring new accountability to the debt collection industry and stronger protections for working families by:

• Establishing protections for consumers from harassment and abuse, including banning abusive confessions of judgment that have hurt small businesses,
  
  
• Prohibiting debt collectors from harassing and threatening servicemembers, and barring the collection of medical debt for two years after the debt is incurred,
  
  
• Prohibiting debt collectors from contacting consumers by email or text message without a consumer’s affirmative consent,
  
  
• Limiting egregious debt collection fees that have disproportionately hurt low-income and minority borrowers, and
  
  
• Protecting consumers during a non-judicial foreclosure proceeding.
  

Taken together, these protections will help the most vulnerable consumers, including servicemembers, student borrowers, people of color, and those struggling under the weight of medical debt. The last time Congress made major updates to federal laws on debt collection was in 1978, over 45 years ago. This comprehensive legislation includes bills sponsored by Representatives Nydia Velázquez, Gregory Meeks, Emanuel Cleaver, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Madeleine Dean, and Jake Auchincloss.

Congresswoman Waters first introduced this bill in 2021, which was supported by 88 consumer, labor, and civil rights organizations and passed by the House of Representatives that same year.

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