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79R5927 HLT-F


By:  Giddings, Gonzalez Toureilles, et al.                        H.B. No. 628



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to debt collection after a consumer has filed a report with 
a law enforcement agency.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 392.303, Finance Code, is amended by 
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as 
follows:
	(a)  In debt collection, a debt collector may not use unfair 
or unconscionable means that employ the following practices:
		(1)  seeking or obtaining a written statement or 
acknowledgment in any form that specifies that a consumer's 
obligation is one incurred for necessaries of life if the 
obligation was not incurred for those necessaries; [or]
		(2)  collecting or attempting to collect interest or a 
charge, fee, or expense incidental to the obligation unless the 
interest or incidental charge, fee, or expense is expressly 
authorized by the agreement creating the obligation or legally 
chargeable to the consumer; or
		(3)  collecting or attempting to collect an obligation 
under a check, draft, debit payment, or credit card payment, if:
			(A)  the check or draft was dishonored or the 
debit payment or credit card payment was refused because the check 
or draft was not drawn or the payment was not made by a person 
authorized to use the applicable account;
			(B)  the debt collector has received written 
notice from a person authorized to use the account that the check, 
draft, or payment was unauthorized; and
			(C)  the person authorized to use the account has 
filed a report concerning the unauthorized check, draft, or payment 
with a law enforcement agency, as defined by Article 59.01, Code of 
Criminal Procedure, and has provided the debt collector with a copy 
of the report.
	(c)  Subsection (a)(3) does not prohibit a debt collector 
from collecting or attempting to collect an obligation under a 
check, draft, debit payment, or credit card payment if the debt 
collector has credible evidence, including a document, video 
recording, or witness statement, that the report filed with a law 
enforcement agency, as required by Subsection (a)(3)(C), is 
fraudulent and that the check, draft, or payment was authorized.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.