H.R. 2547

Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act

This bill generally provides additional financial protections for consumers and places restrictions on debt collection activities.

Regarding additional consumer protections, the bill

• expands certain protections currently applicable to federally backed student loans to private student loans, including by requiring the discharge of a private student loan in the event of the borrower's death or total and permanent disability;
• prohibits a consumer reporting agency from adding any information related to a debt arising from a medically necessary procedure to a consumer credit report and places restrictions on the reporting of other types of medical debt; and
• applies certain consumer protections regarding debt collection to debt owed to a federal agency, states, debt buyers, and businesses engaged in nonjudicial foreclosures.

It also prohibits certain loan conditions that limit a borrower's opportunity to be heard in court in the event of default.

Additionally, the bill restricts debt collectors and debt collection practices by

• prohibiting a debt collector from representing to a service member that failure to cooperate with a debt collector will result in a reduction of rank or similar action,
• limiting a debt collector's electronic communications with a debtor without the debtor's permission, and
• requiring a debt collector to provide advance notice to a consumer of the intent to take legal action to collect a debt.

The Government Accountability Office must report on the impact of debt collection on service members and on the use of debt collectors by federal and state agencies.