MEMBER ALERT
On August 27, 2007 Governor Blagojevich signed into law SB 1398 which amends the Consumer Protection Act. The effective date of the law is January 1, 2008.The Amendment in large part mirrors the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act with a few distinctions.
A few of the distinctions are:
- A "debt collector", "collection agency", or "agency" means any person who, in the ordinary course of business, regularly, on behalf of himself or herself or others, engages in debt collection.
- If a debtor notifies a debt collector or collection agency orally that he or she is a victim of identity theft, the debt collector or collection agency shall notify the debtor orally or in writing, that the debtor's claim must be in writing.
- Upon receipt of the appropriate identity theft and information the debt collector must follow certain procedures to make a good faith determination as to the responsibility on the account and communicate with the consumer if it determines consumer responsibility or that the information warrants the ceasing of collection which would then include the removing of trade line information.
- The Attorney General of Illinois has the ability to enforce certain sections of the law. Members are encouraged to read the entire law and act accordingly. The full text of the law can be found at :
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