940 CMR, § 35.02

Current through Register 1538, January 3, 2025

Section 35.02 - Definitions

Collect, Collection, or Collecting. Refers to any means, communication, or attempt to obtain payment on a debt or other past due balance owed or alleged to be owed.

Collection Lawsuit. Any legal proceeding, including but not limited to civil actions, statements of small claims and supplementary process actions, commenced in any court for the purpose of collecting any debt or other past due balance owed or alleged to be owed.

Communication or Communicating. As used in 940 CMR 35.00 shall share the same meaning as defined in 940 CMR 7.03: Definitions.

Creditor. As used in 940 CMR 35.00 shall share the same meaning as defined in 940 CMR 7.03: Definitions. For the avoidance of doubt, Creditor shall include Debt Collectors as defined in 940 CMR 35.02.

Debt. As used in 940 CMR 35.00 shall share the same meaning as defined in 940 CMR 7.03: Definitions.

Debtor. As used in 940 CMR 35.00 shall share the same meaning as defined in 940 CMR 7.03: Definitions.

Debt Collector. Any person or business whose principal purpose is the collection of a debt, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, a debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another. Debt Collector shall also include any person who buys or acquires debt that is in default at the time of purchase or acquisition and who seeks to collect such debt. Debt Collector shall include a creditor who, in the process of collecting his or her own debt, uses any name other than his or her own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect the debt. Debt Collector shall also include a person in a business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security interests. Debt Collector shall not include:

(a) an officer or employee of a creditor that is not itself a debt collector, while, in the name of such creditor, collecting debts for such creditor;

(b) a 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 a person to whom it is so related or affiliated and if the principal business of the person is not the collection of a debt;

(c) an officer or employee of the United States or a state of the United States to the extent that collecting or attempting to collect a debt is in the performance of his or her official duty;

(d) a person while serving or attempting to serve legal process on another person in connection with the judicial enforcement of a debt;

(e) a nonprofit organization which, at the request of a consumer, performs bona fide consumer credit counseling and assists the consumer in the liquidation of debts by receiving payments from the consumer and distributing the amounts to creditors; and

(f) a person collecting or attempting to collect a debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another to the extent the activity:

1. is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement;

2. concerns a debt which was originated by the person;

3. concerns a debt which was not in default at the time it was obtained by the person; or

4. concerns a debt obtained by the person as a secured party in a commercial credit transaction.

State of Emergency Period. Refers to the time from one business day following March 26, 2020 through 30 days following the lifting of the state of emergency so declared by the Governor, or his or her designee.

940 CMR, § 35.02

Adopted by Mass Register Issue 1415, eff. 3/26/2020.